10 injured at Peru mine strike protest

At least 10 people were injured Tuesday in clashes between protesters and police amid an ongoing strike at a gold mine in northern Peru, officials said. Seven of the injured were civilians hit with rubber bullets, the other three were policemen pelted with stones in clashes after protesters attempted to enter buildings at the Conga mine, regional prefect Ever Hernandez told AFP. The protests against the $4.8-billion Conga Project run by US-based Newmont Mining Corporation have brought Peru's northern Cajamarca department to a near standstill in recent days, with locals vehemently against plans to open a gold mine they say will sully water supplies, risking their health. The issue prompted deputy environment minister Jose De Echave to resign on Monday, calling official environmental impact studies for the major mining project "weak, outdated and lacking in credibility," and telling AFP the government lacked "an adequate strategy for dealing with social conflict." The protests have been simmering for days, with a mob of some 1,500 demonstrators setting fire to a local warehouse, and protests held throughout the department, which has a population of some 1.4 million. The conflict goes to the heart of problems facing President Ollanta Humala in trying to balance the needs of the people who elected him -- mainly the country's poor and working class -- with the demands of the mining industry, the engine of Peru's economic growth in the past years. The open-pit gold and copper Conga Project involves moving the water from four lakes located high in the mountains into reservoirs the company would build. Locals say the reservoirs do not adequately replace the lakes, which also provides ground water for agriculture and for raising livestock. Mining in Peru generated some $15 billion last year, and this year mining exports are expected to be above $25.5 billion, according to government figures.