Tahoe restarts Peruvian mine after truce with protesters

TORONTO • Vancouver-based Tahoe Resources said on Friday that operations have restarted at its La Arena gold mine in Peru, ending an eight-day suspension, after protesters agreed to formal talks with the company.

Tahoe said it now expects annual production from the mine to be near the low end of its forecast 160,000 to 185,000 ounces of gold, due to the suspension coupled with a strike in the second quarter.

Protesters left Tahoe’s property Thursday night after a formal agreement was reached and operations resumed with the overnight shift, Tahoe said, adding that talks hosted by the Ministry of Energy and Mines were to begin Friday.

Last Friday, Tahoe said that between 80 and 100 protesters from the community of La Ramada, 3 km from the mine, were trespassing on its property and demanding payment for environmental impacts of mining on their community.

The protest followed meetings between Tahoe and some La Ramada residents who said they wanted compensation for unspecified damage caused by dust and vibrations from blasting at the mine, Tahoe said at the time.

The gold and silver miner, which also has operations in Guatemala and Canada, said ongoing monitoring shows that mine blasting complies with the law and environmental quality standards.

The company’s stock has been trading near multi-year lows since the share price dropped 38 per cent on Tuesday after Guatemala’s constitutional court upheld the suspension of the licence for its Escobal silver mine.

Separately, last week, Tahoe said some 600 cubic metres of cyanide and gold bearing solution may have leaked from the mine site into a neighbouring creek.

The spill was caused by an apparent theft attempt, the company said. After five holes were cut into a pipeline carrying the solution, bags of carbon were inserted to absorb the gold, but one blocked the pipeline and solution leaked, it said.