Then Peru announced something different: It installed long-term military bases in hopes of curbing not just illegal mining but also human trafficking and other associated crimes. What is certain is the devastation left behind — partly because of the mercury used to separate gold from debris during excavation. Fueled by rising global prices for gold, illegal mining destroyed 92,000 square miles (238,000 square kilometers) of forest between 2000 and 2015, according to the Amazonian Network of GeoReferenced Socio-Environmental Information, a coalition of non-government groups that analyzed data from the Amazon in nine countries. The use of hundreds of tons of toxic mercury in illegal mining across the continent has raised concerns about health problems on affected land, some of which is occupied by indigenous people. The police and soldiers occasionally find machinery used by the illegal miners, and blow it up with dynamite.

Source: Washington Post May 16, 2019 04:07 UTC