Striking It Rich: Illegal Mining Operations In South America

Illegal Mining's Pervasive Influence in South America: Organized Crime, Environmental Devastation, and Ongoing Challenges.

Organized crime in South America is often thought of as being driven by drug trafficking. This is for a good reason as drug trafficking is by far the main catalyst for organized crime in South America. However, illegal mining is just as impactful and it has serious effects on the environment and local communities. Illegal mining spans across the entire contient from the southern cone of Argentina to the dense tropical rainforests of Colombia. These mining operations fund insurgencies, dangerous drug cartels, and even terrorism. The pervasive presence of illegal mining in South America, intertwined with organized crime, extensive environmental degradation, and the compounding challenges of corruption and resource limitations, underscores the urgent need for comprehensive and collaborative efforts to mitigate its multifaceted impact on the region.

Location:

Illegal mining operations are most prevalent in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru, all rich in precious metals and minerals. These illegal mining operations occur in extremely rural and isolated regions of these countries. In Brazil, these operations are prevalent in the northern states of Amazonas and Roraima, particularly within indigenous territories such as the Yanomami reservation. Across the border, in Colombia and Venezuela, these operations are widespread in the states of Amazonas and Bolívar for Venezuela and Antioquia, Chocó, Cauca, and Bolívar for Colombia. In Peru, illegal mining activities take place in several regions, including Madre de Dios, Puno, and Loreto. Similar to Peru, illegal mining operations are widespread in various regions of Bolivia, including the departments of Pando, Beni, and La Paz. All of these regions are marked by similar characteristics. They are isolated and rural meaning that the government has a minor presence and the lack of developed infrastructure makes it difficult for the government to enforce the rule of law. Due to this isolation, the populations here face socioeconomic challenges making them easier to exploit by illegal miners.

(Photo: InsightCrime.Org)

Illegal Miners:

Various organized crime groups and individuals engage in illegal mining across different South American regions. In Brazil, unauthorized mining is mostly carried out by wildcat miners, and criminal organizations often form loose associations with them or extort fees for operating in their territory. Brazil's prominent criminal group, the First Capital Command (PCC), plays a significant role in facilitating illegal gold mining in the Amazon region, providing support such as heavy machinery, weaponry, security, and transportation services for the extracted gold.

In neighboring Venezuela and Colombia, paramilitary groups, like the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), are involved in illegal mining, similarly controlling local populations and assisting in mining activities. Additionally, transnational mining gangs known as sindicatos operate in the border region between Colombia and Venezuela. In Peru and Bolivia, wildcat miners are also prevalent, with organized crime groups exerting indirect control by either extorting fees for operation or assisting in the sale of precious metals on the black market.

(Photo: Knut-Erik Helle/Flickr)

Sale Of Minerals And Use Of Profits:

The profits generated from illegal mining often serve as a significant source of funding for criminal organizations, such as drug trafficking networks, armed paramilitary groups, and organized crime syndicates. These funds contribute to sustaining their operations, expanding their influence, and acquiring weapons and other resources. Corrupt relationships between illicit mining operations and local officials and law enforcement personnel are common. Profits from illegal mining are used to bribe and corrupt these officials, ensuring that the miners can continue their operations without interference or legal consequences. A report by Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime estimated that illegal gold mining in South America generated an estimated $3.9 billion in criminal proceeds in 2016.

Impact On Businesses:

Illegal miners encroach upon legally designated mining areas, infringing upon the rights and concessions of legitimate mining operations. They pose a significant risk to employees working on-site, as many are armed and may coordinate with organized criminal groups to force legitimate businesses off their sites or kidnap employees for ransom. The presence of illegal mining creates unfair competition for legal mining companies. Illegal miners operate outside the boundaries of regulations, environmental standards, and labor laws, allowing them to extract minerals at lower costs. This undermines the competitiveness of legal miners and can lead to a loss of market share and reduced profitability. The lower production costs of illegal mining result in artificially depressed mineral prices, further impacting the financial viability of legal mining operations.

Impact On The Environment:

In Venezuela, illegal mining activities resulted in dangerously high levels of mercury contamination in water sources, affecting both the environment and the health of local communities. Illegal mining involves the use of toxic substances, such as mercury, in the extraction and processing of minerals like gold. Illegal miners dump these dangerous chemicals into rivers, streams, and other water bodies, leading to water pollution and the contamination of drinking water sources. Illegal mining operations also involve the clearing of large areas of forested land to access mineral deposits. This deforestation leads to the loss of valuable ecosystems, the destruction of habitats, and the displacement of wildlife. The Amazon rainforest, for example, has been severely affected by illegal mining, resulting in massive deforestation and disruption to the fragile local ecosystem. The environmental impacts of illegal mining have long-lasting effects. The depletion of mineral deposits, the alteration of landscapes, and the contamination of soil and water can take decades or even centuries to recover if recovery is possible at all.

