Police officers stand guard while people march as community leaders rejected a government proposal to prevent future blockades affecting the Las Bambas copper mine, in Sayhua, Peru January 17, 2022.
Police officers stand guard while people march as community leaders rejected a government proposal to prevent future blockades affecting the Las Bambas copper mine, in Sayhua, Peru January 17, 2022. Reuters / SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA

A group of Peruvian indigenous communities that have been protesting MMG Ltd's huge Las Bambas copper mine will meet with President Pedro Castillo on Tuesday in Lima in a new bid to defuse the crisis, a community leader told Reuters.

Edison Vargas, the President of the Fuerabamba community, said the groups hoped to present their problems to Castillo, a leftist president who came to office last year pledging to redistribute mining wealth in the world's No. 2 copper producer.

Las Bambas, which supplies 2% of global copper, suspended operations on April 20 due to the protests and has been unable to restart production since, the most severe crisis the Chinese-owned mine has faced.