Oxfam America

Tintaya Copper Mine

 

TINTAYA COPPER MINE

In Peru, Oxfam is promoting an innovative consultative dialogue process between communities affected by the Tintaya Copper mine and its owners, the BHP-Billiton Corporation of Australia.

Road in the Tinaya Copper Mine
By: Diego Nebel/Oxfam

Extracting metals from rocks is not an easy or clean business. It requires a lot of money, engineering expertise, and access to land and other resources. It is no wonder that ordinary people in communities affected by large mining operations can suffer from loss of land, pollution, and other serious effects on their lives and livelihoods. People who live near mines endure these costs of mining projects—but they don't always enjoy the benefits like jobs, community investments, or a rising standard of living.

Nevertheless, people affected by mines have rights—rights to be consulted about the establishment and expansion of mines, to have their environment and way of life protected, and to be compensated for loss of land, for pollution of their resources, and other negative impacts on their prospects for a sustainable livelihood. Yet when these rights are not respected, vulnerable communities frequently lack the power and proper training to take action to defend them.

In Peru, Oxfam is promoting an innovative consultative dialogue process between communities affected by the Tintaya Copper mine and its owners, the BHP-Billiton Corporation of Australia. Oxfam America, Oxfam Australia - Community Aid Abroad, and several Peruvian organizations have helped the communities affected by the Tintaya mine to engage in a substantive discussion with BHP-Billiton. They are identifying and voicing their demands and expectations, and working towards solutions to the many challenges they face. The dialogue process is known as the Mesa de Diàlogo (Dialogue Roundtable). It is the only such initiative in Peru, where half of the almost 6,000 indigenous communities are affected by mining.

Learn more about the Mesa de Diàlogo and Tintaya Copper Mine, and how the communities affected by it are working to defend their rights.