SNMPE to consider expelling Doe Run over La Oroya- Peru

Peru's national mining, oil and energy society SNMPE will evaluate at the end of the month

the permanent exclusion of Doe Run Perú from the trade association, state news agency Andina reported.

SNMPE cites as the motive Doe Run's noncompliance with its environmental obligations at the La Oroya smelter in Junín and failing to bring La Oroya back into production as promised.

The company reportedly will not be able to bring the smelter online during January, the new deadline for restarting production that was approved by congress and signed into law in October.

"The board [of SNMPE] has agreed to maintain the suspension of Doe Run [as a member] until January 31, and then evaluate what is happening and at that time we will call on them to inform us of what they are doing and what they are going to do," SNMPE president Hans Flury was quoted as saying by Andina.

SNMPE suspended Doe Run's membership rights in July.

Doe Run stopped operations at La Oroya last year due largely to financial difficulties. The extension gave the company 10 more months to obtain the necessary financing to finish construction of a sulfuric acid plant and modifications to La Oroya's copper circuit, plus two months to renegotiate contracts with workers, 12 months to finish the works and six months for commissioning.

The environmental works are part of the contract Doe Run signed with the Peruvian government in 1997 when the smelter was privatized.

The nearly century-old smelter produces 11 different metals and is known for having caused serious lead contamination around the town of La Oroya.