Peru's Congress grants one-year extension to informal mining permit program

LIMA, Dec 17 - Peru's ⁠Congress on ⁠Wednesday ‍approved a one-year extension to a temporary permit program for small-scale miners amid ongoing protests that ‍sought a longer timeframe for miners to regularize ​their operations.

The extension will run through the end of 2026. The ​government had previously opposed a bill that sought to extend the program, known as REINFO, by two years.

The extension was approved with 13 ​votes in favor, four against and two abstentions in a second vote required for its official adoption, after ​receiving initial approval in early December.

This is the fifth extension to the REINFO ‌permits since the program was introduced a little over a decade ago. The program covers small-scale, ​informal miners who extract gold ⁠and copper and are allowed to operate thanks to these temporary permits.

According to Peruvian police and ‌industry sources, the temporary permits have also fostered a surge in illegal mining at a time when such precious metals are ‌trading at record prices on the international market.

In July, the government ‌removed more than 50,000 small-scale miners from REINFO, leaving about 31,000 responsible for bringing their status up to date before the end of ‍2025.

Peru exported $15.5 billion worth of gold in 2024, a significant jump from $11 billion the ⁠previous year. It is estimated that about 40% of this gold is of illegal origin, according to sector data and the local financial regulator.

(Reporting by Marco Aquino, Writing by Iñigo Alexander; Editing by Brendan O'Boyle)

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