Source: OsterDowJones Select
Date of Publication: December 21, 2004

(Dow Jones)--Unions at The Doe Run Company's Peruvian unit are threatening to strike at the La Oroya metallurgical complex from Dec. 28 unless the government allows the company more time to meet environmental standards, a union official said Tuesday.

"There was a meeting with all the population, including the workers, of La Oroya where they unanimously agreed to carry out an indefinite strike from Dec. 28," union director Eustebio Torres said in a telephone interview.

He said there were some 4,000 unionized workers.

Doe Run Peru has requested a five-year environmental cleanup extension to 2011, arguing that it lacks the funds needed to meet its current deadline. Company officials also warned they could be forced to suspend operations without the extension.

Peru's Energy and Mines Ministry recently published a draft resolution that would allow companies to modify their Environmental Adjustment and Management Programs, or PAMAs, for "exceptional reasons."

But that failed to satisfy union officials.

"The government hasn't given a clear answer to the company's request to extend its PAMA to 2011," Torres said.

Doe Run Peru began operating a metallurgical complex in the Andean town of La Oroya in 1997.

One of the main projects under the PAMA is the construction of a $100 million plant that would reduce sulfur dioxide emissions.

La Oroya residents have joined company employees and local authorities in lobbying the government to extend the company's PAMA. Last month thousands marched to support the company, blocking a key road.

Doe Run's La Oroya facility produces copper, lead, zinc and smaller amounts of gold, silver and minor metals.

The company says Doe Run Peru's total sales were $423.7 million in 2003.

The privately held St. Louis-based Doe Run Company is the largest integrated lead producer in North America.

-By Robert Kozak, Dow Jones Newswires; 511-221-7050; peru@dowjones.com

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