All About Illegal Mining

ILLEGAL MINING / 16 MAR 2012

The Peruvian government's crackdown on illegal mining, which some link to organized crime, has triggered massive protests in the southeast town of Puerto Maldonado.

FARC / 12 MAR 2012

Venezuela’s abundant coltan resources are exploited by several armed groups, and Colombian rebels the FARC may be the best positioned to become major players in extracting the new "conflict mineral."…

COLOMBIA / 31 JAN 2012

Colombia's National Police revealed that the FARC and BACRIMS control illegal mining operations in nearly half of the country, an indication of how important the industry has become for the…

ILLEGAL MINING / 25 JAN 2012

A clash between two gangs over illegal gold mining has killed nine in French Guiana, in an example of the violence often associated with illicit mining in the overseas French…

COLOMBIA / 12 JAN 2012

With over eight million hectares in Colombia already licensed for mining projects, the municipality of Anori may indicate what lies in store for the rest of the country if the…

COLOMBIA / 4 JAN 2012

Colombia created a prosecutor's office which will deal exclusively with environmental crime. One significant question is how much energy the new office will put into investigating unlicensed mining, a source…

COLOMBIA / 7 NOV 2011

Colombia's mining and energy minister said unlicensed mining "should be given the same treatment as drug trafficking," due to the connections between armed groups and the mining trade.

COLOMBIA / 2 NOV 2011

The New York Times photo blog features images from Choco, on Colombia's Pacific coast, where Afro-Colombian communities are menaced by armed groups who are taking control of the illicit…

ÁGUILAS NEGRAS / 1 NOV 2011

A TV special by PBS details the threats community activists in Colombia face from armed groups, as they try to keep an industrial gold mining company from seizing their land.

BRAZIL / 12 AUG 2011

Less than a week after approving a border security plan with Colombia, Brazil signaled that it would like to extend the security initiative to another partner in the…

ECUADOR / 23 MAY 2011

Ecuador's military carried out a operation to shut down illegal goldmines in the northwest of the country, close to the border with Colombia.

COLOMBIA / 4 MAR 2011

A report from the New York Times published Friday examines the way that gold mining in northern Colombia, particularly the department of Antioquia, is providing an extra source…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

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InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

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InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

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Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

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InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…