Locals In Peru Force US Company To Scrap $5 Billion Mining Project

Activists in Peru have forced the second-largest gold mining corporation in the world, Newmont, to abandon its $5 billion Conga copper and gold mining project. Indigenous Peruvians say the conga mine project, which was intended to replace the nearly-depleted Yanacocha gold mine nearby, threatens the local environment At the forefront of the local resistance was Máxima Acuña de Chaupe, a 47-year-old grandmother who lives off a plot of farmland in Peru’s northern Cajamarca region, an area that would have been used by Newmont to drain a nearby lake to collect mining byproducts. Having secured a victory, Acuña said she has just one more wish: “I want to return to the peaceful life I had on my land with my family for almost 20 years.”   RT reports: Acuña has been publicly opposed to the mine since it was proposed in 2010, steadfastly refusing to sell her land despite multiple court battles, alleged physical assaults, and having her family’s crops on contested land destroyed. She also says her family has faced at least three violent eviction attempts by the mining company, which were assisted by private security forces and the Peruvian government. For her resilience, she was granted the 2016 Goldman Environmental [...]