(Photo: Christian Braga / Greenpeace)

Impact On Local Communities:

In Brazil, illegal miners clashed with indigenous communities, such as the Yanomami, resulting in deaths and injuries. The presence of armed groups, like the PCC in Brazil, exacerbates the violence and endangers the lives of community members. These illegal miners exploit local communities by forcing them to work in hazardous conditions, long hours, and without adequate safety measures. Child labor is also common in illegal mining operations, particularly those run by paramilitary groups in Colombia and Venezuela. The use of toxic substances, such as mercury, in illegal mining has severe health consequences for local communities, including neurological disorders, respiratory issues, and reproductive complications.

What Is Being Done:

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil implemented measures to crack down on the transportation of supplies to illegal miners in response to the humanitarian crisis affecting the Yanomami reservation in northern Brazil. The Federal Police in Brazil reported a significant decline in the detection of new illegal mines on Yanomami territory, with no new mines detected for the first time since monitoring began in 2020. Only 33 new mines were detected in April and May 2023 compared to 538 during the same period in 2022. While progress has been made in Brazil the same thing can not be said about Venezuela. Tactical withdrawals and negotiations between indigenous communities involved in mining and the Venezuelan military have not led to a significant decrease in mining operations. Instead, the state actually encourages mining operations as a source of income for the government. However, due to corruption and lack of regulatory insight many profits are lost to the black market. In Colombia, the government's efforts to respond to attacks have been lackluster, to say the least. For example, in May of 2023, the Gaitanistas, one of Colombia's strongest criminal organizations, targeted Colombia's largest private gold mine in Buriticá, Antioquia, owned by Chinese conglomerate Zijin Continental Gold. Zijin Continental Gold urged the government to take immediate action to secure the area, but reinforcements were not sent. The same story can be told in Peru and Bolivia where the government's efforts to crack down on illegal mining had a minimal effect on operations.

Corruption plays a significant role in enabling and sustaining illegal mining operations. Corrupt officials and law enforcement personnel are involved in facilitating or protecting illegal mining activities in exchange for bribes or other benefits. This undermines governance, weakens enforcement efforts, and perpetuates the cycle of illegal mining. Additionally, many South American countries face resource constraints, including limited financial, technological, and human resources, which hinder their ability to effectively combat illegal mining. Illegal mining involves the participation of powerful criminal networks that can concentrate their extensive resources in their area of operations while the government is forced to patrol vast rural areas with underdeveloped infrastructure. The dense tropical rainforests of the Amazon or the steep mountainous ranges of the Andes provide the perfect environment for these criminal groups to evade capture. The complex web of illegal mining, intertwined with organized crime, environmental destruction, and governance challenges, underscores the critical need for coordinated and sustained efforts among the countries of South America to combat this pervasive issue.

References:

Dialogo Americas. (2022, January 20). Organized crime destroys Latin American forests. Retrieved from

https://dialogo-americas.com/articles/organized-crime-destroys-latin-american-forests/

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime. (2016). Organized crime and illegally mined gold in Latin America. Retrieved from https://globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Organized-Crime-and-Illegally-Mined-Gold-in-Latin-America.pdf

Interpol. (2022, March 8). The devastating impact of illegal gold mining in Latin America. Retrieved from https://www.interpol.int/en/News-and-Events/News/2022/The-devastating-impact-of-illegal-gold-mining-in-Latin-America

Insight Crime. (2022, January 20). Increasingly brazen Gaitanistas attack Colombia's biggest gold mine. Retrieved from https://insightcrime.org/news/increasingly-brazen-gaitanistas-attack-colombias-biggest-gold-mine/

Insight Crime. (2022, February 14). Can Brazil keep illegal miners off Yanomami lands? Retrieved from https://insightcrime.org/news/can-brazil-keep-illegal-miners-off-yanomami-lands/

Reuters (2023, January 31). Brazil's Lula orders crackdown on supplies for illegal miners in Yanomami territory. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazils-lula-orders-crackdown-supplies-illegal-miners-yanomami-territory-2023-01-31/