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Peru: Amazon Gold Mining
With the price of gold at an all time high on the international market, there has been a surge of informal mining in the resource-rich Amazon basin in Peru. In Madre de Dios state, near Peru's border with Bolivia, unregulated mining is spreading into the jungle at an alarming rate - leaving behind severe environmental consequences, including deforestation and mercury-contaminated waterways.

Most of the miners come from the poor Andean highlands where they have few opportunities. Artisanal gold mining, although devastating to the environment and their bodies, brings the potential for more income than they could make at home. After the Peruvian government tried to completely ban informal mining in early 2010, informal miners took to the streets across the country, demanding that their livelihoods not be taken away.

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