"CERRO DE PASCO, Peru — The open-cast crater seems ready to swallow the city whole. Mud-brick houses with corrugated iron roofs teeter on the edge of the massive Raúl Rojas mining pit, now lined with razor wire, which stretches nearly 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) across and is 300 meters, or more than a quarter of a mile, deep. This is the center of Cerro de Pasco, a city in central Peru, sitting at an elevation of more than 4,300 m (14,100 feet) above sea level.
But what’s even more alarming for residents than the mine dominating this self-proclaimed mining capital of Peru isn’t as conspicuous. For decades, the 80,000 people here have been living in what experts say is one of the world’s most contaminated places, where skyrocketing levels of heavy metals have damaged people’s health and future. However, the mining company continues to dodge responsibility, while authorities remain largely unresponsive.
In February 2022, a United Nations report identified Cerro de Pasco as one of four “sacrifice zones” in Latin America and the Caribbean, describing it as a “massive open-pit mine adjacent to an impoverished community exposed to elevated levels of heavy metals.”"
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