HomeNewsBriefIllegal Gold Mining Operations Enter New Parts of Peru
BRIEF

Illegal Gold Mining Operations Enter New Parts of Peru

GOLD / 11 OCT 2019 BY SERGIO SAFFON EN

Dredgers have been found in several rivers across Peru's northern department of Loreto, confirming that illegal gold mining has been rapidly expanding into previously untapped parts of the country.

During an operation carried out along the Nanay and Napo river basins, in the Amazon department of Loreto on October 3, authorities identified and destroyed four dredgers used for illegal gold mining, according to El Comercio.

In the area of ​​Alto Nanay, authorities reported that illegal mining activities involved child labor. Two wooden boats turned into dredgers were seized alongside a range of equipment needed to extract the precious metal.

In parallel, residents near the Napo River denounced the presence of unknown groups operating dredgers along the river, with authorities destroying two such vessels on the river.

SEE ALSO: Peru News and Profile

Preliminary investigations by the Attorney General's Office indicate the groups behind the illegal mining came from the southeastern department of Madre de Dios, which is home to the largest concentration of illegal mining activity in Peru.

Loreto department's environmental authorities have redoubled efforts to capture vessels modified to dredge the rivers, especially given the mining's adverse impact on the environment, reported La República.

Mercury, which is used for the extraction of gold, has polluted water sources in surrounding communities, threatening to affect the health of the local population and that of residents in Iquitos, the most important city in the region.

Local authorities have stated their ability to act has been hampered by the financial and logistical limitations of traveling long distances to the affected areas.

InSight Crime Analysis

The rise of illegal gold mining in Loreto coincides with the fallout of repeated attempts to break up communities of illegal miners in Madre de Dios.

While the latter is a remote region located in the Amazon rainforest in southeast Peru, residents of Loreto have reported the arrival of boats converted into dredgers since April. Authorities suspect these miners are coming from Madre de Dios with experience in how to rapidly set up illegal mining operations in new areas where there are fewer controls by security forces.

SEE ALSO: Illegal Mining Crackdown May Push Peru’s Former Miners to Coca, Timber

More broadly, however, organized crime in Peru has been expanding geographically. Criminal economies such as drug trafficking have extended out from traditional routes along the Amazon or the country's borders with Brazil and Bolivia.

Loreto has been at the frontline of this shift. The department contains several waterways which serve as clandestine highways to transport drug shipments from the interior of Peru to its borders with Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador. Its remote location and heavy forest cover also help provide strong protection for criminal groups seeking to evade authorities.

Of all the rivers in Loreto, the Napo may be the most important for the region's criminal dynamics. It has been affected by illegal mining activity, but it has also become a frequent drug trafficking route. In August, security forces seized a ton of cocaine on two boats near the Ecuador border.

Besides Loreto, the department of Puno, along the border with Bolivia, has seen rapid growth in coca cultivation in 2018, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

ARMS TRAFFICKING / 1 AUG 2023

An annual review of Brazil's security landscape paints a highly pessimistic outlook for the country's criminal woes.

BOLIVIA / 2 SEP 2022

Peru coca prices are low. And that's leading to potential cocaine production in Bolivia.

BOLIVIA / 8 NOV 2022

The Amazon is one of the world’s most biodiverse regions, where wildlife trafficking threatens hundreds of thousands of species.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…