By Marco Aquino
LIMA (Reuters) – An Andean community in Peru suspended a protest and a blockade against Glencore’s Antapaccay mine on Friday, after reaching an agreement to begin talks in search of a new deal between the mine and residents, a community leader said.
Residents of Espinar, in Cusco, had blocked a key mining corridor since Wednesday, affecting not just Antapaccay but also MMG’s Las Bambas, both among the country’s top copper producers. Peru is the world’s No. 2 producer of the metal.
The agreement was reached after talks on Thursday afternoon, and following the resignation of Prime Minister Guido Bellido, who had alienated some leaders in Espinar after a visit last month.
Flavio Huanque, one of the leaders of the Espinar protests, said they were expecting to begin a new dialogue between Antapaccay, the government and the Espinar community next week.
Among the community’s demands, he said, are new infrastructure works and for Antappacay to recognize that it has caused environmental damage to the area.
An Antapaccay representative had no immediate comment.
The agreement, seen by Reuters, said that the parties “understood that there has been a change in the government’s cabinet with new ministers, they have to take a reasonable amount of time to get to know the realities of the communities.”
The mining corridor was blocked in September for three weeks by leaders from the nearby Chumbivilcas province, who were protesting the Las Bambas mine.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Editing by Frances Kerry)
