Though the oil crisis receives much more coverage in the
press, illegal mining continues to be a huge problem in Colombia. Fortunately,
the Colombian government has not forgotten about the issue, and on Monday the
Ministry of Defense presented
an account of a massive operation, dubbed “Anostomus,” conducted jointly
between the Army, the National Police, the Air Force, and the Justice
Department.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the raids against 63
different mines led to the capture
of 59 people, twelve of whom are members of the FARC. The raids were carried in
the departments of Guainía, Vichada, Vaupés, and Guaviare, and prevented $20
million in financing from reaching the FARC. Colombian Defense Minister Juan
Carlos Pinzón assured
the press that this is the strongest blow dealt to illegal mining in the last
ten year, and that the raids put an end to the extraction of more than 200 tons
of tungsten, gold, and coltan each month.
In related news, El
Tiempo reported on a technological breakthrough by the Mining Department at
the National University of Colombia’s Medellin campus and the Cimex Institute
regarding a new method of gold mining without the use of mercury. Oswaldo
Bustamante, Cimex Director and the leader of the research project, added that
this new process is not only less toxic but also more than three times as
efficient as traditional gold extraction with mercury. Though this new
technique is still very far away from widespread adaptation, Bustamante has
convinced several small mines around Colombia to start experimenting with the
new procedure.
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