TIA MARIA

The story of a deadly attack against humanity and against the environment and the resistance of a people against this aggression

 

 

Overview of the Tia Maria project

Nature of the project.

The Tia Maria project is a poly metallic mining project, with copper as dominant metal, based on open pit mining. Mineral processing, follows the conventional treatment for this type of mine, reduction to powder of mineral (crushed) leaching in acidic solution (sulfuric acid solution), refining, extraction by organic solvent, concentration of the solution and obtaining of metallic copper by electrolysis (metallic copper is fixed on the electrodes). The project is expected to produce 120,000 tons of copper per year.

Like all mining projects will be very impactful on the environment, remember that the production of each ton of copper consumes about 450 kilos of explosives based on ammonium nitrate (highly polluting), 150-200 m3 of water and requires removal of 3,000 tons of rock (100,000 tons displaced each day) after treatment those thousands of tons end up in the tailings deposits and will become a permanent source of contamination. Another key factor is the consumption of electricity for the electrolysis, each ton of copper consumes 250KWh

Another feature of the project will be the installation of a seawater desalination plant, required by the limited availability of fresh water in the region, this unit is itself an environmental problem because this type of installation requires a lot of energy and produces a large amount of brine (salt water waste high salt concentration), energy is estimated at 5 kWh per m3, the plant must provide 60,000 m3 / day, which will be a very large plant, among the largest in the world

Project status.

The project consists of two open pits (Tia Maria, located in the Quebrada Cachullo and Tapada located in the Pampa Yamayo), in fact, is the last place (the Tapada) seems the most promising in terms of wealth mineral, however, the entire project took the name of Tia Maria.

 

 Source: Ministry of Energy and Mine - Minem

Without presenting the same environmental risks as the Yanacocha or Conga mines located directly in the headwaters basin, on the largest aquifers in northern Peru, the Tia Maria project, by its location, above the valley of Tambo river 2 km below, involves a high risk of contamination by seepage or runoff in case of heavy rains (El Niño).

 

Financial details of the project.

The project is owned by the Southern Peru Copper Corporation, a subsidiary at 84.6% of the Mexican group Grupo Mexico.

Total estimated investment: $ 1.4 billion

Estimated number of jobs: 3,500 during the construction phase (1 year), 700 during the operational phase.

Expected annual production: 120,000 tons, the production cost is estimated between $ 2,000 and $ 2,500 per ton of copper, selling prices (May 2015): $ 6000 per ton, a minimum annual profit (excluding amortization) of (6000-2500) X 120,000 = $ 420 million. The first five years are taken into account the amortization of investments, from the fifth year the Peruvian State can expect an income of $ 120 million annually, half of this income will go to the department of Arequipa as payment of "mining canon", about 60 million, which mainly go to the city of Arequipa and it really will not help the thousands of Tambo Valley farmers that are directly affected by the project.

Of course, that all this is done, is necessary that Southern properly pay its taxes, without trying to artificially inflate its production costs, such as it does Yanacocha. With this income of $ 60 million (about 200 million soles), which comes into their bags, the mayor of Arequipa, Alfredo Zegarra and the Regional President Yamila Osorio Delgado, fully support the project.

Southern already has other mines in Peru, Cuajone (about 180,000 tonnes of copper per year), Toquepala (130,000 tons annually) and Ilo, where the company has a unit of concentration, refining and electrolysis with a capacity of 250,000 tons per year. The initial project for Tia Maria watched transporting ore to Ilo (distance over 100 km).

 

 The Cuajone mine

 History of the conflict.

Origin of the conflict

Southern presented the first environmental impact study (EAI) in June 2009, the Peruvian government then spent an advisory agreement with the United Nations Office for Project monitoring (UNOPS). The UNOPS report seriously reworked the Southern EAI, with no less than 138 observations. . (see  link n°1 and link n°2).

 

Source ’UNOPS

 

Meanwhile the residents of Valle del Tambo created a defense coalition and organized a local consultation the 27 September 2009, in which 90% of the valley's population was against the project.. (see  link n°1 et link n°2).

Despite the failure of Southern EAI, the government of Alan García wanted to launch the project and in 2010 tried to pressure UNOPS to review its report (Note that the work of UNOPS, which is a consulting office with the seal of the UN, was not free, it cost $ 6 million (UNOPS hires experts worldwide and that is not free).

