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Doe Run Peru celebrates anniversary in La Oroya

Doe Run Peru recently marked the 11th anniversary of operations at its La Oroya operation with the announcement of significant improvements in all the environmental emissions indicators at the metals processing facility.

“In these 11 years we have faced huge challenges. Today we are seeing radical improvements in each and every environmental indicator at the (La Oroya) metallurgical complex,” said Juan Carlos Huyhua, Doe Run Peru’s president and general manager.

“Now we have the challenge of continuing the improvements and reinforcing the company’s competitiveness within a context of sustainable development.”

On September 30, 2008 Doe Run Peru inaugurated the sulfuric acid plant for the lead circuit at La Oroya. The project was completed as part of the company’s environmental operating agreement with the government and the city of La Oroya.

With an investment of nearly $50 million, the plant’s launch is expected to yield reductions of some 50 percent in sulfur dioxide emissions. Along with the sulfuric acid
plant inauguration the company also opened the doors to its new warehouse and dispatch center for the sulfuric acid produced at the metallurgical facility.

Significant environmental improvements Throughout its 11-year history, Doe Run Peru has reported on environmental improvements in both its operations and its emissions, with resulting benefits for the people of the La Oroya community.

Among September’s most significant results, which have been verified by the appropriate auditing organizations, are the following improvements:

1. Main stack lead emissions are down 70 percent from October of 1997 when Doe Run arrived in La
Oroya.
2. The level of lead in the air of La Oroya is 77 percent lower than it was 11 years ago.
3. Air levels of arsenic were 57 percent lower
4. Air levels of cadmium were 83 percent lower
5. The volume of industrial effluents discharged into the Mantaro
5. The volume of industrial effluents discharged into the Mantaro River are down 88 percent compared to levels the company found when it arrived in La Oroya in 1997.
6. Lead has been virtually eliminated from the water discharged into the Mantaro River.
7. Arsenic in the water discharged into the Mantaro has also been virtually eliminated – down 99 percent – compared to 1997’s levels.

Click here to read complete press release

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Love Hope Strength Foundation aims to make music and cancer fighting history atop Machu Picchu with "Peru Rocks"

Eighty Legendary Musicians, Devoted Cancer Survivors and Supporters from Four Countries Unite for Ten Day Musical Trek in Support of Cancer Care for Peru

On the heels of their record-breaking performance at 18,536 feet in the shadows of Mt. Everest, the Love Hope Strength Foundation (LHS) today announced details for "Peru Rocks" – a 10-day musical journey taking place October 8-17 in multiple locations throughout Peru.

Well known musicians from Fastball, and The Fixx, will join Nick Harper, renowned director and producer Alex Colletti, and LHS co-founders Mike Peters of The Alarm and James Chippendale, along with 60 cancer survivors and supporters in a music-fueled pilgrimage devoted to providing cancer care to a country in need.

The journey will begin with a visit to the countries' largest cancer care center in Lima where trekkers will meet the courageous cancer patients their journey will support.

They will then head to Cusco for a four day, 30-mile hike up the Inca Trail to the ancient ruins of Machu Picchu in the Andes Mountains. The musicians will perform in small villages and town centers each night, with a musical celebration atop the mystical eighth wonder of the world.

The journey will conclude with a special benefit concert on Peru's Green Coast overlooking the city of Lima.

The Peru Rocks experience will be documented by director/producer Alex Colletti (creator of MTV's Unplugged), who premiered the first LHS documentary, Everest Rocks, on MTV's HD channel Palladia in September of 2008.

As with Everest Rocks, when millions of people from around the globe watched footage from the day's journey and participated via a dedicated website, the LHS foundation has established an interactive trekker journal, www.perurocks.org as a way for cancer supporters around the world to join in this historic effort.

LHS will make podcasts available each day on the dedicated site as well as iTunes. All proceeds from this endeavor will provide much needed equipment to Peru's National Institute of Neoplastic Disease in conjunction with ALINEN.

