Peru's mining crisis: Small miners' protest puts pressure on government
Thousands of small-scale miners in Peru block highways and camp near Congress demanding changes to mining permits. The govtʼs short-term solution faces strong opposition as current program nears its end
Last month thousands of small-scale miners started camping near Peruʼs Congress building creating a tense stand-off with authorities (the situation continues even now). These hard-working people dont want their mining permits to end on dec-31-2023.
The govtʼs quick-fix solution isnt working well: they offered just a 6-month extension for miners to get proper papers‚ but Maximo Becquer from miners union says its not enough. His group wants 2 yrs more to sort things out.
The protest has grown big - miners in work-clothes and safety-helmets have blocked main roads in Ica and Arequipa regions; making a 5km-long line of stuck trucks and buses. Nelson Calderon a 45-yr old miner says: “we sleep outside while govt ignores us“
Since 2012 the REINFO program let miners work with temp permits; but only 20% of 85000 registered workers got full papers. The program had some bad side-effects - some miners worked in no-go areas or didnt follow rules about workers safety and nature protection
Peru makes lots of gold: about 99‚7m grams last yr; with small miners doing 40-50% of work. But security expert Pedro Yaranga thinks theres trouble ahead - “This could be a time-bomb if we dont fix it“
- Highway blocks in south regions
- Thousands sleep near Congress
- Only 1/5 miners got proper papers
- Many work in forbidden places
- 30+ deaths in mine attacks since 2021
