Peru, Ecuador pool efforts to formalize small-scale miners

The governments of Peru and Ecuador are working together to speed up the formalization of the Andean countries' informal mining sector as part of an ongoing drive across South America to clean up pollution caused by unauthorized operations.

Delegations from both countries met in Peru's northern Piura region to inspect small-scale mining operations in Ayabaca province and draw up strategies to promote new technology in border areas, the energy and mines ministry (MEM) said in a statement.

Ecuador's delegation may copy some of the mechanisms, such as the one-stop formalization office known as 'ventana única' to accelerate evaluation of corrective environmental management instruments (IGAC) and authorizations of initiation of mining operations (AICM), according to Alessandra Herrera, head of the ministry's mining formalization department.

The meetings are a result of a binational cooperation agreement signed by both governments in July, the ministry said.

Over the past decade, illegal mining has spread across Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Guyana due to rising mineral prices and the absence of state control, according to Better Gold Initiative. The governments of Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia and Peru are working together to replicate a Peruvian crackdown on its illegal mining sector.

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Since taking office in July 2011, President Humala has sought to formalize an estimated 200,000 informal miners and set up military bases and units to control the flow of fuel, chemicals and machinery to illegal mining operations in the Amazon jungle, curb exports of illegally produced gold and destroy unauthorized river dredges and gold mills.

Illegal miners, who produced about 12% of Peru's 161t gold output in 2012, according to the latest available figures, generate about US$3bn in annual revenue, according to the ministry. Tax authority Sunat has impounded 1,022kg of illegally produced gold worth US$37.7mn from 25 export firms since late 2013.