The T?-a Mar?-a copper project in Peru, run by Southern Copper Corp (SCC), is still short of the approvals needed to move towards operation, despite being green-lit by the country's mining council, minister of energy and mines, Juan Carlos Liu, said in a statement on Sunday November 3.
SCC was only authorized to begin construction of the site's copper processing plant on October 30, and its environmental and social feasibility is still to be analyzed, he added."The government will not impose [the project], and the company also signaled it will not build anything until a peace climate is reached," the minister said.The mining council, an autonomous entity with the ministry of energy and mines (Minem), approved the construction phase as it finished a three-month review of T?-a Mar?-a's license. The permit granted on July 9 was challenged by the regional government of Arequipa.Local communities, environmentalists...