How gold surpassed cocaine as Peru’s most profitable criminal industry - The Guardian

AI desk brief

Peru’s illegal gold mining boom is being driven by record prices, with a single 24-hour dredger able to produce up to 50 grams of gold worth more than $6,000 in Madre de Dios at late-August prices of over $4,650/oz after an estimated peak near $5,600/oz in late January. Authorities say illicit gold mining has become Peru’s top illicit finance threat and, for the first time, surpassed legal gold production in the first half of 2026, with the informal trade seen reaching as much as $18 billion by year-end.

The crackdown has destroyed about 150 barges and motors and seized roughly $500m of machinery and supplies, but enforcement is struggling against a trade that has already caused more than 500 hectares of rainforest loss in the Tambopata reserve in the last year and 140,000 hectares in Madre de Dios overall. The article also highlights laundering risk through Peru’s Reinfo registration system and the role of transnational organized crime, underscoring persistent supply-side tightness even as high prices incentivize new output.