Peru works to formalize illegal miners

Despite significant criticism and setbacks, the Peruvian government has not yet abandoned its program to formalize illegal miners. The government was exceedingly proud of itself in announcing that three mining projects in Puno will resume operations after completing the arduous two-year formalization process.

In an excellent display of message continuity, Mauricio Rodriguez, the president of the Regional Puno Government, emphasized the importance of ending illegal mining. He explained that illegal mining has devastated the Ramis River, and the government will need to spend considerable amounts of money to clean it up. Regional President Rodriguez added, “That you will be, with order, discipline, and capacity, that you can transform yourselves into great Peruvian miners, and not just extract a mineral but also transform and give value added, and export technology to other countries.”

In unrelated news, union workers at the largest mine in Peru, the Antamina copper and zinc mine, laid down their tools and went on strike. This is the second strike at the mine in less than a month, and conflicting reports are coming out regarding its effectiveness. According to union leader Jorge Juarez, the strikes have started affecting “some” of the operations at the mine. However, an Altamina spokesman told Reuters that operations are “normal.” Regardless of whether it’s due to the strikes or other problems, production at Altamina was down 16.2% for the first nine months of 2014, as compared to the same period in 2013. Production will need to rebound if 2015 if Peru wants to maintain a health GDP growth rate.