Peruvian Gold

The social issue caused by the handmade mining.

 

By Amaya Camacho Patty del Pilar; Mendoza Mondragón Fiorella

Paredes Arcelles Grissel; Sandoval Torres Carlos Alberto; Troncos Merino Karina; Vargas Jiménez Blanca Christhel (School of Communication Sciences, UNP)

 

General Framework

Currently in Peru, we see the mining, as well as it’s brought positive consequences for the economy, it’s caused different problems in the mining workers, the population living around, and the environment, because in all those people it’s seen their health affected as this activity is risky, and having no support from the government in any emergency case.

 

About the social consequences, the miners are going through serious health problems because many teenage workers die or are hospitalized every year due to injuries acquired while working. So, the people react to those problems breaking out demonstrations and strikes which they manifest not only they mistreat the farmer communities, their workers too.

 

An example of injuries caused by this job happened at Peruvian Northern, in Cajamarca, on June 2^nd, 2000, in the towns of San Juan, Magdalena and the village of San Sebastian de Choropampa. Along 50 km or 35 miles approximately, it happened a spill near 11 liters, equivalent to 151 kg of elementary mercury, that caused a massive intoxication around 1200 farmers among adults and children.

 

The illegal handmade mining cheers the abuse, and even the slavery, in some cases, of thousands of people (women and children) who are recruited by organizations for what there are no labor, social security, and medical assistance laws. Currently, the impact of mining is one of the problems affecting to the world’s environment, where Peru is not free of such issue because it’s a country with big mining deposits.

 

The impact of mining in Peru has provocated, and it’s provocating, a list of social conflicts. So, it’s important to have a biggest awareness about such issues due to the mining was before smallest scale. Nowadays, the mining operations are massive or big scale. Then, the same impacts can grow up in the governments.

 

The economic problem is that the illegal activities in handmade mining aare cause of labor informality, undesirable child work, and economic crimes when they elude the tax payment.

 

Other social-economic impact is all the family involved in the different phases of the productive process, according to the study of illegal mining. The child work begins in very early ages and in mode of non-remunerated family job. The under legal age do activities of carrying, processing in the mineral  mills with mercury for its amalgam, and the selective survey of non-worthy matter of the mines.

 

The mafias dedicated to the gold informal exploitation, as well as destroying the Peruvian Nature, have generated other social problems like:

Extreme poverty in rural settlements of the zone.

Clandestine prostitution (even under legal age).

Labor informality and abandonment of workers (hooking job).

Black markets of weapons, explosives, and drug trafficking.

 

Child work and exploitation:  In Delta 1 Zone, located in Manu Province, Madre de Dios Department, where illegal gold extraction is made, boys are exploited in washing places, while girls, many in 12 and 13 years old, are forced to prostitution.

The stone milling, as it’s called in some Peru departments as Madre de Dios and La Libertad, is a very toxic and risky activity. The boys have to rise the big stone serving as miller to put the mineral into.

The survey is an work made by the mothers and the boys as a complementary activity for having incomes when the adult relatives dedicated to this activity don’t generate the enough ones for housekeeping.

The teenagers participate in extraction phase by moving the mineral from the sinkhole to the mine hole external part. The risks due to the por conditions of existent security are associated to collapses and slides, inhalation of gas and dust, also muscular injuries, and cutting because of the stones handling.

 

Child Sexual exploitation: In the mining zone of Huepetúe, Puquiri, and Delta 1, it’s calculated that 400 boys and girls work in prostitution agreed by National Police in cantins of bars that they call prostibarés. Known fellas as hookers are located in markets or bus stops in cities as Puno, Abancay, and Cusco for recruiting under legal age girls between 10 to 16 years old.

They promise the teenage females with jobs as washers or cookers with 100-dollar salaries, pretty higher the 15 dollars they receive as housekeepers in their native towns. The under legal age females have clothes and tickets as their salary deposit. Once they arrive to Madre de Dios, the employeers (procurers and traffickers) offer them an eventual job, first, then engaging them gradually.

 

The drug trafficking: The drug trafficking is one of the hidden beneficiaries of the illegal extraction of minerals. DEA,a U.S. Justice Department agency for Enforcement of Blackmail and Drug Consumption, and National Police of Peru report that the gold commerce could have turned into the most efficient mechanism for washing funds according to reports of international agencies for drug trafficking enforcement.

The gains of the drugs serve to buy gold whether ingots, jewelry, or gold residues. In the U.S., the refiners import gold record-quantities of Colombia and Peru.

 

Trafficking of weapons, explosives, and blackmail: The illegal trafficking of small weapons and explosives have as main characteristic to have linked to illegal international networks related to the illegal drug trafficking and black mail.

This activity pushes the weapons black market for personal defense due to their low cost. Throughout this activity, it’s pitched to acquire illegal inputs for illegal extraction works, contributing to its growing. The most routes used by the blackmail match to the most exploitation zones of illegal mining.

 

Conflicts generated by illegal informal handmade mining: In Peru, it’s been produced a significant number of conflicts between temporary handmade miners, farmer communities, native communities, little and medium mining companies, right holders, locals of towns next to their activities, local and regional authorities, unions, and farmers, indigenous organizations joining many communities, ethnics, and defense fronts.

 

Conflicts with officials of energy & Mines and Homeland Security: The Ministry of energy & Mines (Minem) has ruling, concessing, prosecuting, and investment promoting  functions. It works essentially to grant titles to do mining activity and establish the proper legal framework purposed for it to develop the better conditions of legality and productiveness. The people dedicated to illegal extraction of minerals do demonstrations to push for benefits and legal frameworks fit to their interests.

 

Homeland Security Ministry / National Police of Peru (Discamec): This institution rules the buy, transportation, storage, and use of explosives, previous opinion of the Ministry of energy & Mines. Acting out of rule, the illegal extraction has promoted the generation of a black market to buy and to sell explosives.

 

With regional authorities: In 2006, local and regional governments were transferred with sector functions and competences, especially linked to little mining and handmade mining, according to resolutions released.

The illegal extractive activity is made without a title or authorization to exploit the deposits legally, so difficulties between the executors and the state organisms. The tension among them increases as there are no mininmum rules of mining security and hygiene, conservation and care of the environment.

 

Communities: The conflicts generated with the communities are few except the zone of Madre de Dios and recent cases in Piura, Ananea, Cajabamba,and in less proportion in Canta.

Piura is a department where the agricultural activity is very intense and the development of illegal extraction has caused high levels of environmental pollution, affecting the farmers who have protested to local authorities for adopting a hard position before this activity.

The Chipillico Valley’s farmers, in Las Lomas, blocked  the road driving to Sapillica District for demanding the mayor of that town, Silvestre Carhuapoma to accomplish the municipal act forbidding the gold clandestine explitation.

 

In brief, the mining issue is not itself but the irresponsibility of mining entrepreneurs who don’t respect the environmental standarss unbalancing the ecosystem as well as generating social problems. Forr this, the state must create institutions watching mining activities to protect the rights of mining communities that have suffered with this deep impact.

 

Production:  Amaya Camacho Patty del Pilar

Mendoza Mondragón Fiorella

Paredes Arcelles Grissel

Sandoval Torres Carlos Alberto

Troncos Merino Karina

Vargas Jiménez Blanca Christhel. Supervised by Marco Rumiche Purizaca. We thank  JJ Guerrero for the collaboration. FACTORTIERRA partially  supported this investigation.

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