In March 2011 the Ministry of Energy and Mines rejected this report (and its 138 observations, 3 of which involved particularly serious environmental risks) and broke the contract with UNOPS (see link). However, the report fell into the hands of a leader of the Front for the Defense of the Tambo Valley, this fact provoked the anger of the farmers in the valley and demonstrations resumed on March 16, 2011.

 The March 23, 2011, opponents of the project decided an indefinite strike (link), the government sent police reinforcements, reaching 5,000 men (link). The government declared a state of emergency on 27 March 10-April (Resolution 113-2011 / DE) (link), allowing the armed forces to participate in the repression. The clashes quickly became very violent (link) and against the violence, several mayors of the province decided on a hunger strike.

Video : hunger strike of the mayors due to violence en the Islay province

The police did not hesitate to use firearms, April 4, Andrés Taype Choquepuma died by a bullet in the chest, April 11, 3 people died from gunshot wounds, Aurelio Huarca Puma Nestor Cerezo Patana and Miguel Angel Pino. Then strain fell to the announcement of the suspension of the project. (See link 1 and link 2)

 

In November 2013, Southern returned with a new environmental impact study, which the government of Ollanta Humala was officially validated in August 2014 (link). Tambo population did not trust neither in Southern nor in government and tension settled in Cocachacra and Islay. The December 19, 2013 in Cocachacra, the Southern and the government organized together a public hearing, which invited only the supporters of the project (link 1 and link 2), the opponents could not even go to the hearing, 4000 policemen were there to deny them access, including 1,200 directly to block access to the building where took place the "public" hearing (link). However, the government decreed that the project received the "social license" (link).

 

 

4000 policemen deployed in the province of Islay and in the streets of Cocachacra to "protect" the public hearing  on Tia Maria project - in fact to prevent access of opponents.

 

In March 2015, Southern announced the start of the project, whose EAI was officially accepted by the government in August 2014, the population of Tambo, who has never accepted this project, resumed demonstrations.

 

The latest happenings.

In early March 2015, the government talks about establishing dialogue meetings, this "roundtable" is not a dialogue, its sole purpose is to serve the interests of the government that wants to impose the project, whatever the cost.

Demonstration - central place of Arequipa

 On March 23, a general strike began in the province of Islay, demonstrations are almost daily and repression intensifies; April 22 Victorian Huayna Nina, a farmer of 61 years, received a bullet in the leg that breaks the femur and the femoral artery, Victoriano bleeds to death, on May 5, Henry Checlla Chura, also dies as a result of a gunshot during a demonstration in Mollendo (link). The next day, a police officer of 51 years, Alberto Vasquez Durand, dies of a serious head injury. On May 23, the Peruvian government decrees a state of emergency for 60 days (link), which formalizes the use of the armed forces in support of the police repressive system, the armed forces were in the region for more than one month. The state of emergency entails restrictions on the rights of citizens, including the right to travel and the right to manifest, a state of emergency also allows the use of curfews.

 

April 22 - Victoriano Huayna Nina has just received a bullet in the thigh, he will die shortly after, due to bleeding

In June, the conflict intensity declines because the Tambo Valley farmers have to look at their crops and in particular, must harvest rice. However, the conflict is not over, as the government instead of seeking calm, undertakes a "witch hunt" against the movement's leaders and against the mayors of the villages of the Tambo valley. Pepe Julio Gutierrez, president of the Defence Front  of Tambo Valley, one of the main protest leaders, was sentenced to nine months in prison and detained at the Penitentiary of Socabaya (link).

Pepe Julio Gutiérrez, at the time of his arrest

 

Organization and resistance.

The structuring of the fight against the mining project was established naturally, in fact 80% of the Tambo valley  population are farmers, too, people have a long experience of the mining presence in the region in particular they have a long experience of Southern and know well the social and environmental irresponsibility of the company. Also, villagers saw the collapse of agriculture in several valleys in the region (including the valleys of the Locumba, Sama and Osmore rivers), all these rivers have seen the drastic decline of their flow, by the combined effects of global warming and mining , which not only consume astronomical amounts of water, but also returns it contaminated and unusable.

For farmers in the region, is necessary to choose between mining and farming, as such coexistence it is impossible. Valley Tambo del is the last fertile and productive valley in the region, one of the last oasis of greenery that sustains 13,000 people.

