Road blockade brings Latin America's largest gold mine to a halt

Lima (Platts)--28Aug2006

Minera Yanacocha has stopped production because the road to the mine
remains blocked by protesters, the company said late Monday. Yanacocha is
Latin America's largest gold producer.

Earlier Monday, Carlos Santa Cruz, vice president for for
Latin America at Colorado-based Newmont Mining, warned the stoppage could
happen at the mine, which was expected to produce 2.6 million to 2.7-mil oz of
gold in 2006.

Cruz said the road to the mine has been blocked for the last five days by
area residents protesting the expansion of one of the mine's pits. Newmont
holds a 51.35% share in the mine, Compania de Minas Buenaventura holds a
43.65% stake and International Finance Corp owns 5%.

Yanacocha and local leaders have been at loggerheads for about three
weeks over social investment projects in the area, financed by the gold
miner. A protester was killed earlier this month and last week several people
were hurt when police dispersed residents who blocked the road to the mine.

Yanacocha halted its operations at the mine briefly in 2004 due to a
similar blockage of the road to the mine.


 

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