Many people who have written about mines, be they journalists, political analysts or social scientists, have highlighted the high level of class conflict within them (Godoy 1985). Those who have entered a mine have come away with vivid visual images that make this description more relevant. This article examines a particular mine, Atalaya, located in the province of Espinar, department of Curso (Peru), at a specific time: November 1972. The mine is presented within several frameworks (systems) related to each other.

"Rundering" in its broadest meaning refers to the theft of animals, other than small domestic animals such as dogs, cats, pigs and chickens. In its common meaning, it also excludes the theft of some animals without the intention of obtaining an economic benefit from them. For example, someone who steals a pig from his neighbor to eat it or a truck driver who picks up the lamb that has strayed from the herd and raises it as a spoiled child, are not considered "rustlers" although the Law could prosecute them as such.

In the eighties, Peru experienced a severe economic crisis. But there were also, partly as a consequence of the crisis, important changes in the conceptualization of the national economy, both by "experts" (economists, high-level officials), and by many other sectors. A "second" Peruvian economy began to be part of official economic thought: the parallel, black, informal, alternative economy.