2251 of contemporary gold production, associated with large-scale operations that transformed watershed landscapes and Andean ecologies (Macera, De Meulder, & Shannon, 2020), while Pasco and Junín formed the historical core of the central mining corridor, with more than four centuries of polymetallic mining and the expansion of mining and metallurgical complexes during the 20th century (Valle-Riestra, 2025). Currently, these territories are at different stages of the extractive cycle: Cajamarca combines active operations with progressive closures and conflicts over expansion; Junín exhibits the coexistence of mining activity and inherited liabilities; and Pasco faces a scenario of productive decline in which the mining legacy takes on territorial centrality, without being organically integrated into a local development project. One of the most visible social impacts of mine closures and the weakening of the extractive model is expressed in migratory dynamics, which reflect incomplete territorial transition processes. Census evidence shows that Cajamarca, Junín, and Pasco had persistent negative migration balances between 2007 and 2017, suggesting a structural condition of expelling territories in contexts of reduced economic dynamism. In Cajamarca, the number of emigrants increased from 594,447 in 2007 to 639,926 in 2017, while immigration barely reached 79,176 in the latter year, evidencing a marked asymmetry between population outflow and inflow (INEI, 2007; INEI, 2017). Junín recorded 439,811 emigrants in 2017 compared to 201,612 immigrants, and Pasco showed an increase in emigrants from 124,468 to 134,725 people, accompanied by stagnant immigration. These patterns suggest a selective outflow of the working-age population, while groups with less mobility remain in the territory, contributing to population aging and the weakening of the local social and economic base. These migratory dynamics are reinforced by the persistence of socio-environmental conflicts associated with closure and unresolved extractive legacies, which directly affect living conditions and future expectations. At the national level, the existence of thousands of mining environmental liabilities has been identified as a permanent risk to health and ecosystems, eroding the social legitimacy of mining activity. In Cerro de Pasco, prolonged exposure to heavy metal contamination led to a structural health crisis and recurring cycles of social protest, where the demand for environmental remediation became a central axis of territorial conflict (Valle-Riestra, 2025). In Cajamarca, conflicts over water use, the impact on watershed headwaters, and uncertainty about progressive closure and mining expansion have generated sustained scenarios of social polarization (World Bank, 2021; Macera et al., 2020). Taken together, the combination of population displacement and socio-environmental conflict creates a cycle of social vulnerability that tends to deepen in contexts of poorly managed closure. From an economic perspective, mine closures in these enclaves constitute a structural turning point in the productive dynamics of the territory, exposing the limitations of a model based on enclave economies. During boom phases, mining operated as a driving force for employment, consumption, and the dynamism of related sectors such as commerce, services, transportation, and construction. Empirical evidence shows that metal mining production increased per capita household income in mining districts by S/ 207.42 per month between 2003 and 2019, and by up to S/ 291.61 when spillover effects to neighboring districts are considered (Loayza, Rigolini & Calvo-González, 2016). However, this concentration of benefits reinforced a productive structure that was highly dependent on the extractive cycle: mining came to represent up to 45% of the departmental GDP in Pasco and around 26% in Cajamarca (Macroconsult, 2012). In this context, closure generates negative multiplier effects that affect local trade and services, sectors that lack the autonomous foundations to sustain themselves after the mining downturn, exacerbating long-term economic vulnerability. Although mining companies can carry out orderly and legally compliant closures, the experiences of Cajamarca, Pasco, and Junín show that this does not necessarily translate into a sustainable territorial transition. Closure plans focus on physical and chemical stability, environmental rehabilitation, and the establishment of financial guarantees (Rodríguez & Julca, 2020; Moreno Bustamante, 2023), but there is no entity or project clearly mandated to manage the territory in the absence of mining activity. In Cajamarca, the reduction in corporate presence left gaps in infrastructure and local economic coordination that were not addressed by the closure plans (Ramírez Farías, 2025). In Pasco, despi 's state-led remediation efforts, management has focused on liabilities and risk control, without defining a post-mining territorial project
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