Source:
América Noticias, June 2025.
An investigative report has shed light on how entrenched informal-mining power networks in the Pataz province of Peru’s La Libertad region is exerting growing influence over local politics. These networks, often linked to gold extraction in remote mountainous areas, have cultivated strong alliances with political figures, municipal leaders, and community organizations. The result is a complex web of economic and social dependencies that complicates state-led efforts to regulate the sector, enforce environmental laws, and advance formalization programs.
According to the report, the financial clout of informal mining groups has allowed them to fund political campaigns, control key municipal decisions, and in some cases, shape local law enforcement priorities. This influence undermines formalization initiatives by creating vested interests in maintaining the status quo, where mining operations often evade taxation, safety regulations, and environmental oversight. Communities are caught in the middle—benefiting from some local investment and employment generated by informal mining, but also facing the downsides of pollution, insecurity, and reduced public revenue for essential services.
This dynamic is significant because it strikes at the heart of the social license to operate in Peru’s mining regions. When informal economic power distorts governance, it erodes public confidence in both state institutions and legitimate mining companies, fostering mistrust and instability. Breaking this cycle will require more than regulatory enforcement—it will demand strategies that address corruption, expand alternative livelihoods, and involve communities in transparent decision-making, ensuring that resource wealth contributes to sustainable and equitable development rather than entrenching parallel power structures.