Pictures show the incredibly tough life of illegal miners in the Madre de Dios region of Peru

28-HOUR shifts, toxic chemicals and crushing machinery are just some of the hazards workers face at illegal mines in Peru. These powerful pictures show their reality.

A miner holds an amalgam of mercury and gold he mined after working a 28-hour shift at an illegal gold mining process, in La Pampa, in Peru's Madre de Dios region. Picture: Rodrigo Abd

THEY sweat through 28-hour shifts in the malarial jungle of the Madre de Dios region of south-eastern Peru, braving the perils of collapsing earth and limb-crushing machinery to come up with a few grams of gold.

Most illegal miners hail from impoverished highlands communities and even here barely earn subsistence wages. They chew coca leaf, a mild stimulant, to ward off the fatigue that can lead to fatal accidents.

Artisanal gold miners began carving the lawless, series of ramshackle settlement out of Amazon jungle in 2008. They are now due to be evicted and are working up to the last minute. Picture: Rodrigo Abd

The miners, known as "Maraqueros", remove stones and trees from dirt they hope contains the sought after flecks of gold. Picture: Rodrigo Abd

Life is cheap in the mining camps. Deaths go unrecorded and the mercury miners use to bind the gold compounds the risks. Tons of mercury dumped into the environment poisons the food chain for society at large, starting with the miners and their families.

Peru's government wants to end all that, rooting out the estimated 20,000 wildcat miners whose toil has left a huge scar of denuded Amazon rainforest known as La Pampa, an area nearly three times the size of Washington, D.C.

The informal miners of La Pampa know they will soon be evicted, their engines blown up and settlements burned after Peru’s government declared all informal mining illegal on April 19. Picture: Rodrigo Abd

Prisaida, 2, sits in the shallow waters of a polluted lagoon as her parents mine for gold nearby, in La Pampa in Peru's Madre de Dios region. Picture: Rodrigo Abd

Peru's government declared all informal mining illegal on April 19 and began a crackdown. It raided the older boomtown of Huepetuhe, dynamiting backhoes, trucks and generators. Troops even destroyed the outboard motors of canoes used to ferry mining equipment across the Inambari river.

A miner rests in the part of the Amazon where they work, which is three times the size of Washington DC. Picture: Rodrigo Abd

Miners swish carpets, filtering for gold pieces that fall into the pool of water at their feet, in La Pampa in Peru's Madre de Dios region. Picture: Rodrigo Abd

In La Pampa, miners fear they are next. Their gasoline supplies have already been choked off by authorities.

Some buried their equipment after the crackdown began only to unearth it days later when no raid came. But come it eventually will, the government says, because there no legal mining concessions exist in La Pampa.

A motortaxi delivers a cargo of mattresses to a mining camp in La Pampa where an estimated 20,000 miners work. Picture: Rodrigo Abd

A miner roughly estimates his handful of gold he mined, after working for over 24-hours. Picture: Rodrigo Abd

The government's point man on eradicating illegal mining, Daniel Urresti, says the real criminals aren't the miners, but an estimated 50 people they work for, who own the illegal machinery and buy the gold.

People in La Pampa say that if the authorities eradicate their livelihood, it must make good on promises to provide employment alternatives.

A child ties his father's raincoat around himself while playing in the front yard of their temporary home. A camp cook said families are threatened with economic catastrophe if the illegal operations are wiped out. Picture: Rodrigo Abd

A sex worker employed by a bar poses for a photo in La Pampa. Picture: Rodrigo Abd

“Motors are my life. I'm a mechanic. If the government comes and destroys them, then from what will I and my family live?” said Leoncio Condori.

The 51-year-old, a native of the Andes city of Cuzco, has been fixing motors in La Pampa ever since artisanal gold miners began carving out lawless, ramshackle settlements from Amazon jungle there in 2008.

Another sex worker waits for customers. Life is cheap in mining camps where deaths go unrecorded and toxic metal is dumped in rivers. Picture: Rodrigo Abd

As miners populated shantytowns, bars like "La Rica Miel" or Delicious Honey in English have sprung up. Above, a sex worker talks with potential customers. Picture: Rodrigo Abd