New road blockade expected to halt Peru's Las Bambas mine once again

Peru’s mining and energy association SNMPE warned that the Las Bambas copper mine will be forced to stop operations as of February 20 due to a new blockade of a road in the province of Chumbivilcas, Cusco region.

For 11 days, residents of the Ccapacmarca community have been blocking the highway some 100km from the mine, after ignoring the agreements that the government signed in December with the majority of the Chumbivilcas communities.

The blockade is preventing workers and supplies entering the mine and the transport of concentrates to the port of Matarani.

According to an SNMPE statement, the situation is affecting Las Bambas’ production.

"Once again the situation is extremely critical in Las Bambas," said SNMPE. Las Bambas accounts for 16% of Peru's copper production.

In December, a road blockade stopped production at Las Bambas for 17 days, which meant losses of US$400mn in sales, on top of blockades the previous month.

Minera Las Bambas, operated by Chinese-owned MMG, is the fourth largest copper producer in Peru, with capacity of 400,000t/y in concentrates.