Newmont's Peru Gold Mine Needs `Substantial Improvements'

Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM)’s suspended $4.8 billion gold project in Peru needs “substantial improvements” to gain approval, according to the author of a government-commissioned study.

“There’s no such thing as zero impact, the project requires substantial improvements,” Rafael Fernandez, who co- wrote a study on Minas Congas that was delivered to the government today, said at a press conference in Lima.

Peru suspended the project and commissioned a review after Andean farmers, fearing the project would dry local water supplies, blocked roads and destroyed Newmont installations in November. The government will make a decision on the mine based on the report’s recommendations, said Fernandez. The report will be published April 18.

Newmont, based in Greenwood Village, Colorado, referred to e-mailed comments made last week when contacted by Bloomberg today. Newmont welcomes the review of Conga’s 13-year environmental impact study and is confident the consultants were objective and impartial in their work, spokesman Omar Jabara said in e-mailed comments last week.

The report will published on government websites and discussed in public hearings, Peru Cabinet Chief Oscar Valdes said at the press conference.

Newmont gained 0.3 percent to $48.33 at the close in New York. The stock has dropped 19 percent this year.