Mining industry updates from Peru

The UN-sponsored Climate Change talks continue in Lima, no closer to a resolution. At the conference on Friday, a report by Peruvian consulting company CPI was released, and named mining as one of the leading contributing factors to climate change. The potential that mining has to damage the environment has already been on display in the Peruvian media in recent weeks, but now, to add insult to injury, it has been shown that it also causes climate change.

The Madre de Dios region in Peru, which so far has been the epicenter of the Peruvian government’s campaign against illegal mining, is getting ready for elections. Luis Otsuka and Simón Horna, the two leading candidates for the region’s presidency, have made strong appeals to one of their main constituencies: illegal gold miners. Otsuka and Horna have promised to work with the central government to find a way for mining to become a viable way of life in Madre de Dios.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world is becoming more and more horrified by the means that these gold miners resort to in order to make a living. Mashable is the latest to release a photography-heavy piece featuring the Madre de Dios mining community. These new photographs document the changes in the community that occurred in the wake of the government’s operations. Following the destruction of their heavy machinery, these miners are now forced to work entirely by hand, struggling to support their families on a fraction of the money they once made.

Peruvian professor Gerardo Damonte explains that this is exactly the point: illegal gold mining isn’t a new problem. What makes it such an urgent issue is the tremendous growth in the scale of production. In the past, miners did not use the heavy machinery that they use today. Furthermore, the government lacks vital information about who the miners are, how many there are, and where they are. It doesn’t register them, it doesn’t monitor them, and it doesn’t map their operations. Changes are needed.