The state of the Peruvian mining industry

Although the Peruvian mining industry remains one of the main drivers of the country’s economy, it has been besieged on all sides by problems. First, collapsing commodities prices have forced global mining giant Anglo American to cut costs and severely contract its labor force from 135,000 to 50,000 employees.

Carlos Gálvez, president of the leading mining industry trade association in Peru, blasted the central Peruvian government for being too passive in promoting the country’s mining industry. He noted that the mining industry accounts for more than 50% of the country’s exports and a massive share of Peruvian GDP.

Gálvez criticized the mining-related proposals of the Peruvian presidential candidates. Although they all called for restarting the country’s large, paralyzed mining projects, and for focusing on building support within rural communities for these mining projects, Gálvez condemned the plans for being far too vague and light on details. He also criticized the propensity to conflate illegal mining with legal mining.

On the subject of illegal mining, Eduardo Salhuana, the regional manager for the illegal mining hotbed of Madre de Dios, spoke with El Comercio about the recent strike in the region protesting the formalization of the area’s mining industry. Salhuana defended gold mining in Peru’s rivers and fell short of rejecting the use of mercury in gold mining, arguing instead the Peruvian government should help miners use alternate, more efficient, means of extracting gold.