Peru's poor Andean hamlets, backed by state, unleash anger at mines
December 14, 2021
5:45 AM CST
Last Updated 18 hours ago
Commodities
By Marcelo Rochabrun
7 minute read
PISACCASA, Peru, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Gabino Leon is angry, and he is not alone. The farmer in Peru's southern Apurimac region watches each day as hundreds of trucks carrying copper roar past his adobe home, kicking up dust on a potholed dirt road that has become a lightning rod for protests hitting the world's no. 2 producer of the metal.
Leon's rage - echoed in hundreds of small hamlets around the South American nation, Reuters reporting shows - is because, he says, he sees little benefit from that mineral wealth on his doorstep and blames mining for damaging his livelihood as a subsistence farmer.
"All the wealth of Apurimac goes before our eyes," Leon told Reuters at his home, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) from MMG's (1208.HK) Las Bambas mine, which started production in 2016 and supplies some 2% of the world's copper. "But it leaves us with nothing."
Communities around Peru have long been skeptical of the benefits of mining to their lives. But they are growing bolder about their demands under socialist President Pedro Castillo, who came to power in July pledging to shake up the mining sector and redistribute copper profits more fairly.
More:
https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/perus-poor-andean-hamlets-backed-by-state-unleash-anger-mines-2021-12-14/