 

Satellite view of Tambo Valley, an oasis that sustains 13,000 people

Since the first threats, ie in 2008, a front of defense was created , which later became the FDVT (Defense Front of Tambo Valley), with the main objective of organizing a consultation, the September 27, 2009, over 90% of valley residents voted against the project, the government's refusal to consider this popular decision led to the first demonstration on 27 and 28 October 2009. The Defense Front of Tambo Valley is the backbone of the resistance, its members are mainly farmers of the valley and its president Pepe Julio Gutiérrez heads it from the front constitution in 2009.

It is noteworthy that Pepe Julio Gutiérrez, received numerous threats and persecution by the Peruvian government, allegations of corruption and an attack on December 2, 2010, which was the subject of an information of APRODEH (human rights organization in Peru) and shared in France by the FIDH (link). Today, he is in prison, sentenced to 9 months of detention for a corruption case known as "las lentejas" in which he is accused of demanding money to stop demonstrations against Southern and for an alleged flight risk, a convenient news for Southern and government.

But the opposition of farmers is unshakeable and the eventual departure of President of FDVT not affect the mobilization as this conflict is not the case of one man, it is an entire valley, whose population lives on agriculture, which strongly denies to accept this mining project and as seen in the demonstrations on July 9 in Arequipa, his determination not weakened, at the contrary.

Video : Demonstration in Arequipa during the general strike on July 9, 2015

Smear campaigns, manipulation and denigration in the media.

As in January 2014 against opponents of the Conga project, the great Peruvian media unleashed a systematic campaign to discredit opponents of mining projects, the "antimineros" or "anti-mining" the opposition to mining projects officially became terrorists (link 1 and link 2).

One of the leaders of the opposition to mining projects and founder of Tierra y Libertad, the priest Marco Arana was described as the successor of Abimael Guzman, founder of the Shining Path (link), high clerical hierarchy excluded him from the Church (link ) should be mentioned that the highest authority of the Peruvian Church, Cardinal Cipriani, Archbishop of Lima, is a shareholder of the mining company Yanacocha, therefore, Marco Arana had been suspended from his priestly duties since 2011, following his opposition to the Conga project.

Marco Arana

A real "witch hunt" triggers against the leaders and the mayors of the cities of Islay who participated or supported the protests. This is particularly the case of the mayor of the municipality of Dean Valdivia, Jaime de la Cruz, whose election was invalidated, and also they threaten him to four years in prison for his opposition to Tia Maria (link).

 

Jaime de la Cruz

The press did not hesitate to organize dirty tricks with the police, for example, in the case of Antonio Coasaca Mamani, the police captured a farmer and placed by force in his hand a pointed object, a photographer for the newspaper "El Correo de Arequipa" was waiting to take a picture of Antonio with the object in his hand and wrote an article with the argument:" the Tia Maria project opponents are violent and armed ". However, in this case, a person was filming the scene, the video turned into social networks and the scandal broke (link).

 

Police placed a sharp object in the hand of Antonio Coasaca Mamani

As in 2014, the press accuses NGOs, which denounce the abuses and violence of the police, of being anti-mining and financing terrorism. The campaign in the media reached such a point that the European Union ambassador in Lima, Irene Horejs, had to send a letter of protest to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru (link and letter).

The national and international support for the struggle of the people of Tambo Valley

Of course, many expressions of support for the people of the province of Islay organized in different places, despite the relative silence of the great international media (for example, in France, nothing in the main national channels (TF1, A2 and FR3), Arte only spoke of the problem, simply returning what came out on German television.

At the national level, it should be noted, the support from the CUNARC (link) and the peasant patrols (rondas campesinas), particularly those of Cajamarca (living a similar dispute with the company Yanacocha), the CNA (National Agrarian Confederation) (link), the indigenous communities in the region of Puno and Cusco (link), youth movements, who organized several demonstrations, some harshly repressed, particularly in Lima (link) and of course the support of some leftist political movements, such as Tierra y Libertad and MAS and some members of Congress, such as  Jorge Rimarachin (link) and Veronika Mendoza.

 

 

 

Demonstration of support in Lima

 

Demonstration of support in Cusco.

International support came from Belgium, France, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Germany, USA, we will include, among others:

• The colloquium held in the French Senate on May 22, 2015, on the issue of extractive and devoted a large space to the events that occurred in the province of Islay (link).
• The letter to Ollanta Humala by 19 members of the Swedish Parliament of 29 May 2015.
• The  open letter to Ollanta Humala co-signed by 300 intellectuals, including Noam Chomsky, of June 2, 2015 (link).
• The declaration of the International Network of trade union for Solidarity and struggles (laboursolidarity.org) of June 10, 2015, co-signed by more than hundred organizations worldwide (link 1 and link 2).

