Politics
Copper Mines Are Shutting in Peru With Social Conflicts Mounting
- Las Bambas joins Cuajone in succumbing to community protests
- Unions in Cusco region stage strikes against rising prices
Demonstrators hold signs while protesting the Tia Maria mining project in Arequipa, Peru in 2019.
Photographer: Miguel Yovera/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Sky-high metal prices and accelerating general inflation are fueling another up-tick in resource nationalism and social unrest in Peru, among the top suppliers of copper, zinc and silver.
As of Wednesday, about a fifth of the country’s copper output will be off-line as MMG Ltd’s Las Bambas mine joins Southern Copper Corp.’s Cuajone in succumbing to community protests. At the same time, unions in the mineral-rich Cusco region are staging strikes against rising prices, while residents near a Glencore Plc copper mine are preparing to resume protests.