Illegal mining in Peru

Illegal mining or illegal mineral extraction is a common economic activity in Peru, which consists of the exploitation of metallic minerals (such as gold) and non-metallic minerals (clay, marble, among others) to finance criminal organizations. Illegal mining rose to prominence in the late 1970s with the emergence of informality in that sector.Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental 2014, p. 179 Illegal mining in Peru lacks social and environmental controls or regulations, a characteristic it shares with the artisanal mining sector in the country.

Those who carry out illegal mining act outside the control mechanisms of the Peruvian state and systematically evade relevant legal norms.Guillermo Medina, Jorge Arévalo A. Felipe Quea J. “Estudio de Investigación de la Minería Ilegal en el Perú: Repercusión para el Sector Minero y el país”, Arequipa, 2007, pág 5 http://www.iimp.org.pe/website2/publicaciones/EstudioIIMP3_MineriaIlegal.pdf Illegal mining operations are located mainly in the departments of Madre de Dios, Puno and La Libertad.Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental 2014, p. 180 In the case of the Amazon rainforest, 17 protected natural areas were compromised by it.Sociedad Peruana de Derecho Ambiental 2014, p. 175

Peru is one of various countries in the region, such as Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador that have significant problems with illegal mining.

In the 2000s, in the Amazonian department of Madre de Dios, illegal exploitation of gold dramatically increased the recruitment and coercion of adolescents into prostitution through false employment offers.

See also Environmental issues in Peru Illegal mining in Chile La Rinconada, Peru Pallaqueo Pirquinero

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