  

Welcoming delegates of Peru at the Orly airport - conference in the Senate of France on May 22

 

Demonstration in Brussels during the visit of Ollanta Humala, June 10

 
 

 

 

Demonstration of support in Berlin, July 7.

 

The tragic consequences of the Peruvian government's conflict management..

7 killed (4 in 2011 and 3 in 2015), that are the tragic consequences of the management of this conflict by successive Peruvian governments. Behind these deaths, hundreds of injured, some keep sequels or remain disabled for life, there are also widows and orphans.

From north to south it is building solidarity against mega-mining projects.

The population of the Tambo Valley received the support of many national and international organizations. Tia Maria as Conga is listed among the most emblematic struggles against destructive megaprojects imposed by force.

All organizations of Cajamarca which fought and continues to fight against the Conga mining megaproject have supported the fight against the Tia Maria project, FDAC (Environmental Defense Front of Cajamarca), farmer organizations and peasant patrols, the CUNARC and the PIC (Plataforma Interinstitucional Celendína).

Demonstration in Celendín on May 27

The Mamapachapa Unanchan or banner of Mother Earth is the largest green flag in the world, paraded in the streets of Lima in December 2014 during the summit of the peoples, today, refers to the struggle of the people of the Tambo valley

.

Gradually, the resistance is not longer only local but becomes a national resistance movement. The government responds only with the bloody and brutal repression or multiplying  states of emergency.  Against that, only a national and international mobilization can force the government to retreat. The fight against Conga project was the first having an international dimension, the fight against Tia Maria project is the second.

 

 

Socio-environmental liabilities and irresponsibility of Southern.

The owner company, Grupo Mexico.

In February 19, 2006, several extraction tunnels in the coal mine of Pasta de Conchos (Coahuila, Mexico) collapsed after a gas explosion, 65 miners were buried. The research showed strong negligence on mine safety (link)

Grupo Mexico caused one of the worst environmental disasters in the State of Sonora in Mexico, in a copper mine, on August 6, 2014, 40,000 m3 of tailings were discharged into a tributary of the Rio Sonora that was totally contaminated on a distance of more than 200 km, the accident also contaminated groundwater and more than 300 wells were contaminated, a dramatic situation in this particularly dry region (link). By now the group evaded its responsibilities, helped in that by its proximity to the Mexican government.

 

Contaminación del rio Sonora

In Spain, the Group is involved in a dark case of irregularities in the award of the Aznalcollar mine in Andalusia (link).

The group is also involved in numerous violations of labor standards.

Southern the Peruvian subsidiary.

In 2007 the measurements made in the Southern refinery plant in Ilo, showed that this plant did not meet the emission standards. Discharges into the sea contained arsenic levels eight times higher than the standards. Moreover, smoke emissions had rates of heavy metals much higher than the standards. Southern was sentenced in 2015 (8 years after the fact and in middle of conflict for the Tia Maria project) to pay an amount of one million dollars, also, the judgment mentioned a prison sentence of 2 years against its president (link ), yet, his political supports allowed him to avoid the sentence (link).

Southern refining plant in Ilo

 
Several studies in the region show a sharp increase in respiratory diseases and air pollution in Ilo since the establishment of the Southern refinery plant (link)

Since the beginning of its activities in Peru the company has already been convicted fifteen times per serious environmental liabilities, but the most serious is the destruction of agriculture by the water depletion and  pollution. In fact, large-scale mining requires astronomical amounts of good quality water, the region of Arequipa is a dry region (see satellite images) that depends entirely on the Andean aquifers.

 

The Southern two mines producen more than 300,000 tons of copper per year, which implies a consumption of about 60 million m3 of water per year (2 m3 per second) as minimum. Such consumption in a region that is already in water stress, is a total madness; Southern is already responsible for the decline of agricultural activities in the valleys of the region of Mocquegua. The decrease in river flows also causes a concentration of pollutants linked to the enormous quantities of mining waste (tailings) (about 900 million tons per year), which generates Southern.

 

This problem of water shortage makes that agriculture is increasingly difficult, this problem associated with environmental pollution and the consequences on human health related to mining are the main components of the conflict. Do not forget that a fourth project of the same kind is under negotiation in the region, it is the Quellaveco project and it could begin in the next two years (depending on negotiations between Southern and Anglo American).

 

Conclusion

The Peruvian government concepts on democracy.

