Politically fuelled protests have intentionally blocked transport operations at three points in the national corridor used by MMG for moving its copper concentrate from the Las Bambas mine in Peru.
According to media reports, the strikes, which began on Nov 30, were called by the Challhuahuacho district’s farmer federation, and have been in a deadlock with the miner’s vehicles in the Ranra, Quehuira, and Challhuahuacho regions of the South American country.
The protests are regarding the mining canon, under which the government distributes half of the income tax collected from miners among local governments. The protestors refused to end the strike unless a meeting with MMG’s management is arranged. However, the company refuses to negotiate with anyone except local and national authorities.
In October as well, the miner declared a similar situation could put a halt on production activities within a week if the blockades did not end. The mine is capable of producing 400,000mt of copper in a year and is the ninth-largest copper mine in the world.