Last year LHS raised money and awareness for the people of Nepal and purchased the country's first mammography and internal radiation machines. This year, in addition to providing equipment, LHS will use the money to establish a chapter in Peru that will initiate ongoing national awareness and cancer care campaigns.

One of the many survivors who are "climbing back from cancer" on this trip, Tracy Callahan, from Philadelphia, was given five years to live after being diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer.

This October she will be celebrating five years of remission alongside many other cancer survivors with similar stories. Other trekkers are going on the journey to honor those that lost their battle with cancer.

Lee Williams and his family will be going to celebrate the life of Otto Schutt, co-founder of the Burning Man Festival, and inspiration behind the online video portal, www.givethanks.tv .

Otto, who passed away in May 2008 at age 40, was planning on taking the trip to Peru, and now his friends and family are going in his place to spread his ashes among the Andes Mountains.

"We are bringing on more musicians, cancer survivors and supporters to join us for Peru Rocks to help make this global event not only more far-reaching, but also to help raise the funds necessary to provide cancer screening and treatment equipment needs to the people of Peru," said James Chippendale, Co-Founder of the Love Hope Strength Foundation.

"Peru Rocks" is the latest charity climb and concert in the "Rocks" line-up in just over a year. There was "Empire Rocks" on the top of the Empire State Building, "Snowdon Rocks" at the summit of Mount Snowdon and most recently "Everest Rocks", where LHS broke the record for highest concert ever performed at the base camp of Mount Everest.

The Love Hope Strength Foundation started the "Rocks" events with the hope of bringing cancer care and support to the world. Their mission continues in Peru, one cancer center in every country, one concert at a time.

Brands and individuals are helping to make Peru Rocks possible and are an essential component to bringing change to Peru and the LHS mission. They include Epiphone, Marmot, Crocs, Eagle Creek, Irridium, MTV's Palladia, Gardiner AND Theobald, Smith Optics and Red Robot Entertainment as well as thousands of individual supporters.

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Panoro Starts First of Four Drill Programs in Peru

Panoro Minerals Ltd. (the Company) is pleased to announce that it has started the first of four drill programs planned for 2008. The four projects to be drilled are El Rosal, Antilla, Cotabambas and Kusiorcco.

The contractor has arrived at the first project to be drilled, the El Rosal Project in Northern Peru, where all necessary permitting steps have been completed and a Water Use Permit has been obtained. Starting this drill program also ensures the availability of an additional drill rig earmarked to become a second drill rig for one of the other projects (most likely Antilla) in the Company's program for 2008.

The El Rosal project in Lambayeque and Cajamarca Departments, north-western Peru, is a porphyry Cu-Au prospect with related Cu-Zn-Ag and Cu-Au skarn mineralization. The Company has acquired a one hundred percent clear interest in the property. It consists of eleven mineral concessions that encompass an area of fifty-seven square kilometres. The property is seventy-five kilometres east of the major city of
Chiclayo.

The El Rosal -Project is characterized by two principal targets with associated large tonnage potential, the El Rosal and La Ramada Targets. The mineralized systems identified by Panoro's work represent a new discovery of this type of system in this area of northern Peru.

The El Rosal Target, with an overall footprint of 2 kilometres by 2.5 kilometres for the system, contains copper -zinc -silver mineralization of a type called "skarn" mineralization and, significant for its tonnage potential, porphyry style alteration/mineralization, as well as polymetallic veins. Geological mapping, trenching and sampling, detailed ground geophysical surveys and two prior drill campaigns (in 2000 and 2004) have focused the attention on a deep target of intrusiverock below a 50 -200m zone of thermal alteration and silicification with increasing rock geochemical values of zinc and copper.

The La Ramada Target is represented by a structurally more complex system with an overall footprint of 2.5 kilometres by 1 kilometer. The copper-skarn occurrences of the La Ramada system contain a gold component of 0.5 to 1.0 grams gold per tonne associated with copper values of 0.5 to 1.0% copper. A diatreme breccia zone of a type often associated with the lateral flanks of porphyry systems contains fragments of skarn and porphyry style mineralization observed in prior drill holes and surface trenches. The system is also characterized and defined by prior geophysical surveys, soil geochemical signatures and geological and assay information from drill holes of the 2004 program.

