The Minister for Energy and Mines, Óscar Vera, has announced that the government intends to reinitiate discussions to restart the Tía María copper mine in Islay (Arequipa), owned by Southern Peru Copper Corporation. The mine has been suspended for ten years due to local communities’ questions over the mine’s Environmental Impact Report (EIA). During 2011 and 2015, intense social conflicts over the mine left seven dead. There have also been long running legal uncertainties over parts of the project which previously belonged to another concession holder.

Vera said: “The number of issues that we are seeing is large, but we are planning for the restart of Tía María. It will entail working with communities and we are already initiating a coordination strategy with the [regional] authorities. We hope to have good news in the coming months.”

The announcement runs contrary to President Dina Boluarte’s previous statements opposing Tía María during the election campaign in 2021. Subsequently, after becoming president in December 2022, when asked about Tía María, she noted that “nothing was closed”.

The regional governor of Arequipa, Rohel Sánchez, said that the regional government is now engaging local communities about the project. He noted that they “… have a territorial approach within which all the economic activities which are endorsed by the population could be developed.”

On 19 May, the regional government met with around 20 leaders from Tambo valley, an agricultural strip of Islay province. The government announced it would start a working group on 5 June, in the district of Cocachacra, tasked to develop an integrated development plan. The group will include local authorities and leaders, the regional government and technical specialists.

Sánchez noted that “we can’t have years of conflict. The population took a decision about the mining project and we are not going to go against it”.

The provincial mayor of Islay, Richard Ale, told the national press that his role was to represent the will of the population: “there’s a percentage that want mining, but the large majority says no”.