Mine Prospect Looms Over Northern Peruvian Farmers

By Mary Powers

LIMA, Peru, May 28, 2002 (ENS) - The Tambogrande district in northern Peru has become the focus of an international controversy over whether a high-grade mineral deposit underneath the town can be developed into a gold, copper, zinc mine without causing harm to the environment and a fertile agricultural valley where lemons, mangoes and papayas are grown for export.

This week, Oxfam America, in collaboration with the Global Mining Campaign, launched an online campaign asking supporters to urge Vancouver based Manhattan Minerals "to respect the will of the people of Tambogrande."

The municipality of Tambogrande, on the initiative of its mayor Alfredo Renjifo, will hold a non-binding vote on June 2 in which residents will be consulted on whether they want mining carried out in the district.

"I urge Manhattan to refrain from unfairly influencing this vote and to respect the will of the people of Tambogrande," says the text of a form letter which can be emailed via Oxfam's website to Manhattan president Charles Smith.

Tambogrande mother and child (Photo by Martha Meier and Carmen Barrantes courtesy Ecologiaaldia)

Peru's central government published a resolution in February which said that such a referendum would be illegal because it conflicts with laws that set forth a process by which the development of mining deposits are approved.

The law calls for the company to present an Environmental Impact Study, to be followed by a series of public hearings.

"We do not want to set the precedent that residents decide where mining is carried out and where it is not," Energy and Mines Minister Jaime Quijandria said in an interview last month.

Peruvian Energy and Mines Minister Jaime Quijandria (Photo courtesy Office of the Minister)

"I just want the law to be abided by," Quijandria said, adding that Manhattan has to demonstrate in practice that the mine's development can go ahead "in accordance with international environmental and community relations norms."

Manhattan is due to present the Environmental Impact Study prepared by Klohn-Crippen Consultants Ltd. in July, after which the government plans to hold up to 10 public hearings.

Enrique Rodriguez, a lawyer who is working with Tambogrande Defense Front, said the public hearings process offers "very limited citizen participation." He said district residents "already know" what kind of impact the development of a mine in Tambogrande would have.

"We know that the consultation is not binding but we want to formally register the opinion of the residents on this issue," Rodriguez said in a telephone interview from Piura.

It will be up to the mayor and the municipality to pressure the central government to respect the results of the vote, he said.

The town of Tambogrande strides a rich polymetallic deposit whose development would require construction of an open pit mine and the transfer of homes of some 16,000 residents of the town.

Manhattan has proposed compensating the residents for the land and building a new housing development in a nearby area of the district.

But some of the strongest opposition has come from farmers who grow fruit in the nearby San Lorenzo valley. They argue that their livelihood will be ruined by developing a mine in the area.

The local citizens group Ecologiaaldia says, "People depend on agriculture and agriculture depends on the water. A possible mining operation will contaminate all the existing water sources."

The water has been clear until now, says Ecologiaaldia, and the area has great potential for recreation and ecotourism.

"We have to demonstrate that this project is not going to damage the agricultural environment of San Lorenzo," said Roberto Obradovich, president of Manhattan Sechura Compania Minera. "We have quite complete, technical information with which we can prove that this project is not going to have a polluting effect on the agricultural zone around the project."

Nevertheless, the distrust of farmers runs deep.

Godofredo Garcia Baca on his farm, a model of ecologically sound agriculture (Photo courtesy Caretas)

Police investigations still have not determined who was responsible for the killing. Opponents of the mine have linked Garcia's murder to the company, a charge that Manhattan officials deny.

Peru has a long mining tradition, and minerals account for 45 percent of the country's overall exports. The majority of mines, however, are located in the Andean highlands where the development of other economic activities is often difficult. Tambogrande is located in the northern desert some 60 miles from the coast.