Conga Project Explained

Conga Project is a gold mining and copper mining project in Cajamarca Region of Northern Peru. It is a project of Minera Yanacocha, a company mainly owned by Newmont Mining Corporation.

Overview

The Conga Mine is a project of Minera Yanacocha, a company mainly owned by Newmont Mining Corporation and Buenaventura, a Peruvian mining company, and the International Finance Corporation, the private-lending arm of the World Bank.^[1] It was expected to yield 680,000 ounces of gold and 235 million pounds of copper per year for the first five years.

History

The Conga Environmental Impact Assessment was originally approved in 2010.^[2] It was suspended in November 2011. In April 2012, President Ollanta Humala, who had been elected after promising to place "water over gold",^[3] said that the project needed a number of changes to proceed.^[4] Protesters expressed concerns about perceived impacts of the project on the local water supply.^[5]

Farmers protested against the project.^[6] Demonstrations ceased after President Ollanta Humala on December 4, 2012 granted the country's armed forces extra power for 60 days, including the right to make arrests without warrant.^[6] Opponents of the project pointed to risks for ecosystem and water resources.^[7] The conflict had the result that several of President Ollanta Humala's ministers resigned.^[8] It also resulted in the death of several Peruvians.^[9] This was the first crisis of the Humala administration.^[8]

In April 2016, Máxima Acuña received the Goldman Environmental Prize for her environmental advocacy and peaceful resistance regarding the Conga Mine Project.^[10]

In 2016, the project was abandoned, in part due to the environmental concerns.^{[3] [11]}

Notes

-6.0842°N -78.3616°W

Notes and References

1. Web site: One Peruvian Woman Is Standing Up To A Gold-Mining Goliath . Huffington Post . 12 February 2015 . 18 April 2016 . Ben Hallman.
2. Web site: Newmont Suspends Construction at the Conga Project in Agreement with the Government of... -- DENVER, Nov. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- . May 1, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111201045315/http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/newmont-suspends-construction-at-the-conga-project-in-agreement-with-the-government-of-peru-134733728.html . December 1, 2011 .
3. News: Walton. Brett. Conga Mine in Peru Halted by Water Concerns, Civic Opposition. 21 November 2017. Circle of Blue. 21 April 2016.
4. Web site: Peru Activists: Newmont's Minas Conga Project Remains Unfeasible | Fox Business . . May 1, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120425224525/http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2012/04/23/peru-activists-newmont-minas-conga-project-remains-unfeasible/ . April 25, 2012 .
5. Web site: Protests Shut Down Conga Project in Peru . Mining Media International . Engineering & Mining Journal . 20 January 2012 . 7 May 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160426095845/http://www.e-mj.com/index.php/news/latin-america/1570-protests-shut-down-conga-project-in-peru.html . 26 April 2016 . dead .
6. Web site: Newmont Says Too Early to Call Conga Project Amid Review . Bloomberg News . 27 February 2012 . 7 May 2016 . Liezel Hill.
7. Web site: Cajamarca: Bergbau-Gutachter mahnen Verbesserungen am Conga-Projekt an . Magazine Premium . INFOAMAZONAS . 18 April 2012 . 7 May 2016 . D. Raiser.
8. Web site: Latinominería . 2012-05-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120829075942/http://www.latinomineria.com/noticias/index_neo_en.php?id=1630 . 2012-08-29 .
9. Web site: Peru anti-mining protests escalate during state of emergency .
10. Jim Carlton Recipients of the Goldman Environmental Prize to be honored. Wall Street Journal, 18 April 2016
11. News: Jasamine. Cecilia. Community opposition forces Newmont to abandon Conga project in Peru. 21 November 2017. Mining.com. 18 April 2016.