Peruvian Conga gold mine to stay closed until further notice

Newmont said it would scale down its Yanacocha operations in Peru. Photo by Buenaventura.

Buenaventura’s Chief Executive Officer Victor Gobitz announced today that the company has no plans to restart its $5 billion Conga gold project anytime soon.

“The subject of Conga is not on the agenda of the coming months, this year or next year,” Gobitz told Reuters in an interview. However, he added that he will revisit the topic in the long term as the gold mine could be included in future plans to develop a slew of projects in the northern Cajamarca region.

Operations at Conga were halted following local protests over land rights and environmental concerns in 2011. Later on, falling gold prices also pushed the Peruvian giant to decide the mine was not viable.

Instead, the country’s largest producer of precious metals switched its attention towards extending the working life of the Yanacocha gold mine, where it has a stake together with Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE:NEM).

“That’s our priority for now, and it will have a positive impact for the company,” Buenaventura’s CEO said.

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