UPDATE: Peru Poll Shows 40% Believe Minas Conga Won't Start

A new poll shows that 41% believe that the stalled Minas Conga copper and gold project will proceed, while 40% think the mine project won't start operating.

Pollster Datum said in the poll published in newspaper Gestion on Thursday that 19% had no opinion about the project.

Analysts say that if the project doesn't go forward, this could harm investments in Peru.

Protests by residents concerned about potential damage to water supplies led to a suspension of work on the $4.8 billion project late last year. Minera Yanacocha, which is developing the deposit, says it will be able to build reservoirs to ensure improved access to water.

The poll found that 55% believe that if the Minas Conga project doesn't advance, investments in mining in Peru will stall or decline.

Three international consultants have started work on examining the company's environmental impact study, which was approved by the government of former President Alan Garcia in 2010. They are expected to report to the government on their findings in the first week of April.

"We are doing all that we can to ensure that the project moves forward in accordance with what was decided by the previous government," Prime Minister Oscar Valdes said on RPP radio Thursday.

At a meeting with reporters this week, a high-level Yanacocha official said that the company has complied with all legal requirements to proceed with the project.

Peru is one of the world's largest mining companies for copper, gold, silver, zinc, tin and other minerals.

Yanacocha hopes to have production up and running at Minas Conga by the end of 2014 or early 2015.

Production is seen at an average annual output during the first five years of 580,000 to 680,000 ounces of gold and 155 million to 235 million pounds of copper.

Compania de Minas Buenaventura SA (BVN, BUENAVC1.VL) has a 43.65% stake in Yanacocha, which is controlled by Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM) The International Finance Corp. has a minority stake.

The Datum poll of 1,206 persons was taken from March 9 to March 12, and has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

-By Robert Kozak, Dow Jones Newswires; 51-1-99927 7269; peru@dowjones.com

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