Illegal gold mining transforms peru’s nanay river into mercury-contaminated wasteland

From thousands of feet above the Peruvian Amazon, the devastating impact of illegal gold mining becomes starkly visible. Professor José Manuyama, president of the Committee for the Defense of the Water of Iquitos, watched in anguish as his small aircraft flew over the Nanay River Basin in the Loreto region, counting approximately 40 mining dredges during a two-hour survey flight. “They are like enormous leeches in the water,” said Manuyama, a member of the Kukama indigenous community.

The transformation has been swift and catastrophic. Just seven years ago, the Nanay River ran clear through the Amazon rainforest. Today, the waterway has taken on a milky appearance, its banks stained an ochre hue from mercury contamination—a toxic byproduct of the gold extraction process used by illegal miners. The COVID-19 pandemic marked a turning point, triggering a surge in mining operations that has accelerated the river’s destruction.

From above, the mining operation resembles a mechanical invasion of the pristine ecosystem. Orange pipes extending from the dredges look like “tentacles of a gigantic animal drilling into the river basin,” disturbing both the waterway and the forest edges. The mining violates Peruvian law, which prohibits river mining activities.

The aerial survey included prosecutor Bratzon Saboya from the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office in Environmental Matters of Loreto, highlighting growing legal attention to the crisis. For indigenous communities and environmental defenders like Manuyama, the rapid degradation represents not just ecological destruction, but the loss of a vital water source that has sustained local populations for generations.