Minister Flury Speaks

Minister Flury Speaks

Tambogrande Update – December 3, 2003

From: CooperAccion, Peru

On Wednesday, November 26, the Environment and Ecology Sub-commission of the Peruvian Congress undertook a second session on Tambogrande. Hans Flury, Minister of Energy and Mines, participated in the session and announced that:
the Ministry of Energy and Mines plans to schedule another public hearing regarding Manhattan’s EIA. The Minister provided no details about where or when the hearing will be carried out.

The December 1 deadline under Manhattan’s option agreement for the project stands. By this date Manhattan was obliged to demonstrate that either it, or a partner, possesses net assets of at least US$100 million and operates a complex with a treatment capacity of at least 10,000 tonne/day.

Manhattan requested an extension of the December 1 deadline, claiming that due to force majeure, it was unable to fulfill its obligations under the option agreement.
Manhattan’s request was denied by Centromin (state-owned mining company and Manhattan’s potential partner in the development of the project). The Minister also rejects the force majeure argument.

Note that in a November 28 press release, Manhattan denies that it requested an extension of the December 1 deadline.

Has Manhattan Got the Goods?

On Monday, December 1, Manhattan submitted a document to ProInversión, the government agency that promotes investment in Peru, regarding the qualifying obligations under its option agreement ($100 million/10,000 tonnes). ProInversión is not providing any information to the public regarding the contents of the document. Centromin is evaluating the document to assess whether Manhattan satisfies the qualifying conditions and will reportedly release a decision regarding the matter next Friday, December 12.

If Manhattan fails to satisfy the conditions, it cannot exercise its ownership option in the project. A recent Reuters article points out that, "in its third-quarter financial statement, Manhattan counted assets of $65.2 million and liabilities of $1.4 million, falling short of the net asset value of $100 million required by the government."

Take Action! Peruvian Mangoes Need Your Help!

Check out the Mineral Policy Center’s Tambogrande action alert at http://actionnetwork.org/campaign/tambogrande. So far almost 900 people have written to President Toledo, the MEM and Manhattan via this Internet portal, requesting that the Peruvian government respect the results of the 2002 community referendum carried out by the Municipality of Tambogrande.

CooperAccion
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