Mauricio Winkelried, manager of the MAPE Program at Solidaridad, advocated artisanal and small-scale mining’s being seeing as an opportunity for technological innovation and corporate social responsibility which could bolster large-scale and medium-scale formal mining, given its technical knowledge and financing capacity.

During his participation at Rumbo a PERUMIN – Central Peru Edition, he underlined that mining activity in the process of formalization is one of the pillars that supports the economy in the provinces across the country, considering that approximately six thousand people depend on this activity, including operators, suppliers, and rural families.

“Illegal mining must be eradicated, but not mining that is willing to become formal or that is already in the process, since it is the main source of income for an important sector of the population. We should, therefore, create mechanisms to accelerate or facilitate its formalization so that it can become a responsible and sustainable activity,” he stated.

For Mauricio Winkelried, branding small-scale and artisanal mining as pariah activities or trying to isolate them has not proven to be advantageous; on the contrary; it has distracted the authorities in charge of the formalization process from their true objective, forcing them to spend resources, equipment, and time on pointless tasks.

“In 2019, the Peruvian State allocated close to 100 million soles for illegal mining eradication activities; whereas over the same period of time it allocated about 20 million soles to promote mining formalization, i.e., one fifth. And, to date, there are only a little over 10,000 formalized miners. Something is not being done right,” he explained.

For his part, Antonio Samaniego, corporate consultant at SRK Consulting, agreed that too many public funds are being spent on eradicating informal mining, when that money should be spent on empowering regional mining formalization directorates with better competencies in the matter.

“We have to promote a formal, modern mining activity in our country, from the large-scale to the small-scale and artisanal mining, as the industry itself is a powerful source of economic resources, such as canon (fiscal redistribution) and royalties, both of which are the main pillar of the public budget for works and public welfare projects in the regions,” he sustained.

Finally, he urged mining operators in the process of formalization to keep complying with social and environmental regulatory provisions, as the breach of both factors oftentimes leads to misunderstandings with the communities and delays the process of formalization to the point where they get suspended or withdrawn from ita.