The stoppage of Las Bambas (Apurimac) It will affect families of more than 75,000 people who work directly or indirectly around this mining operation, said Carlos Castro, manager of Corporate Affairs and Business Development of the company.
The businessman explained that copper production “will have to cease this Saturday” because they cannot transport the necessary supplies to carry out the work due to the blockages to the accesses to the mine, since November of this year.
“Apurímac stops receiving S / 1.2 million per day for contractual royalties; the Treasury stops receiving S / 4 million (daily) for Income Tax, “he said and considered it necessary for there to be a dialogue but not to have” conditions “by any of the parties involved.
For his part, the president of the National Society of Mining, Oil and Energy (SNMPE), Raúl Jacob, made a call not to allow “Peru to become a country in which the mining begins to slow down “.
He indicated that the insistence on charging the sector with more taxes, as the Executive has raised, generates paralyzed investments.
He specified that this year, due to issues of social conflict and delays in permits, the industry “has possibly lost 150,000 tons in copper production.”
“We made an estimate of how much the State and the mining contribution would have contributed directly and approximately that would have generated S / 1,450 million in higher collection and contributions from the sector”he added.
For his part, the president of Confiep, Óscar Caipo, considered that the Government “puts the interests of violent groups before the general welfare of the population” and has “a lack of management capacity.” “This government, in four and a half months since it took office, has not generated confidence, quite the contrary,” he warned.
Emergency and violence
On the other hand, the premier Mirtha Vasquez announced that they are evaluating declaring a state of emergency in the area to deactivate the roadblock in the “mining corridor.”
“(The Executive) is evaluating a humanitarian exit even for the workers. If not, we will also have to proceed to evaluate an eviction with the Ministry of the Interior, and a last option is to declare a state of emergency, “he said in a conference with the foreign press.
Nevertheless, The current crisis was compounded by a violent attack by a group of illegal miners who, according to the company, “vandalized facilities and equipment of Minera Las Bambas and suppliers”, after an operation by the Apurímac Provincial Specialized Environmental Prosecutor’s Office, FEMA, to locate, identify and capture illegal miners who operated in a concession area.
As a result, eight police officers were injured and 13 trucks, two excavators, a skid-steer loader and a checkpoint were damaged.
In addition, a tanker truck, a pickup truck, an excavator and a container were burned, while four containers were violated and looted. Where is the state?
Keep in mind
-The production of Las Bambas represents 2% of the world copper production.
-The production capacity of the mining company is 400,000 tons of copper concentrates, but due to the conflicts they do not reach that amount.
-8,000 people work in Las Bambas between payroll and contractors.
