SNMPE: Illegal Miners Generate $1 Billion Per Year

Illegal mining in Peru is generating more than $1 billion a year, with about three-quarters of the sum coming from gold production, according to the National Mining, Oil and Energy Society, SNMPE. Illegal miners also produce copper and silver, SNMPE’s ex-president, Jose Miguel Morales, said, according to state news agency Andina.  Morales said that the SNMPE [...]

Environment Minister: Informal mining costs Madre de Dios millions in royalties

Peru’s Environment Minister, Antonio Brack, said Friday the Amazon’s Madre de Dios department is losing millions of dollars in royalties each year due to informal mining. The mining is also causing heavy metal contamination in the region’s waterways. Brack said that calculations by state tax regulator Sunat show that Madre de Dios should have collected about [...]

Mine collapses in La Rinconada, three miners dead

A gold mine located in La Rinconada – the highest and perhaps one of the filthiest shantytowns in the world – collapsed early Wednesday morning, killing three miners. According to witnesses, a rock-tunnel caved in and the miners were buried alive. Family members and miners told daily El Comercio that the Ananea Mining Corporation does [...]