Peru community wants its land back, threatening Chinese copper mine

The community of Fuerabamba in the Andean region of Peru was resettled eight years ago to make way for a giant Chinese-owned copper mine, in a $1.2-billion scheme billed as a model solution to protests dogging the South American nation's mining sector.

Now the community wants the land back.

In mid-April, more than a hundred Fuerabamba community members stormed the Las Bambas mine and pitched tents near the openpit, forcing a halt in production at a site that provides 2% of global copper supplies. They were joined by the nearby Huancuire community, which was protesting a planned expansion of the mine on their former land.