Silence Is Golden: A Report on the Exploitation of Artisanal Gold Miners to Fund War, Terrorism and Organised Crime.
Publisher: World Gold Council
Author(s): Dominic Raab
Date: 2024
Topics: Conflict Causes, Extractive Resources
Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) provides income for millions of people in over 80 countries across the world. On some estimates, 80% of ASGM takes place in the shadow economy. ASGM communities are preyed upon by criminal gangs, armed groups and corrupt officials, and exploited by intermediaries who launder gold out of the country clandestinely.
There is no shortage of international and domestic instruments intended to protect ASGM, including the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights 2011, the EU’s Conflict Minerals legislation and the US Dodd-Frank Act. There is, however, a striking lack of transparency across businesses and governments in relation to the implementation of legal standards prescribed, coupled with a dangerous inertia in enforcing the law against the most nefarious criminals involved.
The violence artisanal gold miners suffer ranges from attacks by governments and mercenaries to exploitation from criminal gangs. The illicit profits they make and launder – sometimes via the main international gold hubs, including Hong Kong, India, Miami, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates – now present a real and present danger to international security.
The Wagner group has been one of the greatest beneficiaries. Estimates suggest it earned more than US$2.5 billion from illicit gold mining, since the invasion of Ukraine alone, which has been funnelled back into the Russian war machine. The illicit trade in gold also fuels civil wars, and funds terrorist groups and organised crime. The extortion from ASGM communities has been an integral part of the expansion strategy of affiliates of Islamic State and Al-Qaeda operating in the Sahel. In Colombia, the Clan del Golfo and former paramilitary groups, the National Liberation Army (ELN) and dissident Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) finance their activities from illegal mining. The plunder of ASGM communities also robs the countries affected of enormous flows of income and revenue. In one year, this cost Sudan almost US$2 billion.