понедельник, 23 января 2012 г.

International review of Newmont’s Conga project EIS due in March

Peru’s Minister of Energy and Mines has published performance indicators aimed at achieving the goals of the nation’s 2012 national mining and energy policy.

Author: Dorothy Kosich
Posted:
Monday
,
23 Jan 2012

RENO -

Peru’s Minister of Energy and Mines said the international review of Newmont’s $4.8 million Conga mining project will be ready in March.

The review will focus on the groundwater study, the surface water assessment and quality review programs said Minister of Energy and Mines Jorge Merino.

Peru’s President Ollanta Humala has struggled to ease the environmental concerns of Cajamarca residents about the possible project impacts the Conga project could have on local community water supplies.

Newmont’s Conga water protection plan calls for four water storage reservoirs to replace four freshwater lakes on the Conga property. Newmont asserts the reserves would store more than twice the water currently in the lakes, and provide a reliable year-round supply of water for farmers.

Environmental Minister Manuel Pulgar-Vidal said the review is being conducted to clear up the doubts of Cajamarca residents and restore confidence in the project. Pulgar has previously stressed that the country’s environmental assessment system must be strengthened to generate that confidence.

Protests against the project halted activity in the city of Cajamarca for two weeks in late November and early December of last year. The government declared a state of emergency and sent in troops.

In the wake of the protests, the Humala Administration promised the project’s EIA would be reviewed by international experts.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Energy and Mines recently approved a matrix of performance indicators to achieve the goals of Peru’s 2012 national mining and energy policy. Ministerial Resolution 019-2012-MEM/DM was published Friday in the official gazette El Peruano.

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