Informal, 86% of the gold that Colombia produces

There is a very common saying that “not all that glitters is gold” and this applies to the situation in Colombia regarding the exploitation and export of precious metals such as gold. And it is that according to a study carried out by the Ombudsman’s Office in the company of the Universidad del Rosario, the highest percentage of illegality in small-scale mining activity is gold with 86 percent.

In other words, only 14% of the more than 53 tons of gold produced by Colombia in 2022 came from legal mining, leaving the rest to be extracted from the operations of artisanal miners, informal exploiters, and organizations outside the law. In addition, 80% of the gold that Colombia exports is illegal.

This undoubtedly stains a segment in which, according to experts, Colombia has great potential, but in which there is intervention by actors such as illegal groups, informality, and smuggling.

According to the Department of National Planning, illegal mining could generate between 2,000 and 3,000 million dollars in profits annually.

For Leonardo Guiza, director of the Center for Mining and Environmental Innovation at the Universidad del Rosario, “there are particularities evident in the focus of this type of economy and its relationship with legal economies. In the case of illegal gold mining, data from the Ombudsman establish that by 2021 illegal mining was present in 44% of the country’s municipalities.

And one factor that undoubtedly makes this market so attractive, potential and at the same time illegal is that it has no control, since according to experts any person can carry a gram of gold in their pocket without being illegal, at the same time that they can manufacture jewelry and pass them to the other side of the world without this representing any act against the legality of the country.