Indigenous groups in Peru protest Glencore's Antapaccay mine

A local leader reported that members of Indigenous communities in Peru's Cusco Region blocked access to Glencore Antapaccay Copper Mine to protest against an expansion plan.

In an interview, Flavio Huanque, a community leader from the area, said that local residents began to block roads on Sunday and called for a meeting between government officials and mining companies over concerns about environmental damage caused by the expansion plan. He said that the protesters were from ten different localities.

Glencore didn't immediately respond to our request for comment.

Sources close to the company confirmed protests had prevented access to mine vehicles.

Images from an online local news program showed people holding signs in small groups at various points along the road.

Antapaccay, Peru's seventh-largest copper mine and the third-largest producer of red metal in the world, is located on the coast.

Antapaccay

Has faced protests

The Peruvian mining industry as a group has also been subjected to disruptive and violent protests in many of the country's major mines.

In a Friday social media post, the Peruvian Mining Ministry announced that it had met Glencore executives who oversee Antapaccay’s expansion plans.

The company representatives told the ministry that the expansion was a $1.8billion investment. They also said they would be working on agreements with Huano Huano and Huini Coroccohuayco communities.

The ministry didn't immediately respond to an inquiry for a comment about the protests. (Reporting and Writing by Marco Aquino; Editing by Daina-Beth Solomon, Aida Pelaez, and Daina Beth Siniawski)

(source: Reuters)