LIMA (Reuters) -Peru's government has kicked 50,565 informal miners off of a temporary program that allowed them to continue operations, the minister of energy and mines said on Friday.
Only 31,560 miners will remain in the program that aims to formalize them and the government will reinforce its efforts against illegal mining, minister Jorge Montero told a local radio station.
The government said at least 45,000 of the excluded miners had not registered any activity in the last four years.
The program, called REINFO, was started in 2012 and meant to be temporary and formalize miners operating outside the law. It has since been extended multiple times and been criticized for enabling illegal mining.
Government attempts to shutter the program have been met with protests and in late June the government said it was extending the program until the end of 2025.
Protests have continue though, including a blockade in parts of Peru's key copper corridor earlier this week, with miners saying they want "unconditional formalization."
Many workers have used the temporary permit to mine in prohibited areas or third-party property without having to comply with labor or environmental regulations, according to authorities and private mining companies.
This has led to deadly clashes in mining regions, leaving dozens dead in the last few years, even leading President Dina Boluarte to temporarily suspend mining in the country's north after 13 gold mine workers were kidnapped and killed.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Editing by Alexander Villegas and Sarah Morland)