The Company intends this 2,500 metres drill program to be a decisive test of the two targets on this project.

Of the other projects scheduled for drill programs in 2008, the Antilla project is the most advanced in the permitting process, with the Community Agreement, the Water Use Permit and the acceptance of the Environmental Impact Study in hand. The final Class C permit from the Ministry of Mines is expected in time to allow commencement of the second drill program in the first quarter of this year.

Efforts to obtain the agreements with the affected rural communities in the areas of the Cotabambas and Kusiorcco project are under way. The Environmental Impact Study for the Cotabambas Project, where a Class-C Permit will also be required, has been completed for some time.

With $7 million in the treasury the Company is well funded to embark on this and the other drilling programs planned for 2008.

News Source: Panoro Minerals Ltd.

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Peruvian Potatoes and Camotes will be stored in Global Seed Vault in Arctic

(LIP-do) -- Thousands of varieties of wild and cultivated potatoes and camotes (sweet potatoes) the genetic bank of the International Center of the Potato (CIP) holds, will be sent to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (SGSV) in Svalbard, Norway. Other important food resources from around the world will be included.

SGSV is an international project to save the agriculture of humanity in case there is a disaster that will risk the food supply of the earth. The vault has been constructed by the Norwegian government as a service to the global community and will begin operating in a few days. The operation will be financed by the Global Funds for the Diversity of Crops, an International ONG like in Rome.

Located in the village of Longyearbyen, a remote island near the Arctic Circle, the project is several feet underground and in the permafrost of the Arctic. The vault will contain duplicated seeds coming from the international centers of the Consulting Group for International Agricultural Investigation (CGIAR), who has headquarters in Benin, Colombia, Ethiopia, Philippines, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru and Syria. They maintain 600 thousand varieties of plants in their genetic banks.

Regarding the potato and the camotes which will be sent, the most representatives of diverse parts of the world, and the ones able to adapt to diverse agricultural conditions, were chosen, informs sources from the CIP in Lima. "The material we are sending will be in botanical seed form, which is the best way to preserve for the longest time," said Charles Crissman, Deputy Director General for Research.

Aside from potatoes and camotes, other crops being held in the vault includes rice, yuca, wheat, corn and beans, it was informed during the press conference held this morning in the city of Mexico.

All the seeds in Svalbard will be available in case a human-inflicted or natural disaster should occur and destroy our agricultural systems.

For more information visit the Norwegian Government's website or the International Center of the Potato's website.

Source: Centro Internacional de la Papa

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The International Opera Festival Alejandro Granda, Juan Diego Florez debuts "Rigoletto"

The Regional Government of the Callao, with the Asociación Amigos Peruanos de la Opera, in accordance with other institutions, have today signed an agreement to initiate The International Opera Festival Alejandro Granda. The first opera being featured will be "Rigoletto" and will be performed by none other than Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez.

The festival, the first of its kind established in the South Pacific, will turn the Callao into an international attraction, where each year they will offer caliber operas, as well as feature the best interpreters the genre has to offer. These shows will be directly broadcast to all of the districts of the Callao.

The first editions of the Festival will take place March 31 and April 3 at 7:30 pm in the Teatro Alejandro Granda del Callao and will feature the debut of Giuseppe Verdi's "Rigoletto" by our own Juan Diego Florez. Internationally-recognized artists will join him, such as orchestra director Michele Mariotti, baritone Roberto Frontali, soprano Alessandra Marianelli, bass Carlo Malinverno and scene director Mássimo Gasparón, who visited Lima in 2004 during his successful production of the "Fille du régiment".

Also participating in the Festival are national artists, the National Choir and the Orchestra of the University of Lima.

