A 61-year-old farmer named Victoriano Huayna has become the first fatality of a month-long protest against a Mexican-owned copper mining project settled in Peru.

According to authorities Huayna was killed on Wednesday when police opened fire on a demonstration. Twelve others were injured in the incident.

A local doctor who, for reasons of personal security, agreed only to provide information anonymously, said that a forensic exam determined that a bullet had indeed killed Huayna.

Local health director Walter Vera stated that the other 12 people were wounded by shotgun pellets. Six people were hospitalized and six were treated and then released, he said.

A police statement said that 11 officers were injured during the protest and added that the officers had orders not to use any lethal force.

As reported by The Associated Press, Agriculture Minister Juan Manuel Benites, the chief government negotiator involved in the dispute, announced that the widening protest against the Tia Maria project has put Peru's reputation as a top foreign investment destination at risk.

On Thursday, opponents of the mine marched with Huayna's coffin in the city of Mollendo. Some were carrying green banners that read: "Farming, yes. Mine, no."

"The solution is to cancel the project," said Jesus Cornejo, a chief opponent of the mine and the man who heads the local farmers' group, as reported by Reuters. "No matter what they say we know it will hurt agriculture."

Farmers as well as local leaders fear that the Tia Maria open-pit mine will end up contaminating irrigation water in the rice farming-rich Tambo valley on Peru's desert coast.

Thousands of protesters have mobilized against the project, which is owned by Southern Peru Copper Corp, a subsidiary of Grupo Mexico.