According to Reuters, on June 22, the local community in Peru temporarily stopped China's minmetals resources (1208. ROAD BLOCKADE AT THE LAS BAMBAS COPPER MINE, OWNED BY HK. Local villagers will negotiate with the government and businesses, and if no agreement is reached next Wednesday, local communities will resume protesting.
Local villagers reportedly blocked the copper mine's highway with sticks and rubber tires. It is unclear whether these roadblocks affected the transport of the copper concentrate of the mine. On the morning of Wednesday (22nd), protesters demanded that Chinese companies should pay for the use of the highway.
Screenshot of the Reuters report
According to the data, the Las Bangbas copper mine has now identified 11.62 million tons of copper resources, which is equivalent to 13% of China's existing copper resource reserves. According to Reuters, the output of the Las Bombas copper mine is equivalent to 1% of Peru's GDP.
In 2014, a Chinese consortium led by China Minmetals acquired the Rasbonbas Copper Mine, which resulted in a final delivery price of US$7.005 billion (about 44.6 billion yuan) after taking into account the late capital investment. However, after the Chinese company acquired it, the Rasbonbas copper mine was repeatedly blocked by local villagers, and the work stopped several times.
Screenshot of Minmetals Resources' financial report
At the heart of the protests is the issue of the distribution of benefits. Local communities believe that "mining activities cause environmental pollution but do not contribute sufficiently to the local economy" and that enterprises should pay them. In addition, when the international copper price reached a record level of $10,000 per ton in April, the Peruvian government also said it was considering tax adjustments for mining companies, focusing on "excess profits".
According to Reuters news on June 9, the Peruvian community suspended protests against the RasBonbas copper mine that day, which has led to the suspension of operations of the project for 50 days - the longest in history. According to the agreement, the "truce" will begin on June 15 and last for 30 days.
Screenshot of Minmetals Resources Announcement
But soon, the local community launched another lockdown on the copper mine – although yesterday the local villagers temporarily lifted the blockade of the Rasbonbas copper mine. The fate of this mine depends on the communication effect of all parties and whether the local villagers will have new dissatisfaction and demands because of the interests.
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