For this event, important personalities will visit Lima, such as representatives of the Metropolitan Opera of New York, the Covent Garden of London, the Teatro Real of Madrid, the National Opera of Washington, the Rossini Festival of Pesaro, the Sferisterio of Macearata, the San Carlo de Nápoles,the Royal Opera of Wallonie, the Opera of Puerto Rico, the President of the Decca and important critics from various countries, as well as an infinite number of opera aficionados.

Tickets will go on sale at teleticket.com after the 15th of January. For those who wish, tickets featuring transportation from Lima to the Callao will also be made available.

*Giuseppe Verdi is the composer of the opera, not The Duke of Mantua as erroneously posted. We apologize for the mistake.

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Oxfam America has launched a special appeal to support the victims of the earthquake in Peru.

Oxfam America has launched a special appeal to support the victims of the earthquake. Oxfam International is planning to launch a program next week to help victims in rural communities. For further details check  http://www.oxfamamerica.org/ or http://www.oxfam.org/en/news/2007/pr070816_peru_earthquake_response  

You can visit the Oxfam international and Oxfam America websites and read updates on the situation in rural areas and on Oxfam’s response. A couple of statements from the website follow:

Although Wednesday’s earthquake in Peru was felt all over the country, even causing panic in Lima, the worst-hit region is located some 180 kilometers (111 miles) south of the capital. 800,000 people live in this southern region where there are three medium-sized cities: Chincha, located on the Pacific Coast 190 km (128 miles) south of Lima; the city of Pisco, 230 km (168 miles) south of Lima and slightly farther inland; and Ica, the third largest city in the region, located 300 miles southeast of the capital and 70 km (43 miles) inland from the coast.

Reaching the affected zone from Lima has proved extremely challenging because the earthquake caused a key bridge just north of Chincha on the Pan American Highway to collapse and nearly cutting off all access to the region. There are currently 2,000 vehicles on both sides of the collapsed bridge that are unable to pass. As a result, it has been very difficult to both evacuate the wounded and provide them with emergency assistance. The Peruvian army is currently looking for a quick, temporary solution that will allow increased and immediate access to the area.

At 3 am on Thursday, an Oxfam International staff member traveled to the region (on a flight organized by the Peruvian army and Institute of Civil Defense) in order to assess the humanitarian needs. He is currently in the worst hit zone and despite telephone communication difficulties, has managed to report back with first-hand information from Pisco, where he has found that 50% of the city’s houses have been damaged or destroyed. Most of these houses are made of mud and adobe; the city’s more modern brick structures incurred little damage. The city of Ica, which is located closer to the coast, was, for the most part, not directly affected by the earthquake as the epicenter was further inland. Nevertheless, the earthquake caused the roof of a church to collapse during mass, resulting in 40 deaths. Rescue workers are continuing to search for survivors who might be trapped under the debris.

Oxfam International will soon decide how it will add to the emergency response that is being led by the Peruvian government, including the Ministry of Health and the Institute of Civil Defense. Oxfam will most likely provide potable water both in the cities and the rural towns and villages hit by the earthquake (we know that government, faced with so many demands and enormous needs, will face capacity limitations). Another area of concern for Oxfam International, as we’ve learned from previous experiences in the country, is the rural population. When human resources and assistance is scarce or overstretched, urban-dwellers receive the most help because they have easy access to media attention and better chances of filing public complaints if they don’t receive the assistance they need. Therefore, more remote areas hit by this earthquake will be less likely to receive adequate help. Oxfam International will therefore prioritize assisting people living in these rural areas.

Francisco Boeren is the Deputy Director of Oxfam America's South America Regional Office.

LIMA — As aftershocks continued to hit the south of Peru, international aid agency Oxfam has arrived in the epicenter of the crisis to assess its emergency response, which will aim to provide urgent relief such as clean water for city-dwellers displaced by the earthquake and for those who are caught in remote rural areas.

Oxfam's humanitarian officer in Peru, Sergio Alvarez, today traveled to the worst hit zone, including the city of Pisco and the surrounding rural areas—which he reached on foot—and carried out an initial assessment of the devastation. More Oxfam staff including a water engineer will travel this afternoon to Pisco, a city of nearly 120,000 inhabitants. Some 665,000 people live in the wider affected region.

