Minera Las Bambas
ProActivo
A few minutes ago the mining company Las Bambas, which operates Las Bambas copper project, located in Cotabambas, Apurímac, has issued the following statement with seven aspects, about the subject of how people live there.
Las Bambas recognize the government’s efforts to solve the problems at the base of the dialogue, besides that, explains the impact of the rights of the company’s employees due to the blockade (there are around 8,000 people) and the economic effects of these actions on the country.
It also gives details about the condition of the road in question, refers to the negotiation of the land, explains about the initial project with the Antapaccay mine (which involved the pipeline) and finally reveals about the payment requests for the use of public roads, which the company has received as the “Comunidad Campesina de Fuerabamba” (peasant community of Fuerabamba) and its advisers.
Here is the statement: In light of the latest events that have occurred around our operation, Las Bambas mining company states the following:
- We recognize the efforts of the Government authorities to seek a solution through dialogue and we reaffirm our full willingness to contribute to this, in favor of the development of the Apurimac Region and also the rest of Peru. We also highlight our willingness to dialogue with the various members of the communities.
- The blocking of the PE-3SY national road in Yavi Yavi (Cusco) and also of our access gates to the mine is preventing the entry and exit of more than 8,000 of our employees, which affects their fundamental rights and generates concern among them and their families. Las Bambas has been taking actions to ensure their safety.
- The continued roadblock is also preventing the arrival of inputs and the transport of the mineral, which will mean the stoppage of production in the coming days, with serious damage to the local and national economy. From 2016 to date, the royalties generated by Las Bambas amount to more than S / 750 million and have benefited 84 municipalities of the Apurímac Region, two universities and the Regional Government.
- The Ministry of Transport and Communications has confirmed that the blocked road has existed since 2008 as a public thoroughfare . It had this status when the farm was transferred by the company to the rural community of Fuerabamba in 2011 as part of the compensations paid to the latter. Like any other public road, the law states that it can be used freely by anyone. Subsequent reclassification to regional and national routes responded to requests from district, provincial and regional authorities, as recorded in public documents.
- The negotiation of the resettlement process began in 2008 and the agreement was formalized in 2011, with the active and permanent participation of the rural community of Fuerabamba, after a lengthy process of dialogue with an intercultural approach. The Yavi Yavi farm was one of the properties transferred for agricultural use. Also, following the requirements of the community, their homes were built in the “Nueva Fuerabamba”neighborhood, in the Apurímac Region.
- Initially, the Las Bambas and Antapaccay mining projects were part of a single business group. The ore processing at Las Bambas ended in Antapaccay and both operations were to be linked through a slurry pipeline. The change in the ore transport process was a technical requirement for the independence of both projects, for which a change was made in the Environmental Impact Study, which followed all the legal processes. This modification was executed before Las Bambas was sold by Glencore to the consortium led by MMG.
- The requests that Las Bambas has received from the new representatives of the rural community of Fuerabamba and its advisers, such as the payment for the use of a public road, are economic compensations for concepts that do not legally apply to it. They have also rejected, on repeated occasions, the offers made by the company to contribute with more development projects.
Las Bambas strongly condemns the use of violence and maintains its willingness to dialogue in order to achieve a prompt solution to this situation that prevents the paralyzation of operations , which would cause serious damage to the economies of the Apurimac Region and of Peru.