Devastating cost of illegal mining in Peru higher than ever thought: government

According to the latest study conducted by the government and divulged over the weekend, illegal gold mining in the Andean country has already destroyed more than 40,000 hectares of Amazonic forest so far. A lot more than the 18,000 the country estimated last year.
The most noted damage Cuzco’s Quincemil district, a region that has become the main target of illegal mining ever since Peru’s authorities tightened regulations in the south-eastern Madre de Dios region.
 The report comes on the heels of a study published earlier this moth exposing the lethal effects the use of mercury, a direct by-product of artisanal gold mining, is having in Peru's south eastern Amazon population.
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