By Diego M. Ortiz
Peru This Week
Some call it small and artisanal, but Peru’s informal gold mining market accounts for approximately 20 percent of the national gold production, which is equivalent to about $2.6 billion in gross value, La Republica reports.
There are many reasons to bring informal mining out of the shadows. From an environmental point of view the efforts to bring this type of informal mining up to date makes sense, according to the Minister of Energy and Mining, but the move would also be a welcomed change that would represent future income for Peru.
“The business of informal gold mining would be huge if we could effectively start collecting from this sector,” Jorge Merino Tafur told La Republica. “On top of that they would work within environmental laws and meet their obligations to the taxpayers.”