Les ravages de l'exploitation aurifère au Pérou (David Hill / The Guardian)

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Peru is Latin America’s biggest gold producer and one of the top producers worldwide, with the biggest importers being Switzerland, Canada, the US, India and the UK. But are those buying, selling, hoarding, working and wearing it aware of the horrors, in the Amazon alone, involved in extracting it?

They should be. Numerous reports by NGOs, academics and media over the last few years have highlighted the appalling impacts and conditions. These include the destruction of forests and river-banks, contamination of rivers by mercury and cyanide, contamination of people, fish and other foods by mercury, indications of forced labour, 10,000s of child workers, prostitution, sexual exploitation of minors, people trafficking, appalling health and safety, numerous fatalities, money laundering, the razing of indigenous peoples’ land, violence and alcoholism. According to a 2015 report by Lima-based NGO Cooperaccion, between US$15 billion worth of gold was produced illegally and/or informally in Peru between 2003 and 2014, meaning an estimated loss of between US$1.4 billion and US$4.9 billion to the Treasury.

One report published last month, by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GIATOC), argues that illegal gold-mining in Latin America is increasingly controlled by drugs traffickers and “organized crime” groups. In Peru specifically, the report states that 28% of all gold is illegal, citing research that an estimated 35 tons of contraband gold worth over a US$1 billion made its way to the US and Switzerland in just nine months in 2014, and other research finding that more than 30 tons of mercury are being dumped into Peru’s rivers and lakes every year.

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http://www.theguardian.com/environment/andes-to-the-amazon/2016/may/01/gold-mining-in-peru-forests-razed-millions-lost-virgins-auctioned

La mine d'or à ciel ouvert Breapampa, au sommet de la montagne de Chumpi (Parinacochas, Ayacucho, Pérou). http://pocombelles.over-blog.com/2014/07/nouvelles-du-perou-et-de-pitunilla-par-pierre-olivier-combelles-le-courrier-de-la-nature-n-283-mai-juin-2014.html