Illegal mining or illegal mineral extraction is a common economic activity in Peru, which consists of the exploitation of metallic minerals (such as gold) and non-metallic minerals (clay, marble, among others) to finance criminal organizations. [1] Illegal mining rose to prominence in the late 1970s with the emergence of informality in that sector. [2] It is characterized by having no social and environmental control or regulation, which is shared by the artisanal sector in the country. [3]
Those who promote and carry out illegal mining, have means and forms of organization, which act outside the control mechanisms of the Peruvian state and systematically evade relevant legal norms. [4] Illegal mining operations are located mainly in the departments of Madre de Dios, [5] Puno and La Libertad. [6] In the case of the Amazon rainforest, 17 protected natural areas were compromised by it. [7]
Peru is one of various countries in the region, such as Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador that have significant problems with illegal mining. [8]
In the 2000s in the Amazonian department of Madre de Dios the illegal exploitation of gold dramatically increased the recruitment and coercion of adolescents into prostitution through false employment offers. [9]