The Amazon is being destroyed bit by bit by an explosion of tiny, unreported illegal gold mines. Approximately 415,000 acres of tropical sites were cleared for potential gold-mining activity between 2001 and 2013. A total of 55 illegal mines have been shut down since mid- July in the Peruvian Madre de Dios region, where around 60,000 hectares have already been lost due to illegal mining. teleSUR