The Second Vice President of the Peruvian Institute of Mining Engineers (IIMP), Miguel Cardozo, pointed out that mining exploration projects are normally at short term; therefore, long term agreements with communities are not required.

In view of this, he considered the application of Prior Consultation in Peru, which within the framework of ILO Convention 169 requires informing the population about long-term impacts, to be an "absolute absurdity”.

"Out of 1,000 prospects, one becomes a mine and 100 achieve the drilling stage, which also takes a few months. In the vast majority of cases, companies arrive, search and leave. So, what are we going to inform communities? That we are looking for a deposit that we don't have?”, he asks.

Similarly, Miguel Cardozo maintained that the mining exploration carried out by companies in Peru does not generate significant impacts, however, it faces obstacles that prevent its development.

"The law treats us as if we were environmental criminals and we are guilty before we even start. Negative administrative silence is impossible to handle. No deadline is met because there is no way to make it mandatory. There have been attempts to eliminate it for the Environmental Technical File case, but the Environmental Impact Statement and the Semi-Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment are still missing," he explained.

Finally, he added that if there is no mining, the country will have a difficult economic situation, so it is essential to sit down and consider the issue together and by consensus.