Luis Miguel Castilla, executive director of Videnza Instituto, presented a recent study on non-formal gold mining in Pataz, Piura, Madre de Dios, Puno and the southern coast, which covers part of Arequipa. Among the main results, it is revealed that the areas with the highest extraction use the metal as currency.
At the Mining Thursday conference, organized by the Institute of Mining Engineers of Peru (IIMP), Castilla specified that these areas were chosen because the high number of mining rights registered in the Reinfo (current or suspended) and the prevalence of Illegal mining with high levels of insecurity.
The five areas were evaluated around three variables, in order to understand their situation and dynamics: demographic changes, insecurity and financial inclusion.
Regarding the demographic changesthe Regular Basic Education enrollment between the years 2018 and 2023 was used as a reference, since the last census dates from 2017.
The results showed that in Arequipa and Madre de Dios there was a significant increase in enrollment in non-formal mining areas, but this was not replicated in Pataz, Piura and Puno.
“As an initial conclusion, there is something that is causing the population that is dedicated to this activity to migrate to these areas of influence with their families,” said Castilla.
Refering to unsafetyspecified that “in the most emblematic districts where this non-formal mining exists, such as Nicolás Valcárcel or Secocha (Arequipa), Pataz (La Libertad), Laberinto (Madre de Dios), Madre de Dios (Madre de Dios), Ananea (Puno ), there is a very significant increase in reported crimes per 10,000 inhabitants.”
Gold: illegal mining and financial inclusion
And about the financial inclusionespecially through mobile wallets, such as Yape, which has more than 14 million users, the speaker presented two conjectures.
On the one hand, there is more money and more need to make financial transactions through mobile wallets, creating a positive relationship between non-formal mining and financial inclusion. But, on the other hand, there may be a negative relationship, since the traceability of money movements would be avoided.
“Negative for two reasons: there is an attempt to avoid the traceability of the movement of money, of resources obtained through dirty means, or a hypothesis is also created regarding barter, because finally the means of payment becomes the gold nuggets that are extracted and converted into the currency of exchange“explained the former Minister of Economy.
The executive director of Videnza specified that this is an initial and exploratory analysis, which could be deepened with further analysis of secondary data and collection of primary information in the territories.
And regarding productive chains in the areas of non-formal gold mining, he concluded that “the economic impact on the territory is less dependent on the characteristics of the environment.
Unlike formal mining areas, in non-formal mining areas, factors such as occupancy rate, access to electricity and coverage of paved roads do not appear as determinants of the multiplier of the added value of mining activity.”
Source: Larepublica
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