Bloody disputes took place in Peru for gold and copper deposits in the mountainous, remote Atiko area, resulting in the deaths of 14 miners, according to a local police officer, who asked not to be named. “The bodies are (in a morgue) in Arekipa, first seven were found and then another seven in a ravine seventy meters deep,” he added.
Although the clashes broke out at the weekend, the authorities were not informed until yesterday, as the area is isolated. Such conflicts are common in remote areas, where the presence of the Peruvian state is almost non-existent.
Maria Losada, a prosecutor in Arekipa, confirmed the death of 14 miners on a local radio station. the arrest of 31 people and the seizure of firearms.
Two groups were involved in the conflict minerswho worked in relatively small structures, as they “blamed each other for trespassing” on fields of exploitation that “are not yet clearly defined”, explained through social networking sites the director of the NGO CooperAction, Jose de Etzave.
Peru, one of the leading producers of gold
Peru is one of the main producers of silver, copper and of gold in the world and the exploitation of mines is considered the engine of the economy of the Andean state. In 2021, according to official data, Peru produced 96.6 tons of gold, the largest quantity in all of Latin America.
The big companies in the sector employ around 200,000 miners, according to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, but another 300,000 people work, according to union imgs, legally, or illegally, on smaller farms, in isolated areas in the highlands and jungles of the Amazon, where authorities are virtually absent.
Even the largest mines are not free from conflicts in the Latin American country, according to a report by APE-MPE, citing AFP and Reuters.
For example, the Las Babas copper mine in the Andurimak region of Apurimak, which is run by the Chinese company MMG, has been paralyzed for fifty days due to attacks on its facilities and staff members by residents.
The Las Baba mine accounts for almost 15% of national copper production. The forced shutdown affects about 8,000 employees.
Source: News Beast
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