Peruvian President Ollanta Humala declared a state of emergency on December 4 to end violent protests against the $4.8 billion Conga gold mine, which is majority owned by the Colorado-based Newmont Mining Corporation and was expected to begin production in 2015 . . . the protestors mistrust the new mining project, an extension of the nearby Yanacocha mine, which is Latin America's largest gold mine and is nearly exhausted . . . dozens of people have been injured in clashes with police . . . Governor of the state of Cajamarca, Gregorio Santos said that Humala was “deceiving” the people by issuing the state of emergency as demonstrators had halted the strike when the emergency order was declared . . . the order restricts the right to assembly and allows for arrests without warrants in four provinces of Cajamarca . . . Newmont announced on November 30 that if it was prevented from completing the Conga mine it would "re-prioritize and reallocate capital [to] alternatives in Nevada, Canada, Ghana, Indonesia and Suriname" . . . the suspension of Conga would be a severe blow to Lima, which would see $2 billion worth of metal produced from the mine per year in revenue . . . 61 percent of Peru’s export income and half of its total tax revenue comes from mining . . . Humala also sees the mine for its potential to create jobs and reduce the countries 7.3 % unemployment rate . . . if the unrest spreads beyond Cajamarca and if order is not restored to the region, then Lima could lose some of the more than $40 billion in foreign investment currently being planned.