Mining News Watch #18 covers the time period July 31st- October 31, 2015

Top Stories 

• There have been three police raids in Madre de Dios this summer in an attempt to stop illegal gold mining in the region.

• The Amazon Conservation Association released high-resolution images showing the intensity of illegal gold mining in La Pampa, Madre de Dios.

Government Action

• In August, a raid against illegal mining occurred in the Santiago Pampa zone in Sandia, Puno. District attorneys specializing in environmental issues worked in coordination with the National Police to locate and destroy the settlement. The District attorneys confirmed that the water used to wash the ore was not treated before entering the River, resulting in contamination by heavy metals. [1]

• In the beginning of September, a government operation against illegal mining was carried out in Tambopata, Madre de Dios. During the intervention, two people were detained, dozens of pieces of machinery were destroyed, and 250 milliliters of mercury were confiscated. An official from the Presidential Council of Ministers (PCM) stated that they will intensify actions to achieve the eradication of illegal mining in Madre de Dios, particularly in the buffer zone of the Tambopata National Reserve. [2] So far this summer, there have been three significant raids in Peru combatting illegal mining settlements. However, illegal mining camps are often rebuilt in the same area almost as soon as the government intervention has ended.[3]

• 1,300 police agents broke into 40 illegal mining camps in La Pampa and detained 41 miners. These camps had been destroyed after the raid in July, but were quickly resettled by miners.[4]

• Over the next 3 years, SERNANP will be investing four million soles to protect three natural protected areas (the Tambopata National Reserve, the Bahuaja Sonene National Park, and the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve) from the threat of illegal mining. This includes installing patrol posts, hiring forest rangers, and buying boats. There are currently only 34 forest rangers in the Tambopata National Reserve, 13 in the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve, and 12 in the Bahuaja Sonene National Park.[5] Shortly after ACA released images depicting illegal mining in the buffer zone of the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve, SERNANP also announced that they will be fortifying security actions specifically in the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve. This includes increased funds for aerial patrols and a shelter for personnel to spend the night. [6]

• In October, there was a strike in Puerto Maldonado, Madre de Dios, to express disagreement and ask for the repeal of legislative decrees issued by the central government to control the purchase and sale of fuels as one of the measures to combat illegal mining. The strike consisted of 300 protestors, mostly those that work in public transportation, and lasted for 48 hours.[7]

• Four men have been found guilty of illegal mining activities, and have been sent to 6 months in preventive prison for contaminating the Huacamayo ravine, located in Inambari, Madre de Dios. [9]

• The Minister of the Interior has approved three resolutions to amplify the intervention of the Armed Forces in Arequipa, Puno, Madre de Dios, and Junín for one month, in response to the possibility of violent protests linked to illegal mining. [10]

Deforestation

• The Amazon Conservation Association released images on their Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP) website depicting high-resolution views of illegal gold mining in La Pampa, Madre de Dios. La Pampa is found inside the buffer zone of the Tambopata National Reserve. 725 hectares of land were deforested from August 2014 to July 2015, and 225 hectares of land were deforested from February 2015 to July 2015.[11]

International

• Peru and Bolivia worked together at their shared border to capture 21 illegal miners in September. Illegal miners in Peru use the Madre de Dios River to cross into Bolivia; Special Forces were ready to detain miners on both sides of the border. [12]

• The Swiss government has arranged a purchase of gold from small-scale formal miners in Puno. The Better Gold Initiative is assisting the Swiss government to work with formal mining cooperatives and incentivize the formalization process in the region. [13]

• A report by Public Eye (Ojo-Publico) investigated two Swiss-based companies, MKS and Metalor, which have been linked to buying gold from illegal mines in Peru. In response, the Public Minister of Peru is asking for international judicial aid from the Swiss government to allow the Peruvian government to interrogate representatives from each company.[14]

Economy

• According to a report by the Peruvian Economy Institute (IPE), Madre de Dios region had significant economic growth in the second trimester of 2015, with a growth rate of 29.7%. In comparison, Madre de Dios had an economic growth rate of only 2.4% in the first trimester of 2015. In the report released by the IPE, the significant economic growth correlates with less intense government action against illegal mining, allowing for the recovery of gold production.[15]

• An investigation by the Superintendent of Banks and Insurance estimates that 947 million USD is laundered in order to support illegal gold mining operations, which accounts for at least 5% of the 140 tons of gold produced in Peru in 2014.[16]

