Colombian government declares war on illegal mining

Over the weekend, the Colombian government declared war on the country’s illegal mining industry. Colombian vice minister of Defense for political and international affairs Aníbal Fernández de Soto explained that illegal armed groups now make more money from illegal mining than from drug trafficking. He added that the FARC, the ELN, and mafia groups like the Úsuga clan are the organizations in the country that control the most illegal mines.

According to Fernández de Soto, the government has already started accelerating its campaign against illegal miners. He pointed to the government’s decision to create new military units specifically for fighting illegal miners, and to the increase in arrests of illegal miners and the increase in seizures of contraband gold.

In other mining related news, El Espectador reported on some of the lesser-known difficulties related to the formalization of the Colombian mining industry. Of the 6,000 mining titles in Colombia, more than half are administered by just 5 regional corporations.  These corporations do not have the resources that they need to ensure that the mining companies comply with the country’s environmental regulations. 

In oil-related news, Vanguardia reported on the effect that the Colombian oil crisis has had on the country’s oil workers. According to studies, three out of every ten oil engineers are currently unemployed, and students who had aspired to work in the oil industry are now seeking out new careers. One expert on the oil industry workforce told Vanguardia that recent changes in Colombian law have allowed oil companies to bring cheaper and more experienced Venezuelan workers into the country to work on oil projects. Regardless, this trend is a simple consequence of supply and demand - if the price of oil goes back up, working in the oil industry will once again be an attractive career option.