Illegal mining companies in Peru attacked a mining company and burned 12 of its vehicles on February 13th.
2. The attack occurred at the San Gabriel Mining Company located in the Illescas district, 70 kilometers east of Lima, Peru.
3. According to police sources, a group of illegal miners driving several pickups arrived at the complex and set fire to 12 vehicles belonging to the company.
4. It is claimed that they were protesting against the government-backed gold mining project at San Gabriel which would potentially displace them from their current operations in the area.
5. The Peruvian Defense Ministry deployed military personnel as well as helicopters to quell any further disturbances by illegal miners in the area after news of seven illegal mines being shut down spread through word of mouth earlier this week.
6. There have been several reports recently about conflict between large scale project developers and local illegals miners ever since foreign owned companies won concessions for resource exploitation late last year in many parts of Peru’s Amazonian region including those near Illescas .
7. Environmental activists are concerned that unregulated activities of these illegal miners will result in greater destruction of fragile ecosystems as well as severe health hazards due to lack of protective measures taken while illegally extracting gold or other minerals from deep trenches dug into dangerous geological formations like quartzite cliffs or mountain walls containing poisonous substances like arsenic or mercury used to separate metals out such ores