The push for a sustainable artisanal mining in the Peruvian Amazon

MADRE DE DIOS, Peru — In Madre de Dios, in the Peruvian Amazon, thousands of people depend on gold mining, while the spread of mercury and deforestation are transforming the country’s most biodiverse tropical forest. In La Pampa, one of the region’s main gold mining hubs, a formalized artisanal mining operation is trying to prove that another way of mining is possible. While facing roadblocks, violence, informal economies, and government neglect, it seeks to produce “clean gold” using mercury-free technologies. Through the daily lives of workers, merchants, and small-scale miners, the film explores the tensions between survival, pollution, and legitimacy in one of the Amazon’s most complex extractive economies. This video is supported by the Amazon Film Grant, as part of the One World Media Fellowship. Mongabay’s Video Team wants to cover questions and topics that matter to you. Are there any inspiring people, urgent issues, or local stories that you’d like us to cover? We want to hear from you. Be a part of our reporting process—get in touch with us here! Banner image: Gold nugget. ©Felipe Esparza. Why are forests vanishing in southeastern Liberia? TranscriptNotice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.Dozens of people set a police truck on fire. At this moment the Interoceanic Highway is temporarily closed at kilometer 109-110, in the La Pampa sector, Madre de Dios. There’s going to be a confrontation here in La Pampa, man, the situation is serious. There are clashes happening between the police and the miners. How many people must have died there? This is an iron pipe that goes to the pump. The pump crushes the gravel and throws it into the hopper. And in the hopper, that’s where the carpets are laid out. And it’s in those carpets where the gold stays. And the next day and that’s where the material, as they call it, and that’s where the material, as they call it, comes out. That’s where the gold remains. They add mercury, which is quicksilver. They keep stomping, stomping, the mercury gathers it, and it stays in the mercury. Then they pan it, they squeeze it, as they say, and that’s when it comes out. We burn it, weigh it, see how much comes out, and then we go sell it. The media only shows what La Pampa is, but they never take into account those of us who are already formalized [gold miners] or at least show what it means to be formal. To take that into account, so there won’t be complete misunderstanding. And what do they say about Madre de Dios? That Madre de Dios is a polluter. That we are scum. That we finance crime and prostitution. Who would want to be part of that? Little by little, we’ve tried to equip the gravimetric table. We’re already working with solar panels. This is the gravimetric table we use The concentrate from that gravimetric table passes through here, and if I look right here, I’ve set it up now to show you, but this is where it passes, all that yellowish concentrate. And it will come out like this, just like it is. All these little pieces of gold you’re seeing, through sintering [turning the gold powder solid] with the help of the gravimetric table, we can extract them for sale. Yes, it is possible to produce gold without mercury. This is what we call ecological gold. Ever since I can remember, I always saw my grandparents working in artisanal mining. Since then, I’ve always understood that the reason for our livelihood is mining. Do you happen to have an invoice? No invoice, I only have a receipt. Just a receipt… I only have a receipt. But I need an invoice. Spare parts are also more expensive with an invoice, and cheaper without one. We ask for documentation, but many people don’t have it. Unfortunately, there’s no state presence. The technology exists. But we need support to implement it and make it economically sustainable in the long term. I do have hope. I say that one day, one day I believe our Peruvian state will take us into account. Someday. We just have to keep fighting, keep our courage. We have to take risks. Credits Topics