Reuters reported that a new round of talks to end a bitter dispute over Newmont Mining's USD 4.8 billion Conga gold project in Peru appeared to break down on Monday after the prime minister excluded environmental activists from the mediation effort.

Mayors and the governor of the region of Cajamarca criticized Prime Minister Oscar Valdes for refusing to let Wilfredo Saavedra and other leaders of the Environment Defense Front of Cajamaraca participate in the talks.

Mr Gregorio Santos governor of the region of Cajamarca said that "What happened is that Valdes wouldn't tolerate more participation. He doesn't want to listen to anybody."

Valdes, a former military officer, was promoted a week ago in a Cabinet shakeup by President Ollanta Humala that critics said would lead to crackdowns on protesters and less willingness to use dialogue to solve hundreds of environmental disputes nationwide.

Valdes was promoted from the post of interior minister after he led a crackdown that froze the assets of regional leaders in Cajamarca, detained high-profile protesters and imposed a state of emergency to show the government would not tolerate protests that could delay projects in Peru's USD 50 billion pipeline of new mines.

The government has tried to sideline Saavedra, who spent a decade in prison for belonging to the Marxist Tupac Amaru insurgency that was active in the 1990s. He was detained by police two weeks ago and released.

(Sourced from Reuters)