[REVISION HISTORY]

South America mining reforms and crackdown expands

Updated 3 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-08-08 01:43 UTC → 2026-08-14 22:22 UTC · added ~~removed~~

Since May 2026, satellite monitoring has documented more than 500 ha of forest loss in Peru’s Tambopata Reserve, where a resurgence of illegal gold‑mining camps has been reported. Parallel raids in Madre de Dios seized equipment worth over US$3 million and disrupted networks that finance drug trafficking and human‑trafficking. Peru and Ecuador presented joint proposals to close the REINFO registry, impose criminal liability on miners in prohibited zones and ban mercury by 2030, while the Arequipa region launched a pilot formalisation park for artisanal miners. In early June, Peru and the World Bank announced a US$264 million five‑year reform to digitise permits and support small‑scale miners. Ecuador’s armed forces destroyed illegal camps in Carchi and Zamora Chinchipe, seizing excavators, classifiers and fuel stores. A June report linked illegal mining in the Amazon to transnational drug cartels, and a bombing of Ecuador’s mining regulator office underscored the retaliation faced by authorities. July saw the introduction of Peru’s Digital Mining Passport to trace mineral custody, the passage of the MAPA law to formalise artisanal gold mining, and a joint Peru‑Bolivia operation that seized assets exceeding S/ 1.2 billion. Bolivia’s AJAM reported armed attacks on inspectors, while the Andean Court admitted a landmark lawsuit accusing Peru’s REINFO extensions of breaching regional obligations. Ecuador escalated its response, reclassifying illegal mining as a national‑security threat and planning a military crackdown that has already neutralised thousands of illegal sites. The wave of regulatory amendments in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Peru, together with intensified patrols and prosecutions across the region, highlights a broad shift toward stricter oversight, ecosystem protection, Indigenous rights and coordinated security actions against illegal mining and its associated crimes. Late July, Ecuador’s navy dismantled nine illegal gold‑mining camps in Esmeraldas; Peru linked mining in Madre de Dios and Puno to human‑trafficking. In August, Ecuador formalized its stance by reclassifying illegal mining as a national security threat, authorizing the armed forces to use artillery to prevent the reopening of illegal sites. This crackdown has reportedly caused organized crime groups economic losses exceeding $4.391 billion since January.

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