Greenwood Village-based Newmont Mining Corp.’s suspended $4.8 billion Minas Conga gold mine development — Peru’s largest investment project — will be reviewed for environmental impacts by international consultants, the government said.
An overhaul of the deposit’s environmental impact study aims to eliminate opposition to the project, newly appointed Cabinet Chief Oscar Valdes Dancuart said.
Valdes was sworn in by President Ollanta Humala Sunday as part of a cabinet shake-up that included the Energy & Mines Ministry.
“This is a technical and absolutely neutral solution which will avoid continuing a debate between state entities and Andean communities,” Valdes said at the Presidential Palace in Lima.
“Soon we will learn whether the project is viable or not,” he said.
Newmont, the biggest U.S. gold producer, suspended the gold project on Nov. 30 after protests by villagers concerned that the deposit will dry up water supplies.
