April 7th 2010
The Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) reported that in the past three years up to 13,000 informal miners were formalized, those are currently grouped into associations and cooperatives, which are mostly located in Puno.
The General Director of Mines, Victor Vargas, said the MEM has prioritized areas of Ananea in Puno, Suyo in Piura and Puerto Maldonado in Madre de Dios for the formalization and therefore in these areas the Ministry has decentralized offices.
He said this ministerial portfolio has been working intensively with the regional governments to solve the problem of informal mining in the country and over the next two months will be installed the fourth decentralized office to be located in Chala, Arequipa.