Peru continues offensive against illegal mining

Despite some confusion in Peru about the level of the central government’s support for large mining companies, the government had been steadfast in its opposition to illegal mining. On Wednesday, Andina News Agency reported on a raid in the Madre de Dios region that resulted in the destruction of 86 illegal mining encampments and massive amounts of materials and equipment used in illegal mining.

The report did not specify whether or not any illegal miners were captured, as miners frequently are tipped off about a coming operation and flee and abandon their equipment so as not to risk capture. Nonetheless, the raid will continue on to the nature reserves of “Setapo” and “Siete diablos.”

Late last week, a separate raid against high-altitude illegal mining was carried out in the department of Puno. In this raid, twenty illegal mining encampments were destroyed, along with materials and machines. In this raid, 1,000 National Police officers accompanied the specialized environmental and legal teams in the operation. As before, the news articles did not mention the capture of any illegal miners.

On the subject of illegal mining, the Peruvian Congress’ Commission on Energy and Mines heard the complaints of protestors arguing in favor of changing Peru’s mining formalization laws. The governor of Madre de Dios had called on the congressmen to come to his department to hear arguments in favor of changing the law, and so protect artisanal mining in Peru.