Although Canadian mining company Manhattan Minerals Corporation continues the Tambogrande project in an effort to discover more gold, local residents say that the project could ruin the region's key agriculture industry, which employs some 26,000 people and produces an average of us $105 million a year.

The company is working overtime to conclude an environmental impact analysis, which it says will prove that its operations pose no ecological threat to the region. "In March or April we are going to have a draft and the final version should be ready in May or June this year,' revealed a spokesperson for the Canadian firm. The company is trying to convince the locals that the project would not cause any environmental degradation.