However, a large part of the mining of this metal takes place "outside the government administration". An area where a huge, unregulated gold mining industry thrives is Madre de Dios in southeastern Peru. NASA released photos taken from the International Space Station (ISS) on December 24, 2020, showing rivers shimmering with gold running through the Amazon rainforest in Peru. In reality, however, these are not "golden rivers, ", but pits dug during illegal gold mining.
