Community leaders in the mining province of Oyón, 160 km northeast of Lima, are demanding that the government take immediate steps to prevent the contamination caused by the company Buenaventura, world leader in silver production. “With its mining slag, Buenaventura killed off all forms of life in the lagoons of Oyón and is also dumping waste into the Huaura River,” Felipe Reyes Villena, president of an Oyón neighborhood committee, told Tierramérica.

“We have been denouncing this eco-cide for months, but so far the authorities haven't done a thing. We came (to Lima) to contact other community organizations that face problems of environmental contamination,” said Reyes.

According to its own figures published in 2004, Buenaventura produces approximately 10 million ounces of silver a year, making it the leading producer of this precious metal in South America, and fourth in the world.