Colombia has been blessed with tremendous mineral reserves,
in particular of gold, coal, and emeralds. However, the success of the
country’s mining industry continues to be undermined by illegal mining and
workplace security concerns.
Like its Andean neighbor Peru, the Colombian government is
also fighting illegal mining. In Colombia however, the country’s illegal armed
groups have started to see illegal mining, of gold in particular, as a profitable
means of financing their operations. According to Colombian newspaper El
Tiempo, guerrilla groups and other criminal organizations skim as much as 17%
of the overall value of gold mining in Colombia, financing their terrorist
operations against the Colombian government. To combat this new trend, the
Colombian government has stepped up its operations against illegal gold mining.
In 2014, the Colombian authorities seized 739 kg of gold, a 6,700% increase over
2013, when just 11 kg were seized.
According to Colombian Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón,
the battle against illegal gold mining is even difficult than the one against
drug trafficking, because the Colombian authorities do not have the same legal tools
at their disposal to combat illegal mining. The Ministry of Defense is already
preparing a legal
proposal to give itself new tools to more effectively fight illegal mining.
In other mining-related news, on Monday, an explosion at a
mine in Angelópolis near the city of Medellín killed
three people and injured another. According to early reports, the mine in
question is a legal one. There are also new developments regarding an earlier,
higher-profile mining accident in October 2014, also in the Antioquia
Department. Though three months have gone by, the mine is still closed, and the
resulting unemployment has hit the local area hard.
There are no other job opportunities in the area, and a cloud of uncertainty
hangs over the local towns.
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