Cajamarca Peru: A small wall made of mud and straw stands on a mountain as a reminder of the collective protest that stopped the Newmont Mining Company.

When the Newmont Gold Mining Company, a US-based corporation, tried to open a mine on the sacred Cerro Quilish Mountain they were forced to look elsewhere for their gold. Mt. Quilish was a source of drinking water for the city and farms; it was designated a natural reserve in 2000. Newmont took the designation to court and the Peruvian Government allowed them to continue their exploration.

In August of 2004, a protest including a blockade of vehicles and boulders helped stop the mine. The protest grew over the next two weeks and eventually 10,000 people participated. Newmont called off the project in November of 2004 and admitted to a lack of consultation with the community.

“There is a social license that in my opinion it is far more important than a government license. It is renewable everyday! Without building a trust with the people that live there and work there and have lived there for centuries you are going to have trouble and indeed they have” Kurlander 2005

Protest in Cajamarca Peru

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