CANCAHUANI, Peru, Jan 19 (Reuters) - MMG's Las Bambas copper mine on Wednesday inked a deal with local residents in Peru with increased job offers for locals in a bid to avoid future road blockades that could disrupt operations.
At a tense meeting in the Andean community of Cancahuani attended by Reuters, some leaders from the Chumbivilcas province agreed to a deal that will allow them to serve Las Bambas with 14 copper-carrying trucks, 14 pickups and a contract to maintain the road.
A previous offer included 12 pickups and a smaller road maintenance contract.
The deal is the latest peace offering from Las Bambas to future road blockades at its highly contentious copper corridor, which traverses impoverished communities which say the mine's presence does not benefit them financially.
Residents have blocked the Las Bambas road on and off for over 400 days since the mine started operations in 2016, and most recently forced the mine to suspend operations in December for several weeks.
Peru is the world's No. 2 copper producer and Chinese-owned Las Bambas is one of the country's largest mines. Any disruption to Las Bambas can have significant impact to the Andean nation's economy.
There is, however, still risk of future blockades.
The leaders of two communities left the Wednesday meeting in protest over the proposal, and it is unclear if they will seek to block the road in upcoming days.
Wednesday's meeting followed a meeting earlier this week with a dissident faction of communities from Chumbivilcas which have said they will decide in 15 days whether to block the road themselves. (Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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