Bear Creek proposes to operate the mine for an 11-year period during which it would extract approximately 47.4 million ounces of silver.

IMC proposed a "conventional open pit" mining plan based on extracting rock using 63-ton-capacity loading trucks.

[3] The ore will then be crushed to a size of 3/4 inch and sent to a heap leach, where a sodium cyanide solution would be used to extract a silver-zinc precipitate from the rock; this will be smelted on site into mostly silver Dore bars; lead and most zinc will remain unextracted.

Protesters' concerns center on the threat of contamination to surrounding waterways, including Lake Titicaca, to the detriment of fishing and farming.

[4][8] The Defense Front called a two-day general strike in late April 2011, during which a sixty-year-old woman, María Choque Limachi, was fatally wounded by the impact of a tear gas canister shot by police attempting to clear a blockaded bridge.

Government negotiations with protesters resulted in five government decrees affecting the region, issued on June 25, including Supreme Decree 032-2011-EM which cancels Bear Creek's concession at Santa Ana[12] and bans mining activities in the Huacullani and Kelluyo Districts of Chucuito Province.

[14] Bear Creek has sought compensation for the cancellation of its project by taking the government of Peru before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes.