Aerial view of zinc and lead mines at Cerro de Pasco.
IT WAS once dubbed “The Opulent City”, but these days the residents of Cerro de Pasco have little to smile about.
Because the 400-year-old Peruvian city of riches, which at 4328 metres is one of the world’s highest cities, is slowly being swallowed by a huge hole that’s also poisoning its people.
In 1956, an open-pit mine was placed right in the middle of the city, and it has turned into a catastrophe as it continues to grow, forcing residents to move into unplanned urban developments without basic sanitation or stay put and put their health at risk.
“The centre of the city once had foreign consulates and historic homes,” local congresswoman Gloria Ramos Prudencio told theNationalGeographic. “For many years, we were Peru’s second city. The tajo (pit) took all that.
“These days, even the neighbourhoods built in the 1960s to get away from the pit are falling into it.”
The situation is so dire that in 2008 a law was passed to resettle the entire city, but it has not yet happened due to a dispute over who would foot the bill.
“They allocated $2 million to study alternative sites. But the ministries of Mining and Finance simply ignore committee meetings, so nothing moves.”
It’s something that has been attempted before, but on a smaller scale. In the 80s, $40 million was spent on a housing project about 25 kilometres from the city, but they were far from enticing and few people made the move.
A sign on the edge of the open-pit mine reads in Spanish “Explosion schedule — Mornings: 11am, Afternoons: 3pm” in Cerro de Pasco.Source:AP
The hole is 1.6 kilometres wide and 400 metres deep. There’s a no-man’s land that surrounds it, which is full of abandoned houses. In fact, 85 per cent of the homes that remain around the edge of the mine are uninhabitable, according to a 2006 report by government’s Civil Defence Unit.
The 85 per cent of homes at the edge of the mine are deemed at high to medium risk of health problems, a report by the government’s Civil Defence institute found. Zinc and lead are currently being mined, and the area has become one of the worst lead-poisoning clusters on Earth.
Nine of 10 children have elevated blood levels of one of 14 heavy metals, including lead, cadmium, and arsenic, according to the US Center for Disease Control.
Nine of 10 children have elevated blood levels of one of 14 heavy metals.Source:AP
“The problem of pollution around the city of Cerro de Pasco has a long history and is linked to mining, which affects not only the city’s territory and urban infrastructure, but also the environment, economy, social and cultural structures,” Felix Rivera Serrano told the Peruvian Times at the time. “The fact is, only 70 per cent of Pasco residents still live here, as the rest have moved to Huánuco, Huancayo, Lima or other cities.”
In May 2012 a “state of environmental emergency” was declared here by the Peruvian Ministry of Health, with toxic dust from the mounds being ingested by locals. The city’s main lake is a dumping ground for sewage.
Kathy Ramos, 17, carries her son Edson near the Patarcocha lagoon, which is used as a dump for sewage and human waste.Source:AP
The mine was bought by Volcan in 1999 and it racked up many environmental fines. But moving the town isn’t the company’s responsibility, Volcan spokesman Jorge Nuñez told the National Geographic, it “is an issue that concerns the national government, in co-ordination with the regional government and the local government of the city.” told national geo
Mr Nuñez said the company complies with environmental laws and has “carried out campaigns to inform the population about hygiene and cleaning procedures to mitigate the effects of pollution”.
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