Alvarez said: "It is impossible to get to Pisco from Lima. The San Clemente Bridge that links Pisco with the Pan American highway has collapsed.

"All the adobe buildings in Pisco have collapsed. The modern buildings are fine. The Peruvian Civil Defense has told me that they calculate that at least 50% of the houses in Pisco have collapsed. San Andres, in Cañete, has also suffered a great amount of destruction.

"There are people trapped in their houses, and Pisco's San Clemente church collapsed while mass was underway. The news I'm receiving is that there are many dead bodies. Rescue operations are now underway but fire trucks and other rescue vehicles coming from Lima weren't able to reach the area until 11 am this morning due to the collapsed bridge. They were stuck about one and a half hours away from Pisco but are now in the area and have so far rescued six people trapped under rubble.

"Local authorities are asking for help, particularly with the distribution of medicines, tents and blankets, as many people have lost their homes. The distribution of tents has yet to be organized and there is no electricity or running water in the area. The situation is desperate, especially for those people who survived but who have lost their homes.

"Oxfam is especially worried about people in the rural areas because their houses are extremely vulnerable and they are harder to reach."

Oxfam works with partners in the area affected by the earthquake. In 2001, Oxfam responded to the earthquake in Arequipa, providing water and shelters.

The poorest areas are the ones that consistently suffer the most during and after a natural disaster. In Peru, more than 72% of those in rural areas are living below the poverty line. 49% of the general population lives below the poverty line and almost 32% of the population lives on less than $2 per day.

How You Can Help

Oxfam America is accepting donations through its Peru Earthquake Relief and Recovery Fund.

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Canada's Secretary of State Helena Guergis Meets Ministers in Peru

The Honourable Helena Guergis, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Trade and Secretary of State for Sport, visited Lima, Peru, on July 23, 2007, to strengthen the already robust commercial and political ties between Canada and Peru.

While in Lima, Ms. Guergis met with Peru’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Antonio García Belaúnde, as well as the Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Mercedes Aráoz Fernández.

"Peru is an important and growing market for Canada," stated Ms. Guergis in a keynote speech delivered at a luncheon hosted by the Canada-Peru Chamber of Commerce and several partner commerce associations in Lima on July 23.

Over the last three years, Canada’s trade with Peru has expanded, reaching $288.5 million in exports to Peru and $2.1 billion in imports last year.

The stock of Canadian foreign direct investment in Peru reached $2.9 billion in 2006. Canada is the largest foreign investor in Peru’s mining sector, and Canadian companies are active investors in the country’s banking, oil and gas, telecommunications and printing sectors.

On June 7, 2007, the Honourable David Emerson, Minister of International Trade, announced the launch of free trade negotiations with the Andean Community countries of Colombia and Peru. The first round of negotiations took place in Lima the week of July 16.

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ACE Seguros has begun Insurance Operations in Lima, Peru

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Vena Resources Receives Award in Peru

Official Press Release

Vena Resources Inc. (TSX:VEM)(LIMA:VEM)(FRANKFURT:V1R)(OTCBB:VNARF) is pleased to announce that on July 6th it received an award from "Asociacion Civil Empresa Peruana del Ano" as "The Best Mining Exploration Company in Peru for 2006." The "Asociacion Civil Empresa Peruana del Ano" is a non-profit organization with the mandate to encourage healthy competition amongst corporations in several industries rewarding leadership and social responsible investments as well as efficient management techniques. The committee is comprised of representatives from local universities, mining institutions and corporations.

As part of its social responsibility mandate and due to the unusually cold weather in the Andes of Peru, Vena is currently providing winter clothing to pre-school and elementary school students of the communities of Corani, Isivilla and Ikchuya in Puno, blankets to the families who are participating in the "JUNTOS" program, computer equipment to the community of Corani as well as infrastructure support efforts around three lakes in the Corani area. In addition, last week, Vena completed a very successful medical campaign in the communities surrounding the Azulcocha Zinc mine. Ten medical doctors and dentists participated in the campaign providing medical support to 300 inhabitants including 120 children of nearby communities.

