Efforts to tackle illegal mining make progress

Bolivia, Colombia and Ecuador made progress in their drive to formalize small-scale mining, a sector blamed for widespread pollution and deforestation.

A joint government and military operation arrested four illegal miners in Cochabamba department's Esteban Arce province, the Bolivian mining ministry said in a statement. The miners were caught using heavy goods vehicles and explosives to extract construction material in an unauthorized site, the ministry said.

Bolivia's mining administration agency Ajam has carried out a dozen operations against illegal mining operations and has arrested 93 people to date, the ministry said.

The governments of Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia have begun joint efforts in recent years at formalizing informal mining along their border areas. The sector is believed to generate US$200bn in revenue worldwide, according to the Better Gold Initiative.

ACROSS THE REGION

In Colombia, the government has set up a 3bn-peso (US$1mn) fund to finance alternative development projects in areas that depend on small-scale mining, the energy and mines ministry (Minminas) said.

The fund created by national training entity Sena aims to create 125 jobs in up to 25 microenterprise ventures to enable small-scale miners to cease mining where environmental regulations prevent them from working, the ministry said in a statement. The fund will provide advice and finance 60-140mn pesos per venture for infrastructure, equipment, raw materials and labor.

The government has identified 7,000 mining operations in 16 departments, according to the ministry. Small-scale mining accounts for 70% of the operations in the country, where about 133,000 informal miners are believed to operate.

A group of 10 small-scale miners in Ecuador, meanwhile, formed an association dubbed Ecuamineros in a bid to gain access to formalization and training, spokesperson Wilmer Menseses told local media. President Lenín Moreno, who took office last year, wants to bring order to the country's fledgling mining industry to enable large-scale formal mines to get underway.

Global warming, which is exacerbated by the deforestation caused by illegal mining, wrought havoc last year in countries such as Peru, which is committed to reducing greenhouse gases by 30% by 2030, President Martín Vizcarra said.

Peru's government is working on a corporate greening strategy including the promotion of deforestation-free products, Vizcarra said at the UN General Assembly in New York,

"We have the moral obligation to protect our planet for the next generations and guarantee our citizens' right to a healthy environment," he said during his presentation. "We're focused on reducing carbon emissions, the use of clean technology and renewable energy and the development of energy efficiency."

Vizcarra is scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump, the presidents of Colombia and Paraguay and UN Secretary General António Guterres in New York this week.