Eight miners die from toxic gases in Peru’s northern highlands

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/04/03/peru-a03.html
Date Written:  2019-04-03
Publisher:  World Socialist Web Site
Year Published:  2019
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX23590

Eight miners died after poisonous gases escaped in an informal gold mine in northern Peru. Informal mines are operated without licenses or safety standards by companies that can easily bypass regulations.

Abstract: 
--

Excerpt:

Most of Peru's mining sector involves large-scale, capital-intensive operations that are in the hands of transnational companies associated with Peruvian families that have owned mines for decades, investing billions of dollars in Peru.

Such investments are a top priority for Peru's bourgeois government. Due to its orientation toward international capital, the Peruvian government of President Martin Vizcarra, just like its predecessors, has ignored the needs and conditions of those working in small, informal mines, many of whom are poor peasants working for an owner living in comfort and luxury hundreds of kilometers away in the capital, Lima.

It is reported the toxic gas that killed the miners emanated from a pipeline ruptured as a result of explosive activities that caused a roof collapse in another nearby mine within El Toro mountain itself.