Peru: Gold, garbage and guns in the highest town on earth

There's also the extensive environmental pollution. Chipanas indicates the rock-grinding mills of the "trapicheros," the men who separate gold from the lumps of rock via the amalgam process. One miner is handling mercury without wearing gloves. On this particular day, they get less than eight grams (.28 ounces) of gold out of 10 tonnes of rock. The mine yields less and less each year, says Chipanas. There’s also been a sharp drop in the price of gold in recent months. The tough struggle to survive here has got even tougher.
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