Phoenix-based Southern Copper (NYSE: PCU), in a bid to overcome the main obstacle to developing the Tía María project in Peru, is planning a January meeting with residents of Cocachacra to persuade them to accept the mine after a previous effort was suspended in September and locals voted to reject the project at the end of that month, fearing it could impact water supplies.

Guido Bocchio, Southern's manager of legal issues and natural resources, said in an interview with BNamericas that the company - despite deputy mining minister Fernando Gala's request to provide alternatives - will insist on its plan to use the subsoil waters of the Tambo river.

Bocchio said studies have shown that the Tambo alternative is not only the safest for the environment but also the most cost effective means of providing the water to develop the deposit, located in Arequipa region and estimated to hold 638Mt grading 0.39% copper. The subsoil water from the Tambo river provides over 225l/s and will be enough for the mine and not affect the river or farmers, he claimed.

Other alternatives evaluated for the mine have been the use of surface river waters by building a dam - something flatly rejected by local farmers - and the pumping of water from the ocean, which would be too costly as the deposit is located at high altitudes and far from the sea, according to Bocchio.

The approval of farmers who live near the mine site is a requirement for the government to approve the environmental impact study (EIS). According to a vote held in late September that organizers called a "referendum," the majority of locals are against the project. Southern Copper rejected the vote, claiming it lacked legality.

Bocchio said that "groups opposed to mining with leftist ideology" were the ones responsible for creating the "wrong climate" for its planned September hearing with local residents and farmers so it had to suspend the meeting, a legal requirement, at the last minute. He said the company hopes the right climate for the talks will exist by January.

"We are estimating a new hearing for January," he said.

If the January meeting is successful, approval of the EIA could come in the first quarter of next year and the project could be completed on schedule by 2011, as announced by the company in recent weeks.

Southern Copper earlier this year restarted the project after it was put on hold following plummeting copper prices in late 2008. The project was initially planned to be finished by 2010 for an estimated US$1.2bn, which was later reduced to less than US$1bn, and is expected to produce 120,000t/y of copper cathodes.

Bocchio said the company will be innovative in dealing with the community by "one, seeking more direct talks with the community; two, moving from the technical to the simple explanation; and three, creating special commission teams."

Tía María, along with Chinalco's Toromocho and Zijin's Río Blanco, is one of the biggest new copper mining projects in Peru.