Las Bambas copper mine likely to halt production within a week amid protests

Chinese miner MMG Ltd is likely to have to halt production at its Las Bambas copper mine in Peru “within a week” amid protests that have blocked access to the site, a senior local executive told Reuters on Friday.

The mine’s vice president of finances, Alvaro Ossio, said that Las Bambas, Peru’s largest copper minefield, had declared “partial” force majeure with contractors and was evaluating declaring force majeure for copper sales.

MMG said on Thursday that operations at Las Bambas would be affected by road disruption with supplies being blocked amid anti-mining protests. The roadblocks have disrupted logistics at the site since Sept. 22.

The unrest has affected shipments from four mines that produce about half of Peru’s copper – Freeport-McMoRan Inc’s Cerro Verde, Las Bambas, Glencore PLC’s Antapaccay and Hudbay Mineral’s Constancia.

Las Bambas, which accounts for 16% of Peru’s entire copper output, had targeted between 385,000 tonnes and 405,000 tonnes of copper production this year, versus 385,000 tonnes in 2018.

(By Marco Aquino and Adam Jourdan; Editing by Leslie Adler)