Peru's Congress Ousts Minister of Energy and Mines Amid Protests from Small-Scale Miners

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Written by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Peruvian legislative branch has overwhelmingly voted to remove Romulo Mucho, the minister of mines and energy.

The Peruvian congress voted on Tuesday to oust Romulo Mucho from the nation's ministry of mines and energy. The vote follows a week of protests by small-scale miners demanding a registry extension.

Since then, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte has named Jorge Montero as new minister of mines.

Former Minister Mucho was dismissed with 79 votes in favor, four against and 13 abstentions. The National Confederation of Small-scale and Artisanal Mining of Peru (CONFEMIN) celebrated the removal of the minister on its Facebook page.

Small-scale and artisanal miners have been protesting for several days outside the congress in Lima, Peru. They are demanding the extension of the Comprehensive Mining Formalization Registry (REINFO), which allows for the registry of small-scale and artisanal miners. The registry has been open for more than 10 years, though only a couple of thousand miners have been able to finalize the process.

The government had initially set the deadline to register for December 31, though the congress voted for an extension of another six months.

The miners, however, also oppose the six-month extension and have instead proposed two more years for the registry. Miners have said that they will not end their protests in the capital until the government takes their demands. Demonstrations are also taking place across other Peruvian regions.

The government is pushing for the REINFO deadline, suggesting that it will reduce illegal mining activities. At the same time, artisanal miners say that this deadline could affect 500,000 families that depend on these jobs.

Based on local news sources, less than 90,000 miners have been able to register in the REINFO, and only about 2,000 have been able to finish the process, accounting for less than 3%.

According to the Ministry of Mines, small-scale and artisanal mining produced 5,738 metric tons of copper in 2023, accounting for about 0.2% of the nation's output. However, these groups of miners had an output of almost 16 million grams of gold during the same period, representing close to 16% of the national production.

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