Doe Run Peru donates sluicegates to support Mantaro River water distribution
• Donation to benefit 53,000 farmers in Mantaro Valley near La Oroya
LA OROYA, PERU, May 18, 2007 -- Doe Run Peru has donated 52 steel sluicegates to help improve irrigation in the Mantaro Valley high in the Andes near La Oroya, which will benefit some 53,000 area farmers.
Under the project, massive sheets of steel were fashioned into sluicegates by Doe Run Peru's Structural Maintenance team. The gates are now available to help direct the Mantaro River's water where it is most needed, and away from areas at risk of flooding.
The project was completed as part of a program the company has run since 2002 to support irrigation and improve agricultural productivity in the area near its La Oroya metallurgical facility.
Previously, Doe Run Peru partnered with local agricultural groups to complete major maintenance that removed more than 60 years of accumulated mud and debris from a channel of the Mantaro, increasing the supply of water available to some 15,000 farmers living near the river. Doe Run has invested approximately US$ 1 million in these projects.
Juan Carlos Huyhua, Doe Run Peru president and general manager, said he was pleased by the collaboration these projects have allowed among Doe Run Peru, the Peruvian government and local agricultural groups to reduce the contamination of the Mantaro river and improve agriculture in the valley.
Doe Run Peru is a mining and metals company operating in Peru's central Andes. The company has run the La Oroya metallurgical complex since 1997 and the Cobriza mine in Huancavelica since 1998, producing high quality refined metals while at the same time working to operate in a socially and environmentally responsible way.
###