Madre de Dios gold mining
Madre de Dios, Peru · -12.90°, -70.00° · Mining damage
Illegal gold mining has turned Amazon rainforest into lunar craters of sand and mercury-laced ponds.
Rising gold prices drew tens of thousands of informal miners into Peru's southern Amazon. They strip forest, blast river sediments with water cannons and use mercury to bind gold, contaminating fish and people downstream. The 'La Pampa' area became a landscape of pits and ponds visible from orbit; military operations in 2019 reduced mining there, and reforestation trials are under way.
In the game
Madre de Dios gold mining flares up as Land destroyed. The fix is a gesture: slash through the bulldozers to stop the clearing. Done right, it becomes Damage stopped 🌱. Finish all three steps of its chain in one round for a combo, or take your time in Explore mode: a place you fully restore stays green on your map for good.
🧭 Fly there and restore it▶ Play a 60-second round