Peru’s Critical‑Mineral Push Threatens Quelccaya Glacier

In southeastern Peru, the Quelccaya glacier— the world’s second‑largest tropical ice cap—sits above the community of Phinaya, where residents rely on its meltwater for water and alpaca grazing. President Keiko Fujimori’s administration is accelerating lithium and uranium mining beneath the glacier, citing the minerals as essential for the country’s clean‑energy transition. American Lithium, through its Peruvian subsidiary Macusani Yellowcake, controls deposits across 174 concessions covering more than 1,090 square kilometres in Puno, directly under the glacier. Local leaders, including former community president Donato Bermúdez and ranger Yolanda Quispe, warn that mining would devastate the glacier’s ecosystem and the livelihoods that depend on it. The government’s push could therefore jeopardise both cultural heritage and critical water resources for the region.