Yanacocha

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Gold mine "Yanacocha" near Cajamarca (Peru)

Yanacocha ( Cajamarca-Quechua : yana = "black, dark"; qoch'a / quĉa = "lake, lagoon") is a gold mine in the Peruvian department of Cajamarca , the largest in the American double continent and one of the largest and most profitable in the world.

The 251 km² open pit is located about 18 km north of the city of Cajamarca , at heights between about 3500 m and about 4100 m and is crossed by the Pacific-Atlantic watershed . Up until 2018, the Conga project was a highly controversial mine expansion.

The World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) has granted $ 150 million in development loans to the World Bank and has a five percent interest in Yanacocha, which is operated by Newmont Mining Corporation , a Denver , US-based company, the largest gold mining company in the World. The main shareholders of Yanacocha are Newmont and Buenaventura, a Peruvian company.

Gold extraction process

Collecting basin for gold-bearing water in front of a dump with several piled layers of rock; left: older heap before renaturation

The gold-bearing rock is excavated and piled up again on waterproof sheeting down the slope. The gold is leached from the loosely stacked heaps created by sprinkling drops with water containing sodium cyanide (cyanide concentration 50ppm). The gold-containing liquid caught on the edge of the foil is fed to large collecting basins via channels and pipes. From here it arrives in factories in which the gold and other metals such as silver, mercury, lead, ... are precipitated chemically ( Merrill-Crowe process ). After separating the metals, the gold is finally poured into bars for transport and further processing. The average gold content is 0.9 g per ton of rock. The cost of gold mining in 2005 was between US $ 120 and US $ 150 per troy ounce (= 31.1 g), depending on the mine and gold content. The first gold bar was cast in August 1993; in 2005 over 100 tons of gold were produced. The contribution to the total Peruvian gross national product was 1.17% in 2005.

Since the peak value reached in 2005, funding fell to just under a third by 2011:

  • 3.3 million troy ounces (2005)
  • 2.6 million troy ounces (2006)
  • 1.6 million troy ounces (2007)
  • 1.8 million troy ounces (2008)
  • 2.1 million troy ounces (2009)
  • 1.5 million troy ounces (2010)
  • 1.3 million troy ounces (2011)

The increasing social tensions, especially because of the Conga expansion project , played no role. The group states in its annual reports that there were no production disruptions between 2005 and mid-2011, apart from a short blockade of an access road in 2006.

Environmental issues

First renaturation measures were undertaken (2005).

The mine was criticized from the start because of the environmental pollution it caused. The criticism intensified in connection with the planned expansion of the open pit mine on Mount Quilish , which would render the once clear water of the Porcón River and thus the water supply of the city of Cajamarca unusable. In addition, the gold mining endangers one of the last traditional indigenous , Quechua-speaking communities of the highlands of Cajamarca, Porcón.

After violent protests in 2004 , Newmont announced that it would not make any further exploration of the Quilish for the time being.

Aware that every mine, and even the operation of the smallest quarry, represents a significant encroachment on nature, the operator endeavors to renaturalize the mined area. Yanacocha is only able to achieve this to a very limited extent. The Yanacocha mine is located exactly on the watershed of four important rivers of national importance. Time and again there is water pollution and numerous fish deaths. The pollution of soil and water repeatedly leads to social conflicts, especially between smallholders and the Yanacocha. It is not uncommon for fatal clashes to occur. The company tries to get rid of its very bad reputation through an aggressive media campaign and deliberate misinformation of the local population at home and abroad.

The population's demonstrations continued in 2012, and in June there was violent police violence after the population of Cajamarca called for a general strike in protest. As a result, President Ollanta Humala again declared a state of emergency in three provinces and had the demonstrations suppressed by force. Five people were shot dead by police and many others were seriously injured or arbitrarily arrested. The pro-government MP Ana María Solorzano accused the protesters from Bambamarca of having kidnapped 15 police officers.

The Conga project is an extension of the Minera Yanacocha company, whose shareholders are Newmont Corporation, Buenaventura and the IFC ( World Bank ). Yanacocha has been mining opencast gold in Cajamarca for 19 years and is under constant criticism from human rights and environmental organizations. Now the company Newmont Mining wants to invest $ 4.8 billion in gold mining in a fragile ecosystem. Organizations such as B. Rettet den Regenwald eV and Avaaz criticize the company and its approach harshly and call on the company and the government to refrain from the project.

There are also other side effects, for example on June 2, 2000 a truck lost a canister with 150L of mercury in the small town of Choropampa . The poisonous metal was collected from the residents. It was only after a week that the cleaning work began, with the approx. 50L collected again. In 2020, the residents will suffer from the long-term consequences of the accident. Many of the residents have since left the place.

literature

Web links

See also

Celedín Province - Conga Mining Conflict

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Vocabulary / Simi Taqe / Simi Taqi / Simikuna / Shimikuna" vocabulary, collected by Philip Jacobs; runasimi.xls; http://www.runasimi.de/main-de.htm
  2. ↑ Source: Information from Yanacocha and inspection during a personal visit in August 2005
  3. ^ Newmont Mining, Annual Reports 2005-2011 ( Memento of September 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Report "Why is production falling at Yanacocha?" (Spanish) http://www.cajamarca.de/mine/caeproduccion.pdf
  5. ↑ Newmont Mining, Annual Reports: 2007 page 12, 2010 page 18 ( Memento from September 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ https://www.regenwald.org/aktion/880/peru-gold-graebt-menschen-das-wasser-ab#more
  7. ↑ Policía herido en Celendín: “La población celendina vino a atacarnos” ( Memento of December 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Un cuarto civil fallecido dejó enfrentamiento en Cajamarca ( Memento of December 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ http://www.infoamazonas.de/2012/04/18/cajamarca-bergbau-gutachter-mahnen-verbesserungen-am-conga-projekt-an.html
  10. ↑ http://www.avaaz.org/de/petition/Stop_the_Conga_mining_project_2/
  11. ↑ https://www.regenwald.org/aktion/880/peru-gold-graebt-menschen-das-wasser-ab
  12. ↑ http://www.avaaz.org/de/petition/Stop_the_Conga_mining_project_2/
  13. ↑ the village still suffering from peru mercury spill fallout after 20 years

Coordinates: 6 ° 58 ′ 29.2 ″  S , 78 ° 31 ′ 7.2 ″  W.