The imposition of martial law in Peru’s Tambo Valley has
sent protesting farmers back to work. The Associated
Press interviewed local farmers who said that they would happily give up
their current crop if it meant the cancellation of the controversial Tía María
copper mining project by Southern Copper. Domingo Condori, a rice farmer, told
the AP, “Here, life is peaceful. He who works, even if he lacks an education,
gets ahead. Why would we want a mine?”
Locals feel abandoned
and betrayed by Peruvian president Ollanta Humala, after 72% of the local
farmers voted for him in 2011. María Figueroa, a farmer, told the AP, “He said
that he was with the farmers, now he won’t get off is chair, he doesn’t come
her, and he tells us that we are criminals. We all voted for him… and this is
how he pays us.”
Despite the calm following the suspension of civil liberties
in the Tambo Valley, the anti-mining violence has spooked
investors in Peru’s mining industry, sending mining investment tumbling by 14%
in the first quarter of the year. Nonetheless, a study by Scotiabank argues
that the main reason for the drop in investment is the difficulty of attracting
financing given lower metal prices.
Analysts stress
that the contraction has only just begun, warning that investment could fall by
another 17% before the year is over.
In other mining-related news, the process of formalizing
artisanal miners in Peru continues
unabated. In Piura, of the 2,200 small and artisanal miners that signed up for the
formalization process, 1,123 of them have reached the second part of the
process.
The mining industry in Peru will not be formalized
overnight, but rather step-by-step, miner-by-miner, through efforts such as
these. The hope is that once enough miners register, the process will gain a
momentum of its own and not require such painstaking marketing and promotion
from the Peruvian government.
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