Overview
- The current debate centers on whether Congress will approve the Executive's draft MAPE law before the Reinfo deadline on December 31, 2026, a choice that could end the temporary formalization window or force another extension.
- CooperAcción's Diez tesis argues the main barrier to formalizing artisanal and small-scale miners is legal access to mining concessions and says the MAPE draft—though it creates a temporary consolidation regime and a new agency called Formape—does not change the 1992 General Mining Law that governs concession rights.
- The Executive bill offers incentives to nudge concession holders to sign exploitation contracts with small miners, such as reduced maintenance fees and penalty exemptions, but critics say these measures leave miners dependent on third-party concessionaires.
- Analysts and former officials propose stronger alternatives not in the bill, including forcing processing plants to demand exploitation contracts, applying caducity to inactive small-mining concessions, and giving fiscal and environmental agencies clearer roles in traceability and enforcement.
- Thousands of miners face the consequences on the ground: CooperAcción and analysts note about 22 million hectares are concessioned in Peru with roughly 3 million hectares in active mining use and nearly 18,000 Reinfo registrants working in third-party concessions, a situation linked to territorial disputes in the Andes and deforestation, mercury pollution and criminal networks in the Amazon.