Location
La Rinconada, Puno Region, Peru
La Rinconada is a gold-mining settlement high in the mountains of Peru’s Puno region. The city sits beneath a glaciated landscape, where daily life and work take place at extreme altitude.
Chapter 05 · Puno Region · Elevation Approx. 5,100 m
La Rinconada
La Rinconada Gold Mine
The story
At the highest city on Earth
In the highest city on Earth, gold miners barter with Mother Earth for protection in the mines and a good yield of gold.
In La Rinconada, the search for gold shapes the city and the lives of those who work around its mines. Mining organizations work different sites, while others search through discarded rock for traces of gold left behind.
The people featured describe more than the physical demands of this work. Beliefs about Mother Earth and protection in the mines are part of their relationship with a landscape that offers a livelihood while exposing them to uncertainty. The chapter brings these spiritual and material worlds together.
Environmental focus
Land, climate, and continuity
Extraction, labor, and life at altitude are closely connected here. The chapter considers a relationship with the Earth shaped by what people seek beneath its surface and the conditions in which they live.
In this chapter
A closer look
Accounts from the mining community sit alongside views of the settlement and surrounding mountains, revealing the scale of the landscape and the daily search for a successful yield.
The documentary seriesComing October 2026
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