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Giant copper, zinc and silver mines in Peru have been unaffected by protests triggered by the impeachment of President Pedro Castillo, with the industry hoping a new cabinet and early elections will help ease tensions.
Mines owned by Southern Copper Corp., Freeport-McMoRan Inc., BHP Group, Glencore Plc and Hochschild Mining Plc continue to operate normally, with most of the protests concentrated in urban areas of Lima, Ica, Arequipa, Apurimac and Trujillo, said Raul Jacob, who heads mining and energy society, SNMPE.
“For now, we haven’t seen any impact in mining or energy,” Jacob said in a telephone interview Monday.
Still, tensions in the world’s No. 2 copper producer are running high at a time of tight global supply. Demonstrations have gathered momentum since Castillo was ousted on Dec. 7, with protesters blocking highways that service agricultural heartlands and burning down a control booth at Arequipa airport, fanning concern that road transport of semi-processed metal to ports may also be disrupted.
There’s a risk that the political unrest could inflame simmering community tensions in mining areas, “but right now we’re are not seeing that,” Jacob said.
Ministers named by new President Dina Boluarte are mainly professionals with strong credentials and represent an improvement on the previous cabinet, he said. Jacob applauded decisions to declare a state of emergency in areas of most conflict and replace local political appointments.
“The fact that the rule of law has prevailed against a coup attempt is good news in general for investors,” Jacob said.
The challenge for the new cabinet is to subdue the wave of violence, with the new president’s call for early elections in 2024 offering a way out of the unrest, he said.
The only case of mining disruptions is at MMG Ltd.’s Las Bambas, where a pre-existing community conflict has blocked the main entrance.
While Las Bambas continues to mine and can bring in people and supplies using other roads, it has been unable to transport semi-processed copper to port and is running out of storage space, Jacob said.
Hong Kong-listed MMG didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
(By James Attwood)
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