• In September, the 32^nd annual Perumin Mining Convention will be held in Arequipa, and the issue of the formalization of artisanal miners will be discussed. Discussions will also cover the changing price of gold and its relation to the number of informal miners in the country. The Federation of Artisanal Miners of Arequipa (FEMAR) and a panel of specialists will be there to discuss the problem of illegal mining. [17]

Other

• The Peruvian Society for Environmental Rights (SPDA) released an investigation of illegal gold mining in five South American countries titled “The routes of illegal gold. Case studies in five Amazon countries.” The Peruvian section analyzes the politics around resource access and the sprawl of illegal mining territory; particularly, the fact that from 2000 to 2009, there were 1,548 requests for mining rights in Peru, surpassing all other land rights requests. [18]

• Two officers died and three collapsed during an operation against illegal mining in Madre de Dios. The officers suffered from dehydration due to the intense heat, and an investigation is being conducted by the Ombudsman to see if there was any negligence. [19] [20]

• The declaration of mining activity in the Condor mountain range has created conflict with the Awajún-wampis community in the Amazon region. They have not permitted the development of mining camps in the headwaters of their water source and that plans were made behind their backs, violating the law. The Awajun-wampis also warned that they are organizing a large assembly in the Shaim community to determine how to defend the Condor mountain range, including the formation of the Ichigkat Muja National Park. [21]

Notes: The ACA Mining News Watch focuses mostly on issues pertaining to the Peruvian Amazon and may not cover issues related to non-Amazonian parts of the country. We would like to credit ProNaturaleza’s “Observatorio Amazonia” as our primary resource for articles related to illegal mining in Peru.

Photo Credit: http://elcomercio.pe/peru/madre-de-dios/operacion-contra-mineria-ilegal-pampa-fotos-noticia-1826310/3

ACA contact for Comments/Questions:  Sarah Feder (sfeder@amazonconservation.org) and Matt Finer (mfiner@amazonconservation.org)

Citation: DeRycke E, Feder S, Finer M (2015). Peru Mining News Watch Report #18. Amazon Conservation Association. https://www.maapprogram.org/2015/08/mining-news-watch-18

Mining News Watch #17 covers the time period June 10- July 30, 2015

Top Stories 

• On July 13^th, the Peruvian police carried out a major raid in the La Pampa mining zone (Madre de Dios), the first major government operation against illegal mining in eight months.

• Following the raid, the regional President of Madre de Dios, Luis Otsuka, complained of the inefficiency of the formalization process in Madre de Dios, and how it is damaging the region’s economy.

• Technical reports released by the Amazon Conservation Association (ACA) and the Conservación Amazónica (ACCA) has found growing deforestation in the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve and Sierra del Divisor.

• OjoPublico released an investigative report on the foreign financing of illegal mining in South America, including the foreign businesses that help finance illegal gold mining.

Government Action

• On July 13^th, a team of 900 Peruvian police agents destroyed 55 illegal gold mining settlements in the La Pampa mining zone, located in the buffer zone of the Tambopata National Reserve. This was the first major operation against illegal gold mining camps in Madre de Dios in eight months. [1, 2]

• Two days after the raids, on July 15^th, the regional president of Madre de Dios, Luis Otsuka, demanded clear regulations for formalized mining from the national government. He complained of the irregularity with the formalization process, as well as the fact that the boundary line for Madre de Dios also marks the beginning of territory where mining activity is categorically rejected. Otsuka claimed that the national government is unknowingly causing Madre de Dios’s economic axis to come to a halt. [3]

• In June, the National Police of Peru officially established a new police body of 1,000 agents that will focus on combatting illegal mining and illegal logging in all Peruvian departments. This team led the major operation on July 13^th in La Pampa. [4, 5]

• Further north, police destroyed three mining camps in the region of Amazonas in June. The illegal mining was occurring within an indigenous community territory, and was negatively effecting the riverbeds of the Maranon and Santiago rivers, including exposure to mercury and cyanide. [6]

