Expansion of small-scale gold mining in Madre de Dios: ‘capital interests’ and the emergence of a new elite of entrepreneurs in the Peruvian Amazon

Abstract

This research draws on the literature on livelihood diversification that claims that artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is not exclusively a poverty-driven activity. Taking the case of the Madre de Dios (MDD) gold rush in the Peruvian Amazon, this article builds up on the notion of ‘capital interests’ as a driver for the expansion of the ASM (Verbrugge, 2014). For many migrants who moved to the Huepetue basin in MDD from the Andean highlands, mining was initially a subsistence livelihood but, overtime, they were able to separate themselves from the workforce, mechanize their operations, and accumulate capital. They also entered the political arena to defend their interests and contest the central government’s efforts to regulate the industry. The research analyses the factors that explain this transition and the emergence of small-scale gold mining entrepreneurs. This research concludes that among other factors, endogenous financial arrangements between the formal, informal and illegal economies were developed which engaged unexpected financers. In the process, the new elite of small-scale mining entrepreneurs gave shape to a ‘resource-nationalistic’ discourse that resonates with that of other communities opposing large scale mining projects.