Communities struggle to hold Chinese miners to account in Peru

At 4,700 metres above sea level, oxygen is a lot harder to come by. But what is truly scarce in the highlands of the Morococha district, deep within the Peruvian Andes, is hope.

In 2012, the Aluminium Corporation of China (Chinalco) began developing this area’s town of Nueva Morococha, a red-roofed settlement built from scratch. It rehoused 5,000 people, who were displaced by what is now one of Peru’s most important copper mines, named Toromocho.

Over the past two decades, China has become South America’s main trading partner. It is projected that Chinese trade with Latin America will exceed USD 700 billion by 2035. China-Peru trade reached USD 24 billion in 2024, of which copper ore accounted for 62%. Atachahua and others like him are experiencing the reality of this development first-hand.

Read the full article from Dialogue Earth here.