Maxima Acua Chaupe has deep wrinkles, a short stature, and an iron will. She lives at 4200 m high in the Peruvian Andes, in the area of the Conga Project that will develop the Minera Yanacocha, South America's largest gold mine operation owned by Newmont Ming Corp., headquartered in Colorado, and one of the world's leading gold producers. Maxima is determined to stay and Yanacocha is just as determined to expand its operations. A struggle of personal interests and the survival of an Andean ecosystem.