LIMA (Reuters) – Peru’s Congress passed on Friday evening an expansion of a system allowing temporary permits for small, informal miners, controversial amid accusations from opponents that it was misused to expand mining. illegal mining.

Lawmakers advanced a bill proposed earlier in the day by the legislative Energy and Mining Committee to extend for six months a registry called REINFO, which allows small-scale miners to continue working while seeking to formalize.

The resolution provides for a one-time extension of temporary permits.

REINFO, which has already been extended several times, expires on December 31. The government has pushed for an end to the program, saying its misuse for more than a decade has led to an increase in illegal mining.

On Tuesday, Energy and Mines Minister Romulo Mucho was removed from office by Congress, amid protests from small-scale miners demanding the extension of REINFO by two years.

Peruvian smallholders, mainly gold miners, rejected the bill as inadequate and have been blocking a key transport route to the south for more than a week. In Lima, hundreds of artisanal miners camped in front of Parliament.

(Reporting by Marco Aquino; editing by Rosalba O’Brien and William Mallard)