It's a feat worth $1.8-billion annually. The gold is spirited out of the country without being taxed, costing the Peruvian government some US$500 million in lost revenues. All of this unregulated also provides perfect lubricant for Peru's drug trade.
Of course, the damage doesn't end there. Small-scale mining is highly destructive to the environment: the process starts with clearing swaths of rainforest and ends with the mercury used to extract gold from the rocks either dumped into rivers or burned, polluting the air. Child labour is also rampant in small-scale mines.
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