After six days of mining protests the Peruvian government finally announced an agreement with mining representatives on Tuesday, only to have it turned down by protesters.
Over the past week over 20,000 unlicensed gold miners in Arequipa and Lima protested through marches, road blocks and sit-ins, denouncing a 2012 regulation that would require informal miners to register their work with the government by April 19, 2014. According to the regulation, those that fail to register would face charges, which could include jail time. However, since the registration process began, less than half of the estimated 70,000 informal miners in the country have been documented.
Officials, including deputy environment minister Mariano Castro, mining commissioner Daniel Urresti and deputy mines minister Guillermo Shino met with mining representatives from different regions of Peru for eight hours on Tuesday to discuss new terms on the registration process. A new phase in the regulation was established; however mining representatives’ demand for an extended deadline was refused. President Ollanta Humala, who attended the meetings, affirmed that the deadline for the formalization of miners would not change. “We will support those that are in the process (of registering)… We believe in dialogue. We will not accept blackmail from anyone,” he said.
Informal and industrial mining is an ongoing source of tension in Peru, and the practices are often blamed for increased damage done to the environmental, including almost 45,000 acres of the Amazon rainforest. However, mining is the livelihood of many Peruvian families, accounting for at least 100,000 jobs nationally. The Secretary General of the National Federation of Peru’s Artisanal Miners has accused the government of terminating informal mining in favor of foreign mining corporations.
Stay tuned for Americas Quarterly’s Spring 2013 issue for in-depth analysis of mining, land rights International Labour Organization Convention No. 169.
