Peruvian President Ollanta Humala has placed four northern highland provinces under a state of emergency to stop violent protests against a U.S. mining firm that injured dozens of people and forced an airport to shut down.

The 60-day state of emergency in the Cajamarca region allows police to arrest people without warrant and restrict civil liberties.
Violent protests erupted on Nov. 29 as peasants opposed the plan of Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM) to move water from four lakes into man-made reservoirs and fear that gold mining operation will contaminate and diminish their water supply. Eight people suffered gunshot wounds during clash with police.

Newmont immediately suspended the Conga project for the safety of employees and protesters.

Humala supports the mining project, from which the country derive most of its revenue. But Cajamarca's president, Gregorio Santos, and peasants want the mining project cancelled.

The Denver-based Newmont was supposed to begin production from the Conga project in 2015.

Richard O'Brien, Newmont's President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "Newmont has nearly two decades of successful partnerships with the governments and communities at our Peruvian operations. We remain dedicated to the safety and security of our employees and host communities. We will continue to engage in peaceful dialogue with local community leaders and government representatives. We believe that the multi-year approval process followed by Yanacocha and the Peruvian government for the Conga project thoroughly considered impacts to the environment, including water resources in the region."

O'Brien added, "Should we be unable to continue with our current development plan at Conga, the scale and diversity of Newmont's global portfolio provides us with flexibility to reprioritize and reallocate capital to maintain focus on our strategic objectives through development alternatives in Nevada, Canada, Ghana, Indonesia and Suriname."