Peru carries out largest raids to date in Madre de Dios

This past week, the Peruvian government carried out its largest series of raids yet in the illegal mining hotbed of Madre de Dios. The AP explained that this was just the most recent of 60 raids carried out in the region since 2014, when the government finally decided to get serious in cracking down on illegal mining. In this most recent operation, the Peruvian authorities also targeted several dozen brothels, where underage women become trapped in the sex trade.

More than 1,000 police and military officers participated in the raids, destroying some 179 camps and $3 million worth of gold-mining machinery. Juan Antonio Fernández, the high commissioner for illegal mining interdiction, told the press that the purpose of the government’s operations is to control illegal mining and related criminal activities, such as human and sex trafficking, in the Madre de Dios region.”

El Comercio explained that the Peruvian government understands that its frequent yet expensive raids are not enough to stop illegal mining. However, for the time being, these raids are the only tools that the government has to check the growth of illegal mining.

Despite the tremendous environmental and social costs of illegal gold mining, the Peruvian government feels that it is powerless to shut it down. So long as gold mining remains profitable, desperate people will continue to illegally mine gold in the Peruvian Amazon.

Despite these ill-begotten gold mining gains, leading (and legitimate) Peruvian mining company Buenaventura reported a $293 million loss in the 4^th quarter of 2015, due to lower gold prices and production. Reuters noted that its analysts had predicted just a $9 million loss for the company.