{"id":60058452,"date":"2024-11-01T15:20:55","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T15:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/?p=60058452"},"modified":"2024-11-22T20:04:46","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T20:04:46","slug":"conflicts-organized-crime-lawsuits-zijin-colombian-gold-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/business\/conflicts-organized-crime-lawsuits-zijin-colombian-gold-mine\/","title":{"rendered":"Conflicts, criminal gangs and lawsuits at Zijin\u2019s Colombian gold mine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The owner of one of Colombia\u2019s largest gold mines is currently facing a battle on two fronts. Underground, Zijin Continental Gold is fighting informal miners who have been illegally extracting gold from within its concession, while in international courts, the Chinese firm is suing the Colombian state over an alleged lack of security guarantees for its operations in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How these battles will play out remains to be seen. The outcome of the conflicts with informal miners could hinge on whether Colombia\u2019s legislature approves President Gustavo Petro\u2019s proposals<\/a> to modify the country\u2019s current mining code, in place since 2001. Since taking power in 2022, Petro\u2019s government has promoted reforms that would increase the state\u2019s involvement in mining, and prioritise<\/a> the concerns of small-scale miners over large multinational corporations, including seeking greater formalisation within the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Zijin\u2019s court case will rest on resolution at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an arbitration court in the United States, which has only just begun, and the outcome of which could take years to decide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Violence and attacks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tension is constant in Buritic\u00e1, the municipality in Antioquia department, north-western Colombia, where the Zijin mine is located. Buritic\u00e1 made headlines<\/a> in May after a violent blockade by informal miners on the main road through the municipality \u2013 the only one which leads north to ports in the Gulf of Urab\u00e1. The blockade initially took place to demand<\/a> the rescue of two informal miners who had been trapped in the mine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the month, community representatives shared a letter<\/a>, publicised by Zijin, demanding state intervention to end the blockade, as it led to the disruption of food and health supplies, as well as free movement in the area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many informal miners in the area work under the Clan del Golfo<\/a>, an armed criminal group which reportedly takes a 10% cut<\/a> from their output in exchange for access to the tunnels it controls. Zijin\u2019s Buritic\u00e1 mine is in the subsoil of a large mountain in an almost jungle-like area where the state has little presence, with the Clan already heavily active in gold mining in the area when the Chinese company acquired the project in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zijin reported<\/a> having lost control of at least 60% of its mine shafts to the Clan since March<\/a> 2023. The company has held the concession for this mine since 2020, when it bought the operations from Canadian Continental Gold, which set up in this part of the country in 2011. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Zijin source, who requested anonymity, claimed that from January to September this year, the company recorded 74,333 detonations of explosives with which informal miners sought to stop the work of Zijin miners. In addition, the source alleges that 943 devices have been set off to damage its infrastructure and 830 shots have been fired at its people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, when asked about this, spokespersons for the informal miners deny that they have been responsible for any attacks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teresa Mazo, the legal representative of the Colombian Agro-Mining and Environmental Association (Asominacol), a non-profit that supports miners and the mining community, disputed the notion that informal miners have attacked Zijin, saying: \u201cWe are not aware of these confrontations because in Buritic\u00e1, the area where the Zijin tunnels are accessed is private and guarded by the army; a normal citizen cannot enter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"NGO<\/div>
An area bombed by the Colombian military in the community of Mina Nueva, north-eastern Antioquia, in 2015. Many miners live in areas controlled by armed groups and exist dangerously in the crossfire between the groups and the army (Image: Agencia Prensa Rural<\/a>, CC BY-NC-ND<\/a>)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

According to Mazo, the National Mining Agency (ANM), which regulates mining activity in the country, made 83 recommendations to Zijin on matters to improve the situation in the area, following allegations that the company had poured \u201ctoxic sludge\u201d into the tunnels where informal miners were working. \u201cSo far, they have not told us if the corrective measures have been applied,\u201d she added. A company statement<\/a> in May rejected the accusation, decrying \u201crumours\u201d and stating that it had been carrying out mandatory backfilling of tunnels as required by authorities, and that this process \u201cstrictly complies\u201d with regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those who work unofficially in the area of Zijin\u2019s operations are ancestral miners<\/a>, who are from the region and have been mining for years before the arrival of corporations, as well as others who arrived from other parts of the country attracted by the discovery of gold. In May 2023, the Ancestral Miners Community of Buritic\u00e1 filed a petition<\/a> demanding Zijin grant access to 140 hectares (or 1.5% of the mining title) where miners have been working for a decade, stating that the work is vital in supporting over 300 local families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Office of the Inspector General, the state entity that oversees the actions of public officials, issued a report<\/a> in mid-2023 stating that \u201cthe interference of illegal armed groups in the area to illegally exploit gold is harming the ancestral miners\u201d. It also noted that Zijin has been \u201ca permanent victim of attacks and illegal incursions on its installations and the rest of the inhabitants of this community\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It added that illegal mining \u201cis generating serious environmental problems such as deforestation and contamination of water sources, which endanger the lives of the inhabitants who consume it and use it in their crops\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The office also said<\/a> that illegal miners have looted the equivalent of two tonnes of gold a year, causing losses to the state worth close to COP 1 trillion (around USD 226 million).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the public disturbances<\/a> in mid-2024, the area returned to apparent calm, but locals and NGO staff interviewed for this article said this could change at any moment. One explanation given by a spokesperson for a human rights organisation in Antioquia department, who requested anonymity, is that the Clan del Golfo has opted for calm in the face of the possibility of a return<\/a> to currently suspended negotiations with the Petro government. The group has held intermittent peace talks with the Petro administration over the last two years, as recently as August<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n