Illegal Mining Strengthens Criminal Groups in Latin America
Publisher: Strategic Comments, IISS
Author(s): Strategic Comments, IISS
Date: 2014
Topics: Extractive Resources, Governance
Countries: Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
Years of booming metals markets have spurred increased mining activity from major international companies across Latin America, and have turned small-scale mining, long a source of income for rural families, into a highly profitable, unregulated industry. Criminal groups have become increasingly involved in this lucrative business. As a result, the lines between informal and criminal mining have blurred, and the need to formalise and regulate the industry is mounting.
Small-scale, informal mining has a long tradition in Latin America. In Colombia, some 70% of mining operations are performed by groups of fewer than seven people, and mining on this scale takes place in almost half of the country's municipalities. Similarly, in Peru, the top gold producer in Latin America, over two-thirds of mining labour is informal, and in regions such as the jungles of Madre de Dios, Puno and Cusco, informal mining represents more than half of the economy, government officials say. Gold miners can earn many times the daily wage of a farmer. Informal mining is also common in Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile, though not to the same extent.