Illegal mining operations, particularly of gold and copper, are contentious and widespread across the region. Gold mining in Peru – one of the top producers worldwide – has been associated with a number of environmental abuses, including the destruction of forests and riverbanks and the contamination of rivers, fish and people by mercury and cyanide.
Mining operations are also closely linked to human rights abuses, such as forced labor and sexual exploitation of minors. Nineteen percent of the indigenous territories in Latin America are subject to legal or illegal mining, according to the World Bank, and the majority of that 19 percent are formally recognized indigenous lands.
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