One person is reported to have been injured by police gunfire amid opposition to the mega Conga mine in Cajamarca, northern Peru.

According to community leader Marco Arana, police opened fire without warning as a group of locals attempted to reach the Perol lake on 28 May. Police used rubber bullets and birdshot against approximately 1000 protesters, who, according to a company statement, were on private property and threw stones at police.

Resistance to the majority Canadian-owned project has been reinvigorated by the construction of a reservoir intended to replace local lakes used for the area’s water supply, which will be drained to access minerals. The building work ends months of suspension after violent clashes in 2012. Meanwhile, Mar Pérez of the National Human Rights Coordination body warned that flaws in the police investigation into the deaths of four inhabitants of neighbouring Celendín during protests last July could lead to the case being abandoned.

Meanwhile in southern Peru, hundreds of people have participated in a protest demanding accountability for environmental pollution around the Tintaya mine, owned by Anglo-Swiss commodities giant Glencore-Xstrata. The mobilisation comes after a year of inconclusive talks between communities, the company and state representatives, following violent conflict last year in which three people were killed.

Leaders of local women’s and youth organisations were among those who took to the streets of Yauri on 21 May, the capital of Espinar province, in the Cusco region. In mid-April, data collected as part of the dialogue process revealed the presence of high levels of heavy metals in the area around the mine, but did not identify the source of the pollution. Communities are demanding clarity on the cause of the contamination and plans for remedial action.

Lack of progress in updating an agreement on corporate support for local development also remains of concern to civil society groups in Espinar. The 2003 deal promised ‘up to’ 3 per cent of profits from the mine would fund community projects. Limited transparency and the perceived ineffectiveness of the foundation have led to demands for a doubling of this contribution.

The peaceful protest began with a vigil to remember those killed or wounded in past clashes, followed by a mass and the raising of the national flag, and finally a march through the streets.

President of community group Fudie, Herbert Huamán Llave, said he wanted questions about the mine’s impacts answered “at once”: “We’ve been in a process of dialogue for a year without results. People are impatient.”