Peru's ongoing fight against illegal mining

On Tuesday, El Comercio reported on a new development in Peru’s war against illegal mining. In addition to the environmental devastation caused by illegal mining, it typically also happens in parallel with other criminal activities. In particular, human trafficking has gone hand in hand with illegal mining. Thankfully, during a Peruvian government operation against illegal mining, two underage women were rescued from the “La Pampa” area of Madre de Dios, where they had been taken against their will and forced to work as sex workers. The victims are being taken back to their original homes.

Meanwhile, the formalization of Peru’s informal miners is moving forward, albeit slowly. Andina reported that to date, 317 people have received training on the formalization process, and the report highlighted one particular training session in the mining region of Piura. The miners expressed gratitude for the training, but these small steps are far too little to make any kind of a dent in Peru’s problem with illegal mining. The government must find a way to quickly scale up its anti illegal mining activities if it hopes to achieve any real progress.

In Peruvian oil-related news, Peruvian business journal Gestión predicts a sharp fall in oil investment. According to Gestión, investment will fall 12% this year, although Peruvian state-owned oil company Perupetro said that investment had already fallen by 27% between January and September. It is important to remember however that Peru is no outlier – this trend is being felt in all oil-producing countries around the world. Oil industry experts are calling on the Peruvian government to stimulate investment in the industry so that it can continue to drive Peruvian economic growth.