By Luis Jaime Acosta
“Nearly half of the area with alluvial gold mining also has coca crops. It’s a mix, a perfect business. This is not a debate about mining.
BOGOTA, – Mostly illegal alluvial gold production in Colombia expanded 4.5% by area year-on-year in 2025 to 118,410 hectares, with the increase primarily on Afro-Colombian communities’ land, a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the government showed on Friday. Nearly half of Colombia’s 32 departments showed evidence of alluvial gold exploitation last year, with 61% of the increase on Afro-Colombian lands. Alluvial gold production was also detected in 30 Indigenous reserves, the report said.
“Seventy-five percent is illegal, 21% has technical and/or environmental permits, and 4% is in the process of becoming legal,” the report said. Illegal gold mining is the second-largest source of financing for illegal armed groups after drug trafficking, according to security sources. Illegal gold mining is destroying forests and polluting rivers with chemicals, Mines and Energy Minister Maria Nohemi Arboleda said during the presentation of the report. It is a confrontation between the state and criminal economies that use gold to finance violence,” Arboleda said. Arboleda said countries that buy gold should require traceability systems to verify the metal is legally sourced.