• The Environmental Evaluation and Auditing Organization (OEFA) released a series of reports in July with the regional results of the 2014 environmental audits, including one that focused on small-scale mining. The 25 regional governments in Peru were given a score on a scale of 0 to 20 based off of OEFA’s formal and operative standards for mining. OEFA categorizes the results as follows: scores above 14 are good; 11-14 is average; 8 to 11 is low; 5 to 8 is very low; and scores below 5 are critical. There was substantial improvement in Madre de Dios, which was ranked 24^th in 2013, but rose to 4^th in 2014. During the 2013-2014 year, Madre de Dios established identifications for illegal mining, developed environmental evaluations, and worked with the federal government to monitor mining, all which helped raise its score. [7]

• An executive decree from the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) that assigned new fees on gasoline in Madre de Dios has been improved so that it will prevent gasoline from being used for illegal mining without interfering with legal productive sectors of the economy. MEM used information from the National Customs and Tax Administration (SUNAT) to figure out proper gasoline supplies and fees for the logging, forestry, Brazil nut harvesting, and tourism industries. However, businesses in the area are still concerned that the law is not effectively combatting illegal mining because it is currently applied only in the La Pampa mining zone, not all of Madre de Dios. [8]

• In July, 68 kg of mercury and 2,400 gal of diesel were seized in Madre de Dios. It is believed that the mercury and diesel were going to be used for illegal mining in La Pampa. [9]

Formalization

• Since June, a team from MEM has been issuing audits for the “saneamiento” registration that will help 40,000 miners finalize the formalization process. Saneamiento lacks a direct translation in English, but implies legal ordering and restructuring of the original complex formalization process. This nationwide audit comes as a result of the approval of the “Saneamiento Strategy for Small and Artisanal Miners,” (la Estrategia de Saneamiento de la Pequeña Minería y de la Minería Artesanal) which streamlines the six step formalization process. The auditing team examines the legal documentation and field sites of informal miners, and if the audit is consistent with the saneamiento requirements, then the subject can continue the formalization process. [10] 

• With the goal of simplifying and renergizing the formalization process, “Ventanilla Unica,” the website used to help informal miners, is being restructured. Ventanilla Unica has documents, information on the Corrective Environmental Management Instrument, news on informal mining, and resources for other state institutions. [11, 12]

Deforestation

• ACA and ACCA released a technical report on their MAAP website concerning deforestation from a mining zone in Madre de Dios that has expanded into the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve. Their analysis showed that gold mining deforestation entered the reserve in 2013 and continued expanding in 2014 and 2015. The total gold mining deforestation within the reserve is currently at 11 hectares. [13] The Peruvian National Service of Natural Protected Areas (SERNANP) later confirmed ACA’s report that illegal mining had been the cause of the deforestation. [14]

• ACA released a technical report on their MAAP site that illustrated the recent expansion of gold mining near Sierra del Divisor in the region of Ucayali. [15]

Other

• OjoPublico, an online investigative journalism news source, released a report investigating the exportation of gold from illegal mining. The report estimated that 150 tons of gold was illegally smuggled from Peru in 2010, which makes Peru unofficially the second biggest global producer of gold with 330 tons, behind only China. The report released the names of several European and American businesses in the London Bullion Market Association that financially supported the operations, including American companies Northern Texas Refinery and Republic Metals Corporation. [16]

• Peru established three alliances with Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia in hopes of eradicating illegal mining, including sharing ideas for mining formalization, combatting illegal mining, and environmental remediation. Peruvian officials also stated that they were working on establishing an alliance with Brazil. [17]

• The Association for Research and Integral Development, a private organization with a contract with the National Service for Protected Natural Areas (Sernanp), presented an environmental management project that can help avoid deforestation by using agroforestry to produce cacao. The project would prevent deforestation in 12,000 hectares of forest in the Tambopata National Reserve and Bahuaja Sonene National Park, both located in Madre de Dios. [18]

Notes: The ACA Mining News Watch focuses mostly on issues pertaining to the Peruvian Amazon and may not cover issues related to non-Amazonian parts of the country. We would like to credit ProNaturaleza’s “Observatorio Amazonia” as our primary resource for articles related to illegal mining in Peru.

Photo Credit: http://elcomercio.pe/peru/madre-de-dios/operacion-contra-mineria-ilegal-pampa-fotos-noticia-1826310/3

ACA contact for Comments/Questions:  Matt Finer (mfiner@amazonconservation.org)

Citation: DeRycke E, Finer M (2015). Peru Mining News Watch Report #17. Amazon Conservation Association. https://www.maapprogram.org/2015/08/mining-news-watch-17