Peru Faces Crossroads on Informal Mining and Copper Industry Legitimacy

On June 24, 2025, the Peruvian government announced it would extend temporary permits under the REINFO (Integral Registry for Mining Formalization) system through the end of the year, in what it described as a “one-time” measure to give informal miners more time to enter legal compliance. While the extension was framed as a pragmatic step to integrate small-scale operators into the formal economy, many industry leaders immediately raised alarms. They argued that the REINFO framework has become a loophole exploited by illegal mining syndicates, who use provisional status to launder gold production, evade environmental safeguards, and encroach on legally held concessions. For many observers, the extension risks fueling precisely the instability the system was meant to prevent.