Legal and illegal mining in Peru

On Wednesday, Peruvian business journal El Comercio reported on the expansion of illegal mining in Peru to at least five protected national parks in the country: Sierra del Divisor, Cordillera del Cóndor, Huascarán, Tambopata, and San Fernando. El Comercio stressed that the government is aware of the illegal mining activities and is actively taking steps to counteract them. Just in the last week, the Peruvian carried out operations against illegal miners in San Fernando and Tambopata, dealing a financial blow to the illegal miners through the destruction of equipment and heavy machinery.

In the case of the province of Cajabamba, regional energy and mining director Victor Fernández told the press that the region is free of illegal mining. According to Fernández, 15 mining companies in the region have completed the formalization process, thanks to the timely intervention of the Peruvian authorities.

He also clarified the difference between legal, informal, and illegal miners. According to the regional mining director, a legal miner is one who has all of the requisite permissions, an informal miner is one who is in the process of obtaining them, and an illegal miner is one who has no permissions, is unregistered, and is operating outside the law.

In other mining-related news, El Peruano spoke with Guillermo Shinno, Vice Minister for Mines about the entry into operation of large new Peruvian mining projects and the role of the mining industry in the Peruvian economy. Shinno claimed that the mining industry was responsible for 1% of Peru’s GDP growth this last year.