In June and July, artisanal miners established blockades along highways in several copper-producing provinces to denounce their removal from a system aimed at regulating informal mining, and to demand the relaxation of requirements for formalisation. The system, Registro Integral de Formalización Minera (Comprehensive Registry of Mining Formalisation) or REINFO, requires small-scale miners to register their activities, or risk punitive measures. While the protesters suspended their blockades to allow for negotiations with the government in mid-July, these talks have since collapsed as miners demand modifications to the process. At the same time, the government faces increased pressure from critics of the system who have argued it facilitates illegal mining practises, and pressure from foreign-owned companies to prevent further blockades. The period ahead will involve a delicate balance for the government to prevent further unrest while curbing illegal mining.

Drivers of the demonstrations

Peru’s government has launched a series of measures over the past two decades aimed at curbing illegal mining by regularising the activities of small-scale miners. The REINFO system was initially designed to provide temporary permits to those in the registration process for 24 months while they attempted to meet the full legal requirements. While in this process, miners were exempt from criminal prosecution for illegal mining. The system has other incentives for small-scale miners, including allowing the selling of gold to established mining companies.

However, the system has faced significant challenges with informal miners arguing that the regulations are too complex and difficult to adhere to. For example, the process requires registrants to pay a tax and demonstrate progress in meeting the associated requirements, which involve observing sustainable environmental practices and avoiding restricted mining zones. The programme has not only failed to reduce illegal mining, but with only two percent of miners having successfully completed the registration process, it has in some cases exacerbated the problem by facilitating mining in otherwise restricted areas. Responding to these failures, in 2024, authorities announced plans to end the formalisation process, initially in mid-2025, although this was extended until December 2025 – which the government has asserted is the final extension. Around 50,000 of the 80,000 registrants have already been removed from the system for failing to meet the requirements of the programme or being inactive for years. The suspension exposes them to potential criminal charges. This leaves around 30,000 miners still with a path to formalise their activities.

Days of blockades

It is the government’s latest plans that have sparked the most recent series of protests. In November 2024, thousands of small-scale miners protested for several days in multiple locations across the country to demand an extension of REINFO. Miners encamped outside the Palacio del Congreso in Lima and blocked the main coastal highway in the Ica and Arequipa regions, prompting severe traffic disruptions and restricting the passage of hundreds of freight and passenger vehicles. Protests subsided after negotiations with the government, and the formalisation process was ultimately extended. But, following the announcement that the programme was ending, miners carried out 12 days of widespread and highly disruptive blockades in June and July 2025 across several copper-producing provinces, including Chumbivilcas, Caravelí, and Santiago de Chuco. Demonstrations prompted significant travel delays and logistical disruptions for copper mines in affected areas, including restricting the transport of semi-processed copper between two mines in the region to their shipment ports. The protests were suspended after the government agreed to negotiate with miners, following growing pressure from foreign-owned mining companies who warned that their production could be significantly impacted by continued protests.

Outlook for the mining sector

While miners suspended their blockades in mid-July ahead of negotiations with the government, these talks collapsed after the government refused to move a 17 August deadline for miners to move explosives into formal ‘powder magazines’. Miners claimed the move would be too difficult logistically and would see 20,000 miners excluded from the process. Although the government is drafting new legislation to find a long-term solution that will curb illegal mining and keep encouraging investment into the country’s mining sector, small-scale miners hold significant ability to disrupt mining and other commercial operations. Should the government move forward with the process and accompanying new legislation without reaching an agreement, further protests and costly disruptions are likely.