The discovery of a massive cinnabar (mercury ore) deposit at Huancavelica, Peru, provides the Spanish Empire with the vital chemical component needed for the silver amalgamation process at Potosí. Known as the 'Villa Rica de Oropesa', Huancavelica becomes known as the 'Mine of Death' due to the lethal fumes generated during the roasting of cinnabar to extract liquid mercury. The Spanish state monopolizes the mine, relying on forced draft labor (mita). The toxic environment leads to horrific mortality rates, permanently destroying generations of indigenous communities in the Andean highlands.

Huancavelica becomes a powerful, tragic motif in Andean and Spanish colonial literature. The satirical poet Juan del Valle y Caviedes, writing in the 17th century, crafts scathing verses targeting the corrupt colonial officials and physicians who profited from the mining economy while ignoring the suffering of the laborers. The horrific image of the subterranean mercury chambers inspires religious and secular poetry that portrays the mine as a literal earthly hell, shaping early South American themes of resistance and social critique.