Los ámbitos de relación geográfica entre minería y entorno rural: un modelo de caso para una gestión integral del espacio

Abstract

The volume of human and economic as well as material resources put into action by the mining industry in rural spaces has given this industry the most powerful force to the diffusion of the industrial society in the traditional rural societies. The mobilized human resources include all levels, from high qualified executives to unqualified labor with low schooling level. The economic resources are of different types and are reflected in the circulation of goods, salaries, the changes in consumption patterns, and incomes received by the local governments. The direct/ indirect mobility of the material resources leads to the building of service's infrastructure, the appearance of new urban centers and industrial plants at the most backward places  of Peru, where poverty and State absence are dominant characteristics.Taking into account the cultural realms of the rural societies in the high mountains of Peru, where most of the mining operations are located, and given the variety of resources mobilized by the mining operations, we may identify interacting cultural, economic, social and environmental spaces that define a complex relationship between man and his geographical settings.This paper offers a geographical approach, both from physical and cultural points of view, through descriptive models. The objective is to recognize sorne underlying dynamic components attached to each space directed to the management of the local and industrial development. This study is based on a research carried out during 2005 in a medium size mine in the Central Andes of Peru, above 4.200 meters of altitude, in the Huancavelica region. The social realm is made of traditional peasant communities, Quechua speakers who live in extreme socio-economic  conditions.