Chinese Mining in Latin America

Abstract

Observers have expressed concern that Chinese mining companies operating in Latin America are more egregious violators of labor and environmental standards than other mining companies. Critics point to the case of one operation in particular—Shougang Hierro Peru—as evidence of China’s threat to Latin American labor and environment. We combine archival research in Peru, personal interviews, and data analysis to examine the extent to which Shougang Peru is an outlier in labor and environmental performance relative to other foreign and Peruvian mining firms. We find that Shougang Hierro Peru has indeed established a poor labor and environmental record in Peru. However, a counterpart firm from the United States performed worse on many levels, and some Peruvian firms are not far behind. Such findings show that Chinese firm behavior should not be analyzed in isolation, especially in sectors such as mining where labor and environmental problems are endemic to the sector.