Overview
- The ruling, issued March 19, voids the October 13, 2025 approval and sends the case back to the Directorate General of Mining for a new review.
- The council acted on a review from the Provincial Municipality of Islay and found the 2025 authorization lacked the legal reasoning required by Peru’s administrative rules.
- It also flagged unresolved technical items, including detailed designs for waste rock dumps and a firm timetable for the exploitation phase.
- The Energy and Mines Ministry says the process continues and regulators will deliver a new decision after a technical review, while Southern has sought a meeting and notes it has not begun extraction.
- Construction permits remain in effect, so building can proceed as extraction stays paused, a setup that could delay jobs and port upgrades in Matarani tied to a $1.4–$1.8 billion project expected to produce about 120,000 tonnes of copper a year.