**4. Mining clusters**

Since early times, mining has played a major role in the economic development of the Andes. With the discovery of rich deposits of the precious ores of gold and silver, mining has resulted in the establishment of working camps and subsequently in the foundation of smaller and larger settlements. The most famous of them were the silver-mining city of Potosí (**Figure 7**) in current Bolivia and the mercury-producing city of Huancavelica in the Peruvian Sierra. Both of these booming centres of the early colonial mining industry are located at high altitudes, Potosí at close to 4100 m and Huancavelica at 3600 m. After the initial and generally short-lived

**175**

water and air pollution.

**Figure 7.**

*Potosí, Bolivia (Photo credit: Stadel).*

**5. Rural tourism nodes**

*Horizontal and Vertical Archipelagoes of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Andean…*

gold- and silver-mining boom, other mineral deposits became important: copper,

Unlike farming and agricultural settlements, the development of mining settlements was not related to favorable environmental factors; many mining sites emerged in locations normally considered unfit for settlements: copper mining in the arid Atacama desert and the mining of gold and a range of non-precious ores at high elevations, some of them above the limit of the ecumene of farming and pastoralism. The most striking example for this is La Rinconada in the southern Peruvian Andes, a gold-mining boom town at 5100 m with an estimated population of some 40,000 people. In addition, many mining clusters developed in areas of poor accessibility and the building of adequate transportation lines represented a major challenge. While the development of these mining areas largely superseded environmental constraints, mining and the associated smelting activities had entailed a corollary of environmental impacts, not only for the mining settlements proper but also for a larger surrounding region, e.g. the excessive consumption of regional water resources, deforestation, severe erosion, mass wasting processes and

While mining may offer to the regional population often a much needed alternative employment, encourage the development of infrastructures and services and have stimulated regional economies, the mining sector for a long time has been controlled and dominated by outside national and foreign stakeholders who had little interest in a sustainable regional development. Bury [27] portrayed the negative repercussions of mining on traditional land tenure, water rights, agricultural land use and community institutions. Furthermore, the fate of mining tends to be fluid and uncertain, with many mining areas affected by the typical "boom and bust cycles" resulting from an exhaustion of ores or sharply declining global market prices.

"The exceptional diversity of landscapes and cultures in the Andes holds rich opportunities for tourism" ([21]: 249). The ecological variety in the tropical and

tin, zinc, lead, iron ore, salpetre and most recently lithium.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86841*

*Horizontal and Vertical Archipelagoes of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Andean… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86841*

**Figure 7.** *Potosí, Bolivia (Photo credit: Stadel).*

*Sustainability Assessment at the 21st Century*

conversion and excessive densities of buildings and infrastructural developments. These newly emerging or rapidly expanding clusters are facing the challenge of integrated and effective regional planning and policy actions that attempt to regulate the nature of the growth processes, to recognize the interests of urban and rural

Since early times, mining has played a major role in the economic development of the Andes. With the discovery of rich deposits of the precious ores of gold and silver, mining has resulted in the establishment of working camps and subsequently in the foundation of smaller and larger settlements. The most famous of them were the silver-mining city of Potosí (**Figure 7**) in current Bolivia and the mercury-producing city of Huancavelica in the Peruvian Sierra. Both of these booming centres of the early colonial mining industry are located at high altitudes, Potosí at close to 4100 m and Huancavelica at 3600 m. After the initial and generally short-lived

stakeholders and to harmonize economic goals with ecosystem services.

*Ciudad Vallada Piedra Roja, Chile (Borsdorf and Stadel 2015).*

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**4. Mining clusters**

**Figure 6.**

gold- and silver-mining boom, other mineral deposits became important: copper, tin, zinc, lead, iron ore, salpetre and most recently lithium.

Unlike farming and agricultural settlements, the development of mining settlements was not related to favorable environmental factors; many mining sites emerged in locations normally considered unfit for settlements: copper mining in the arid Atacama desert and the mining of gold and a range of non-precious ores at high elevations, some of them above the limit of the ecumene of farming and pastoralism. The most striking example for this is La Rinconada in the southern Peruvian Andes, a gold-mining boom town at 5100 m with an estimated population of some 40,000 people. In addition, many mining clusters developed in areas of poor accessibility and the building of adequate transportation lines represented a major challenge. While the development of these mining areas largely superseded environmental constraints, mining and the associated smelting activities had entailed a corollary of environmental impacts, not only for the mining settlements proper but also for a larger surrounding region, e.g. the excessive consumption of regional water resources, deforestation, severe erosion, mass wasting processes and water and air pollution.

While mining may offer to the regional population often a much needed alternative employment, encourage the development of infrastructures and services and have stimulated regional economies, the mining sector for a long time has been controlled and dominated by outside national and foreign stakeholders who had little interest in a sustainable regional development. Bury [27] portrayed the negative repercussions of mining on traditional land tenure, water rights, agricultural land use and community institutions. Furthermore, the fate of mining tends to be fluid and uncertain, with many mining areas affected by the typical "boom and bust cycles" resulting from an exhaustion of ores or sharply declining global market prices.
