Peruvian Miners Protest

Hundreds of artisanal miners from Peru are protesting in Lima for the second day to demand that the authorities repeal a law that declares them illegal as of March 21.

The workers, men and women wearing daily work suits with helmets and overalls, gather in front of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, displaying banners with their demands in front of the police who provided security to the premises.

"If they end mining, they end the economy!" was the slogan they chanted and was read on their t-shirts.

Peru's artisanal mining union groups at least 500,000 workers.

One of their demands is to repeal a decree-law from last December that criminalizes small-scale mining, since it will potentially consider illegal those who have not registered before March 21 in the Comprehensive Registry of Mining Formalization (Reinfo).

For 12 years, Peruvian authorities have sought to stop the growth of artisanal mining through a single registry. But progress is slow, since less than 10% of workers managed to meet the requirements to formalize, according to mining leaders.

"We want them to stop applying the law, as of March 20 we are going to be illegal, we want the government to commit to not applying the rule," Máximo Becker, president of the union of artisanal mining producers, said.

He warned that "if they do not repeal the law," they will go on "a national strike."

The miners demand to respect the formalization deadline that existed until last December, which gave them until the end of 2024 to register in Reinfo.

The law that shortened the deadline was enacted in a context of the rise of criminal gangs that use dynamite extracted from pits.

Once the deadline of March 21 has passed, the police will suspect any miner who uses dynamite if they are not registered.

Peru is one of the world's largest producers of silver, copper and gold and mining is one of the engines of the national economy.