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Pallaqueo
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<p>In the <a href="/facts/Andean_world/KNCuBsIL">Andean</a> mining tradition <i>pallaqueo</i>, <i>palleo</i> or <i>pirquineo</i> is the hand selection of <a href="/facts/Rock_music/zBM2guyQ">rock</a> fragments with <a href="/facts/Ore/kgc9DssX">ore</a> for further <a href="/facts/Mineral_processing/1uBlYVP2">processing</a>. Usually, <i>pallaqueo</i> is done in piles of discarded material with little planning, randomly and without authorization. However, historically in places like <a href="/facts/Potos%25C3%25AD/cGSUkAHT">Potosí</a>, <a href="/facts/Bolivia/YNBoDKKR">Bolivia</a>, <i>pallaqueo</i> has been regarded as an integral part of the mining operation. <i>Pallaqueo</i> has the benefit that it can allow for high –or over-all increased– ore grades to be processed. In some places the selected rocks are then sold to the local <a href="/facts/Mining_company/SFbmElDt">mining company</a>, but this model has the drawback that it could incentivize smuggling of ore from the mine to make it pass as recovered through <i>pallaqueo</i>. </p><p>The term <i>pallaqueo</i> and <i>palleo</i> are derived from <a href="/facts/Quechua_language/XuYYuTkJ">Quechua</a> <i> pállay</i>. Those that practice <i>pallaqueo</i> are variously referred to as <i>buscones</i>, <i>pallacos</i>, <i>pallaqueros</i>, <i>pallaqueadores</i> and, in <a href="/facts/Bolivia/YNBoDKKR">Bolivia</a>, <i>palliris</i>. In some places like <a href="/facts/La_Rinconada%2c_Peru/oIKe8aTT">La Rinconada</a> in <a href="/facts/Peru/dBt7XrYD">Peru</a>, this activity is primarily made by women known as <i>pallaqueras</i>, as they are otherwise not allowed to work inside the mines. For artisan miners known as <i><a href="/facts/Pirquinero/uRWemeBz">pirquineros</a></i>, <i>pallaqueo</i> is a secondary activity to proper mining. </p><p>The work of <i>pallaqueros</i> and <i>pallaqueras</i> can be physically demanding given uncomfortable stances and – in the high Andes – also because of the <a href="/facts/Alpine_climate/wUdLLA3b">cold climate</a>. </p><p>Historically, the term <i>pallaqueros</i> applied sometimes also to any independent miner of surface ores, similar to what is today understood as a <i><a href="/facts/Pirquinero/uRWemeBz">pirquinero</a></i>, and they were important agents of <a href="/facts/Mineral_exploration/VEAosBGK">mineral exploration</a>. </p>