Juan Vegarra commented: "It is an honor to be recognized for the efforts being done in Peru by our entire team. Vena today employs over 240 people across Peru and it is encouraging to be recognized for the work being done in a socially responsible and efficient way. We continue to build strong relationships with the surrounding communities to our main projects as they are a very important stakeholder for our ongoing exploration and development efforts in Peru."

Statements in this press release regarding the Company's business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties, such as estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Since forward-looking statements address future events and conditions, by their very nature, they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results in each case could differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

Shares Outstanding: 70,938,073

Fully-Diluted: 91,010,644

____________________________________________________________________

DISCLAIMER: The content of each press release is the responsibility of the publishing organization and is not vetted or approved by LivinginPeru.com prior to publication. LivinginPeru.com is not liable directly or indirectly for any direct or consequential loss, damage or expense resulting from the material disseminated and published on the site. Readers are advised to check the accuracy of all press releases and to obtain their own professional advice in relation to such information.

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New Peru Trade Text: Better On Access to Drugs, But Threats to Public Health Persist

(Official Press Release -link-)

The final text of the revised U.S. Peru Trade Promotion Agreement includes substantially new provisions on intellectual property (IP) that will have important implications for access to affordable medicines. The text was released on June 25, 2007.

The original Peru text would have greatly obstructed people’s access to affordable medicines in the interests of transnational drug companies, mirroring many other recent agreements. Compared with these earlier agreements, the new Peru provisions represent a decisive step away from the policy of leveraging trade deals to obstruct access to medicines. Vigorous efforts by the new leadership of the House Ways and Means Committee have reigned in the ambitions of the pharmaceutical industry, and added important flexibilities.

The laws Peru adopts to implement the new flexibilities, and how forcefully Peru pursues their implementation will determine whether people do in fact get access to affordable life-saving medicines as soon as possible. Before considering the Agreement, Congress should reverse the course of past trade policy and call for implementing language and practices in Peru on IP that benefit health. They should also insist that knowledgeable health advocates in Peru play an ongoing role in implementation. House Trade Subcommittee Chair Sander Levin has stated publicly that the text should be interpreted to benefit people’s access, and we expect he will continue to be a champion. If the Agreement is adopted, Congress should remain vigilant on these issues.

The Agreement’s remaining “TRIPS-Plus” rules still exceed the monopoly protections for drug companies already implemented in the WTO’s TRIPS Agreement (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights). These will put patients at greater risk than no agreement at all. For example, data exclusivity rules will allow drug companies to market new drugs in Peru at high prices and without competition for up to five years, even if there is no patent in effect.

But the new rules are a victory for advocates and policymakers worldwide, who are supporting the use of compulsory licenses by Thailand and Brazil, and achieving reconsideration of access provisions in the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. New agreements, starting afresh, must truly promote health, and assure that the benefits of trade are widely shared.

There were no changes in myriad other provisions likely to adversely affect public health, ranging from eliminating tariffs on tobacco products to undermining public health regulations and services. CPATH and colleagues detailed these shortcomings from Public Health Objectives for Global Trade, and proposed alternatives, online at: http://www.cpath.org/id29.html.

A detailed analysis of the provisions related to access to medicines is online in 3 areas: data exclusivity; linkage; and patent extensions: http://www.cpath.org/id29.html

Ellen R. Shaffer (ershaffer@gmail.com)
Co-Director
CPATH
98 Seal Rock Drive
San Francisco, CA 94121
Phone : 415-933-6204

____________________________________________________________________

DISCLAIMER: The content of each press release is the responsibility of the publishing organization and is not vetted or approved by LivinginPeru.com prior to publication. LivinginPeru.com is not liable directly or indirectly for any direct or consequential loss, damage or expense resulting from the material disseminated and published on the site. Readers are advised to check the accuracy of all press releases and to obtain their own professional advice in relation to such information.

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