First, we must examine the concepts of democracy currently in application in Peru, since his election in 2011, the government of Ollanta Humala has strengthened in a incredible way the tools of repression, including through the adoption of legislation such as the law No 30151 of January 13, 2014 that exempts policemen from criminal responsibility even if these policemen cause serious injury or death during their operations. The 214 social conflicts that have marked the government of Ollanta Humala caused the death of 57 peoples, of these 214 social conflicts, 118 are strictly socio-environmental conflicts and caused most of these 57 deaths (over 40).

 

Also, think in real democratic will of a government, which officially used 3 times the state of emergency (Cajamarca in 2011 and 2012 Islay in 2015) and also used it, informally in 7 departments (Apurimac, Ayacucho, Cajamarca, Cusco, Moquegua, Puno and Tacna) with the resolution No. 118-2015-IN of May 26, 2015.

 

Also we remember that the Peruvian government declared that it would not implement neither of the precautionary measures requested by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH), precautionary measures for the opponents of the mining project Conga, decisions issued in 2014 and 2015 respectively and that are available at the following link (records MC 452/11 and MC 530/14).

 

Finally, strange conception of democracy, when a government criminalize people who protest against the projects imposed by force, when democratically elected mayors and regional presidents are sent to jail, because they have the bad idea to disapprove the will of the central government

The concepts of the Peruvian government in environmental matters

You can also consider the attitude, at least strange, of the Peruvian government on the issue of environment, a government that hosted the World Climate Conference, the COP20 in December 2014, and has never spared his efforts to remove all legal barriers against environmental destruction, including multiple "paquetazos" (name given to these "packages" of measures to encourage investment) issued by the Peruvian government in 2014 (Law 30230) and 2015 (ley 3941) which totally ignore people living in the concessions, that do not take into account the environmental destruction and the health protection and reduce the environmental impact studies (EIA) of the projects to mere formalities.

 

Note that these packages of measures violate the rights of indigenous peoples, including No. 169 ILO Convention that Peru ratified in 1994 and the 2007 Declaration of the UN on the rights of native peoples. Finally, these measures do not comply with the UN Declaration of 2010 on the rights to water and sanitation and the constitutional rights of the Peruvian people to a healthy and unpolluted environment.

From the COP20 to the cop21, from Peru to France.

Although the three visits that President Humala made to France since his election have gone virtually unnoticed in the French press, relations between France and Peru are apparently rosy. Moreover President François Hollande himself had planned to travel to Peru in January 2015, but that trip was frustrated by the terrorist attacks in Paris in this month of January.

 

The Peruvian president Ollanta Humala and the French president François Hollande

If French companies are not directly involved in mining, they are indirectly through engineering and services and in particular large dam projects (especially for feeding mining with energy ). French multinationals are very present in the field of oil exploitation in the Amazon (Perenco, Maurel & Prom). But most significant is the collaboration between police forces and the French gendarmerie, cooperation began in 2012 and includes training services and weapon sales and even helicopters (France sold 5 EC145 in 2012).

Training and arms sales to police forces who are totaly exempted of prosecution and who does not hesitate to use firearms in their operations of protesters’ repression.

But François Hollande does not pose such questions, moreover, also received the President of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, as guest of honor at the celebrations of the French national day this July 14, 2015. Coincidence, President Humala received and honored President Peña Nieto in Lima on July 2, probably, Francois Hollande and Enrique Peña Nieto had other topics of conversation that the 43 students of the normal school Ayotzinapa who disappeared 10 months ago and the other thousands of killed and disappeared in Mexico.

The presidents of Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto and Peru Ollanta Humala Tasso

 

Strange, but where are the goals for the COP21? For now, there is still another analogy with Peru, as the COP20 in Lima,  the COP21 in Paris will be held behind closed doors in an isolated spot (Le Bourget), where only duly accredited persons shall be admitted for UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change). There will be no banners or untimely boisterous demonstrators, only well-dressed ladies and gentlemen and "handpicked" people, a meeting of "gentlemen".


While "gentemen" are preparing to quietly discuss climate change in Paris, at 11000 km from Paris, small farmers, both North and South of Peru, continue to struggle with courage and determination to survive against a government that wants to remove them and replace them with a much more profitable activity in the short term, but that has no future. This brave and unequal struggle, it is our duty to support it and make it known, as farmers of Cajamarca or Tambo Valley do not contribute to global warming, unlike the destructive extractive model that the Peruvian government is trying to impose by force.

 

¡CONGA NO VA – TIA MARIA TAMPOCO!