Last year, Minister of Energy and Mines Jorge Merino, said in a press release that Peru had reached a point of "no return" in the fight against illegal mining and that the government is working hard to end this practice that “harms people’s health, the environment and the economy.”
"Informal mining is a problem that has social connotations. There are about 100,000 informal miners in Peru and another 400,000 compatriots who depend on this activity. We must first understand the problem [and then find a] solution, which it is not easy,” he said the statement.
Merino added Peru is one of the first countries in Latin America to address the problem of illegal mining directly, through a gradual process that aims to incorporate informal miners into the system. “Illegal is not the same [as] informal,” he said, adding that the latter are supported by the government and continue working for up to two years until their formal incorporation has been completed.
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