Pataz Miners Face Faster Exclusion Reviews After Peru Court Sides With Poderosa
MINING · PERU
Key Facts
- —The country Peru, where gold from Pataz province in the La Libertad region is mined both by large companies and by thousands of small, informal operators.
- —What happened A Lima constitutional court ordered the mines ministry to process 259 pending requests by Poderosa to strike miners from the REINFO register, Diario Uno reported on 30 September 2026.
- —Who is involved Compañía Minera Poderosa, a Pataz gold producer; the Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem); and small miners listed in REINFO, the state formalisation register.
- —What it means for you For investors, a sign that courts will push the clean-up of a register formal miners say shelters illegal digging. For Pataz miners, exclusion means they must stop work.
- —Still open How many files end in exclusion, whether Minem appeals, and what replaces REINFO when Law 32537 lets it lapse on 31 December 2026.
A court in Lima has ordered Peru’s mines ministry to act on a backlog of requests to strike Pataz miners from the state’s formalisation register. The requests came from Compañía Minera Poderosa, a gold producer in the La Libertad region, Diario Uno reported on Wednesday 30 September.
The register, known as REINFO, lets small and artisanal miners keep working while they complete their permits. Removal from it means an operator must stop mining and can face administrative, civil or criminal sanctions.
What the court ordered
The Fourth Constitutional Court of Lima, a first-instance court for constitutional complaints, partly upheld Poderosa’s lawsuit against the Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem). It ordered the ministry to resolve the pending files and, where the grounds are met, carry out the exclusions.
According to the ruling as quoted by Diario Uno, Minem itself identified 343 files linked to Poderosa’s requests. Of those, 259 were still unanswered, with requests dating from 2023 and 2024.
The judge found the state’s delay had exceeded reasonable time limits. On 8 September 2026 the court also granted immediate enforcement, so the ministry must act before the case is finally closed.
The ruling could not be independently reviewed, and no second outlet had reported it by Wednesday afternoon. Its details rest on Diario Uno’s account of the court documents.
Why a gold producer went to court
Pataz is one of Peru’s most violent gold districts, where armed groups compete for veins inside formal concessions. In June 2026 a backpack of explosives thrown over a wall injured two contractors at Poderosa’s Santa María offices, Infobae reported.
The mining industry body SNMPE said then that groups tied to illegal mining were trying to occupy formal concessions. The province remains under a state of emergency, with police and troops deployed.
The ministry has also been pruning the list on its own. In January 2026 Minem said 248 Pataz registrations showed no mining activity at all. It opened exclusion proceedings for 62 of them, with 186 more in process.
The stakes go beyond one company. Illegal gold may soon rival legal output, as covered in Peru’s Illegal Gold Set to Outsell Legal Gold, Worth Up to US$18 Billion.
The small miners’ side
Diario Uno, which framed the case from the small miners’ perspective, warned that hundreds of producers could lose their livelihood. It also noted that Poderosa representatives were reported at the presidential palace on 24 September.
Exclusion is not automatic, however. Each file still needs a decision, and the order applies only where legal grounds for removal exist.
La República has stressed that being on the register does not make a mine legal. It only means the operator is inside a formalisation process that remains unfinished.
A register running out of time
REINFO has been extended repeatedly since it began. The latest, Law 32537 of December 2025, keeps it alive until 31 December 2026 or until a new small-mining law applies.
On 15 September La República reported that the Constitutional Tribunal (TC), Peru’s top constitutional court, admitted a challenge to that extension. The admission does not suspend the register.
Energy and Mines Minister Guillermo Shinno has floated a narrower extension for about 30,000 miners with real progress. La República reported this on 2 September, adding that a draft small-mining law is due in November.
Mining remains the core of the economy, as Peru Copper Mining Explained: Output, Big Mines, Exports and Risks in 2026 sets out. A clearer register would help formal producers plan, while Pataz miners await answers.
What Is Not Yet Known
It is not known how many of the 259 files will end in exclusion, or how quickly Minem will move. Whether the ministry will appeal the underlying ruling is also unclear.
The wider register depends on the TC and on the new small-mining law. Either could reshape the rules before, or soon after, the 31 December deadline.
Sources: Diario Uno, 30 September 2026; La República, 15 September 2026; La República, 2 September 2026; Infobae, 24 June 2026; Minem statement via Desde Adentro, January 2026.
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