That’s according to a special report published by The Guardian, which suggested that illegal gold mining has surpassed cocaine as Peru’s most profitable criminal industry.
In south-eastern Peru, the Madre de Dios region has lost more than 140,000 hectares of rainforest to mining activity, accounting for 97.5 per cent of mining-related deforestation in the region. Peruvian military and environmental authorities have intensified raids under Operación Mercurio II, destroying mining rafts, suction pumps, motors, and makeshift camps.
However, miners keep returning to protected areas because high gold prices let them quickly replace destroyed equipment. Gen Víctor Cotrina, military commander of Madre de Dios, noted that illegal mining is harder to disrupt than drug trafficking, where authorities can identify concealed coca plantations and other illicit operations.
“The difference is that an open-pit mining operation doesn’t require covert operations, whereas drug trafficking does,” Cotrina told The Guardian.
“With aerial surveillance and military personnel who are available 24/7 to conduct patrols, we are determined to eliminate mining in this region.”
A single mining dredger can produce up to 50 grams of gold a day. Illegal gold mining is Peru’s leading illicit finance threat, with the Peruvian Economics Institute estimating the trade could reach $USD18 billion ($AUD25.9 billion) in 2026 and exceed legal production.
Much of the gold is smuggled to Bolivia and Brazil or enters legitimate supply chains through the Reinfo registration system, which critics argue can enable illegal mining and gold laundering.
Ronal Flores, deputy prosecutor for Peru’s Office of the Attorney General, noted that raids often target low-level workers rather than those controlling the operations, leaving authorities struggling to disrupt the networks behind illegal mining.
The environmental impact extends beyond deforestation. An estimated 180 tonnes of mercury used in gold extraction enter Peru’s waterways each year, threatening wildlife and communities reliant on freshwater fish.
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