Deadly attack spurs plea for Peru crackdown on unlicensed mines

Mining executives in Peru are imploring authorities to crack down on escalating violence by informal miners, which this weekend cost the lives of nine staff members of a large, legal gold mine.

“Formal mining is under attack,” Angela Grossheim, the head of industry group SNMPE and a former minister, told reporters Tuesday. “Illegal mining today is the country’s main illicit activity, even bigger than drug trafficking.”