This is how drug clans steal 3,000 kilos of gold a year from Colombian mines

The Colombian drug clans They not only dominate the maritime routes to distribute drugs. Also the underground tunnels of the largest gold mine in the country, where They steal three tons of gold a year.

This is revealed by an extensive investigative report of The Wall Street Journalwhich narrates the real war, with firearms and explosives, that is happening right now in the underground gold mines in the Buriticá mountainsin Colombia.

These mines belong to the Chinese state company Zijin Mining Groupwhich bought them from a Canadian company for 900 million euros, in 2020.

The battle of the Buriticá gold mines

According to account The Wall Street Journalhe Gulf Clanan armed militia of 7,000 men dedicated to drug traffichas occupied the interior of the mines.

There they provide everything they need thousands of illegal miners: protection, tools, food, drugs to perform better, and even prostitutes. In exchange, they keep a part of what the miners they find.

It is a risky profession, since Dozens of illegal miners die every year due to collapses, accidents and gunpoint confrontations with Zijin Mining Group security guards. But if they survive, They can earn up to 4,000 euros per monthwhich for them is a fortune.

According to the mine owners, Every year they steal 3,200 kilos of goldvalued at more than 200 million euros, 38% of the mine’s total production. Additionally, illegal miners use excavators in protected areas and mercury to separate gold from rock, which pollutes the Amazon rainforest.

To understand what is happening, you have to realize that this gold mine is huge. It has more than 280 entrances, hundreds of kilometers long, and tunnels that cross it “like a Gruyere cheese,” according to the owners themselves.

It is almost impossible for security guards to defend her.Thousands of troops would be needed. Zijin Mining Group He has asked the Colombian government for help, they have even denounced him, but the authorities wash their hands of it. They argue that they have no means to protect the mine, and that the Chinese company already knew of the existence of illegal mining before purchasing it.

It is also their problem because, according to Zijin, the Colombian state loses 100 million euros a year in taxesfor the theft of gold.

Some experts believe that the only solution is legalize those illegal miners. That Zijin Mining Group hand over part of the mine to the miners, so that they can exploit it. But it is difficult for them to accept this solution.

Colombian drug clans also finance themselves with gold that illegal miners extract. An underground war that seems impossible to solve.

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