686 2. THE PERUVIAN CONTEXT: A LEGACY OF CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES 2.1 The Scale of the Challenge: Tailings and Liabilities in Peru The accumulated volume of mine tailings worldwide exceeds 220 billion tonnes, with exponential growth driven by declining head grades (ICMM, 2021). In Peru, the mining industry generates approximately 100–150 million tonnes of new tailings annually. While no unified public registry of the total accumulated volume exists, historical tailings deposited from the 19th century to the present are estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of tonnes. To manage this legacy, Peru developed the Mining Environmental Liabilities (MEL) inventory. Maintained by the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MINEM), this registry identifies and prioritizes abandoned sites posing risks to public health and the environment. As of the latest update, the inventory includes more than 6,000 identified liabilities—ranging from tailings deposits and waste rock dumps to open pits— concentrated primarily in the Andean region. While this inventory facilitates regulatory oversight and risk prioritization for remediation, it currently lacks the detailed mineralogical characterization required to assess economic potential. Consequently, the vast majority of these legacy sites are viewed solely as environmental burdens rather than potential assets for a circular economy. 2.2 The Regulatory Landscape: Gaps and Opportunities Peru’s regulatory framework for MEL is primarily structured around the General Law of Environmental Liabilities of Mining Activities (Law No. 28271) and its implementing regulations, complemented by mine closure regulations (Law No. 28090) and relevant decrees issued by the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MINEM). These laws impose obligations on mining operators to identify, register, remediate, and closure of legacy sites, and provide guidelines for public and private participation. While the existing framework provides a solid foundation for managing environmental risks associated with abandoned sites, several gaps remain regarding the reprocessing and valorization of legacy tailings. Notably, current regulations focus primarily on remediation and containment rather than resource recovery or circular-economy initiatives. There are no specific procedures and incentives for operators seeking to reprocess tailings, and regulatory pathways for obtaining permits are lengthy and complex, involving multiple agencies and levels of government. Furthermore, the absence of a differentiated regulatory approach for innovative projects—such as pilot initiatives or public-private partnerships (PPPs) for tailings reprocessing—can disincentivize investment and technological development. Issues related to land tenure, environmental impact assessments, community consultation, and ongoing monitoring require clearer and more streamlined provisions to facilitate responsible project execution. Nevertheless, these challenges present distinct opportunities. Updating and adapting the regulatory framework to explicitly support the sustainable reprocessing of legacy tailings could accelerate environmental remediation, promote investment, and foster innovation. Dedicated guidelines, incentives, fast-track permitting mechanisms, and improved inter-agency coordination would help close identified gaps and enhance the positive environmental, social, and economic outcomes associated with MEL management. 2.3 The Rationale for Reprocessing: Latent Mineral Value Several factors explain why historical tailings often contain significant quantities of recoverable valuable minerals:
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