Candente Falls Most in Nine Months on Mine Accord Delay

Candente Copper Corp. (DNT), a Canadian mining exploration company with operations in Peru, fell the most in nine months on speculation its Canariaco copper project faces delays over land rights.

Vancouver-based Candente dropped 9 percent to 81 cents at 12:33 p.m. in Lima. It earlier slumped as much as 12 percent, the steepest intraday drop since Aug. 8.

A judge will call a general assembly in the southern Andean community of Kanaris to vote on a three-year “surface access rights agreement” for Canariaco after leader Cristobal Barrios proposed a referendum, Candente said today in an e-mailed statement. Community members are taking legal action to prevent a referendum, the company said.

“The market began selling as there isn’t a good relationship with the community,” said Jorge Rodriguez, an analyst at Kallpa Securities SAB in Lima. “It’s a political problem where the community leader opposes the project.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Emery in Lima at aemery1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net