The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay
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June 2014 back issue
by Albert Gonzalez Farran
La Rinconada is a remote village in Los Andes, in southern Peru, nearly 6,000 meters high and with a lot of gold
underground.
The rising price of gold over the last ten years (almost 300%) has pushed many people to move to La Rinconada
looking for job opportunities. Today, more than 40,000 people live there (ten times more than two decades ago). But
gold is also an economic bubble, likely to deflate at any time (right now its price is experiencing a significant drop).
The desperate search for gold has introduced an element of chaos in La Rinconada. Thousands of metal shelters have
been built throughout the city. There is no running water or sewerage. An almost nonexistent police force cannot
prevent common crimes, illegal prostitution and drug trafficking. Rubbish and excrement are everywhere and the
contamination level is dangerous. Pollution and the high altitude of La Rinconada cause respiratory diseases and
growth problems amongst children. The local medical centre barely covers 10% of the needs of the population.
Except for a minority of businessmen, the majority of mining families live and work in terrible conditions, investing
their profits in alcohol consumption and in buying expensive clothes for the Carnival or the annual festivities in their
localities. Most of the residents of La Rinconada, from rural areas, don’t plan their savings for a long-term future and
they continue to flood into La Rinconada looking for more and more gold.... at least for now, while the bubble still
hasn’t burst.
Engineer Wilfredo Menéndez shows a piece of gold in his office in the headquarters of Corporación Minera Ananea,
the company that owns all goldmines in La Rinconada, Ananea, Peru.
La Rinconada was a nice, quiet rural village in Peru’s Los Andes range twenty years ago. However, the economic crisis
in the country and the discovery of gold changed the town completely during the nineties. Now, it is a crowded place
into which thousands of poor from all over South America immigrate looking for opportunities.
Two miners drive wagons to the mine dumps in La Rinconada, Ananea, Peru.
Pallaqueras (women who select stones from the mines looking for remains of gold) are pictured during their work in
La Rinconada, Ananea, Peru.
Former miner Filomeno Quispe (35 years old) working at his bakery in La Rinconada, Ananea, Peru.
Quispe has little academic education and before coming to La Rinconada in 2004, he had many different jobs (taxi
driver, baker, builder...). During his first years working in the mines, he spent all money on alcohol and prostitutes, until
his wife Ruth showed up with their two children. For health reasons (he has not enough oxygen in his blood), he had to
leave the mines and join his wife in her business. They currently run a grocery, a bakery and a small juice stand in the
main square.
A miner, on his way home from work, crosses the main gate that connects the village with the goldmines.
People play football in the snow in a neighborhood in La Rinconada, Ananea, Peru.
Former miner Filomeno Quispe (35 years old) working at his bakery and also his family bedroom in La Rinconada,
Ananea, Peru.
A miner guides a truck inside a goldmine in La Rinconada.
A Pallaquera (a man who selects stones from the mine dumps) is pictured at work in La Rinconada, Ananea, Peru.
A Pallaquera (a woman who selects stones from the mine dumps looking for gold) takes a rest outside her shelter.
Pallaqueras (women who select stones from the mine dumps) attend the afternoon briefing with their colleagues and
the engineers of Corporación Minera Ananea in La Rinconada, Ananea, Peru.
Pallaqueras (women who select stones from the mine dumps) go to work in La Rinconada, Ananea, Peru.
Two Pallaqueras (women who select stones from the mine dumps) takes their selection back home at the end of the
workday in La Rinconada, Ananea, Peru.
Pallaqueras (women who select stones from the mine dumps looking for remains of gold) are pictured at work in a
mining area in La Rinconada, Ananea, Peru.
A Pallaquera (a woman who selects stones from the mine dumps looking for gold) at work in La Rinconada.
A Pallaquera (a woman who selects stones from the mine dumps) smokes cigarettes during a break in La Rinconada.
A Pallaquera (a woman who selects stones from the mine dumps) prepares a shot of an alcoholic drink during a break
in La Rinconada, Ananea, Peru.
Left to right, Lucy Callpacruz and Norma Quispe (with her two children Eduardo Cristian and Chantal Ochoqui), both
miner's wives, are pictured in their little house made with calamina (metal layer) in La Rinconada. Lucy has nine
children and she is from Putina. From time to time, Lucy and Norma support their husbands, selecting stones from the
mine dumps looking for gold.
