Mines in southern Peru mines worst hit by protests

The escalation of anti-government protests in Peru and the limited capacity of the authorities to resolve social conflicts is affecting transportation of minerals in the south of the country and placing great strain on mines' storage capacity. 

In addition to the economic losses due to the stoppage of activities in the industry, the problems will seriously impact mining exports in January and copper production is considered to be most at risk.

There have been interruptions to traffic at various points of the southern mining corridor, which connects mines such as Las Bambas, Constancia and Antapaccay with Matarani port in Arequipa region, as well as in and around the mining operations themselves.

The latest serious incident was a direct attack on Antapaccay's operations, where company vehicles were burned and the mine camp area was damaged.

The copper mine, controlled by Glencore, announced that it will begin a process to evacuate employees – around 2,400 direct workers and contractors – and will only keep essential staff on site.

Las Bambas, on the other hand, has been unable to transport copper concentrate since January 3, according to information provided to the Peruvian mining engineers institute (IIMP). Members of the Apurímac community recently threatened to burn down the company's operations and camp.

The head of the mine's workers union, Erick Ramos, said that Las Bambas will have to suspend operations. "Over the past week no supplies have reached the mining unit. It will be unsustainable for workers to remain [at the camp]. We're waiting for traffic to resume," he told TV Perú.

The Constancia mine – owned by Canadian firm Hudbay – is the only big copper operation that has not suffered major incidents affecting operations, aside from not being able to transport concentrate. The three mines account for around 30% of Peruvian copper production, according to mining, petroleum and energy association SNMPE.

In Puno region, which has become an epicenter of some of the most violent protests, and where there have been around 20 deaths and many more injured, not only have important operations been halted, but projects in the exploratory stage have also been suspended. 

Minsur, which belongs to the Peruvian group Breca, decided to preemptively stop operations at its San Rafael tin mine in Melgar province.

Meanwhile, Macusani Yellowcake – a subsidiary of American Lithium that explores for lithium and uranium in Puno region – reported that it has also stopped hydrogeological studies at the Falchani lithium project due to the protests. 

"On December 10 [2022], we stopped operations because leaders of the local rural groups peasant rounds told us that they didn't want to come into conflict with the provincial groups. We are going to have operations stopped throughout January because groups from other areas may come to stop activities," Ulises Solís, general manager of Macusani Yellowcake, was quoted as saying by newspaper Gestión.