We have reported the news regarding Minas Conga, Newmont’s US$4.8 billion project in Peru, a lot of times in this section. The latest twist comes from a group of independent auditors in Europe who issued recommendations that would help the company address the issues that caused local opposition. The independent committee mostly recommended caving to the demands of protesters, especially in building larger water reservoirs and preserving local lakes.

Peru’s president Ollanta Humala commented: “The company should meet the environmental and social recommendations made by auditors. And the capacity of the reservoirs should be at least four times greater than originally proposed by the company so as to benefit more townspeople.”

With the new study out, Newmont is having another look at the project economics to decide its viability. Newmont’s CEO has stated that the company has alternative development projects in Nevada, Ghana, Australia, and Indonesia that it could focus on instead of Minas Conga: “We feel we have other options in the portfolio should [Conga’s] economics not turn out to be favorable.”

Those other options may come in handy. The local governor in the region of Minas Conga has gone on record saying: “No position has changed here… [T]he Conga project isn’t viable.”

The jury is still out on this. Loss of the project would be a serious blow to Peru, but the opposition doesn’t care in the least. We will continue watching as the saga unfolds – or wraps up.