Around 60,000 small-scale miners will complete their formalization process over the next three years under the government's new scheme, Energy and Mines Minister Gonzalo Tamayo projected on Thursday.
The new framework includes administrative simplification, economic incentives and stronger presence of the Central Government.
In this sense, he referred to President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski's government plan, which aims at formalizing at least 50% of artisanal miners, estimated at 100,000-120,000 people.
Out of the 70,000 informal miners, who began the formalization process under the previous legislative framework, only 161 managed to complete it.
"Some of these 161 individuals are companies or groups of workers so the actual number of people, we are talking about, is around 3,000," he explained.
In response to such discouraging outcomes, the Central Government has introduced a new procedure to reverse the trend and make significant progress.
"It is a highly challenging task, given the productive, socioeconomic and environmental complexity posed by this activity [mining]," he said.
Regional governments
On the other hand, the government official referred to regional governments' involvement in the said process.
"Some regional governments have a more active participation in the formalization process, others are not as good, and some perform poorly," he noted.
In this respect, the Central Government has proposed that the Agency for Environmental Assessment and Enforcement (OEFA) participate in the process.
"In terms of OEFA's participation as enforcement body, we want to see articulated efforts, but with a follow-up strategy that does not entail overlapping functions or a change of the centralization regime," he pointed out.
(END) CNA/MDV/DHT/MVB