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Javier Arcenillas

Photographer

Javier Arcenillas

THE SILENT DEATH MINE

The long-term project aims to raise awareness of health problems in mining operations. In 2024, global emissions will reach a new record as the risk of another lost decade in the climate fight grows. A UN report warns that current government policies will cause warming of more than 3 degrees due to addiction to fossil fuels. Greenhouse emissions grew by 1.3% in 2023. Meanwhile, in mining operations Silver is the income generated by the minerals from the mines of Cerro de Pasco (Peru) or Potosí in Bolivia. They are lead dust that transmits a poison through the water and air that contaminates the blood. Until now, the companies in charge of exploiting these areas have lived in abundance. In the mountains of Cerro de Pasco, as in Bolivian Potosí, the fate was stained with gold, silver and other minerals such as zinc or copper, which were extracted with a scraper. A dilemma that is reconfiguring the social fabric and changing some of the greedy mentalities that have risen to this enclave.

Javier Arcenillas

Humanist, Psychologist at the Complutense University of Madrid. He teaches photojournalism and documentary photography at the International School PICA. He develops humanitarian essays where the main characters are integrated in societies that borders and sets upon any reason or human rights.