Peru's Antapaccay copper mine said that the mine was blocked by the local community and the mine ceased operations
On March 11, 2021, Glencore's Antapaccay copper mine in Peru stated that the mine was blocked by the local community and the mine ceased operations.
The government has arranged for the mine and the local community to meet and mediate on March 12, local time, to formulate a compensation plan for local residents affected by the operation of the mine. On March 9, Glencore’s Peruvian Antapaccay Mining Company stated that since the 8th, communities near Espinar in Peru had protested against the Antapaccay copper mine. The access to the mining facilities was blocked and copper production was affected.
Antapaccay is the sixth largest copper mine in Peru. In 2020, Antapaccay's own copper production was 186,000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 6%, mainly due to the decline in Antapaccay ore grade.
The mining company Antapaccay SA announced the suspension of activities due to the obstruction of the main road and its facilities in Pinar, Cusco Province. Since last Monday, March 8, residents of 11 peasant communities in Espinar have launched a protest that has affected the free movement of workers. The mining company documents stated: "The main access to our facilities is still blocked, affecting the normal operation of production activities and putting our personnel and contractors at risk."
Based on this, Antapaccay Mining Company urged the government to resume dialogue with local people in order to resume its activities under all necessary health and safety conditions.
He concluded: "This has had a negative impact on the communities around us, because the social investment projects that are being implemented will have to be paralyzed, because this insecurity also affects the personnel engaged in these projects."
Antapaccay mine
Community leaders require the approval and implementation of compensation plans for the population affected by mining activities, and the establishment of public regulations, so that regional and local governments can obtain resources and promote the development of local communities in a reasonable manner.
SMM believes that the occurrence of this incident will not have an impact on the copper concentrate in a short period of time, but it is still necessary to pay attention to the continued fermentation of the incident.
According to SMM data, since 2021, imports of copper concentrates have been on a downward trend. SMM analysts believe that copper concentrate TC will remain at a relatively low level in the first half of the year, and copper ore supply will ease in the second half of the year, and copper concentrate TC should pick up.
