By Marcelo Rochabrun
LIMA -Peruvian police have entered the huge Chinese-owned Las Bambas copper mine in an attempt to evict an indigenous community that has established a camp near the open pit forcing it to halt operations, a community leader and government official said.
Las Bambas, owned by China's MMG Ltd, supplies 2% of global copper. Residents of the indigenous Fuerabamba community entered the mine on April 14 demanding what they say is their ancestral lands. The mine halted production a week later.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that Las Bambas was planning to forcefully evict the community on Wednesday.
"We are already fighting," Edison Vargas, the president of the Fuerabamba community, told Reuters by phone. A government source with direct knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named, told Reuters police had begun entering the mine.
Peru's government declared a state of emergency in the area earlier on Wednesday, a move that suspends civil liberties such as the right to assembly and protest.
The Fuerabamba community was resettled around a decade ago to make way for Las Bambas, one of the word's largest copper mines. The mine has battled against repeated protests and road blockades that have at times forced it to halt production.
Getting production started again at Las Bambas would add to global supply, potentially dampening prices, though the mine has faced recurring disruptions from impoverished local communities demanding higher financial contributions from the mine.