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A three-year recession in Venezuela paired with ramping inflation and food shortages has prompted many to turn to illegal gold mining with the hope of getting rich or at least have the means to get basic supplies in the overpriced black market.
However, the recent boom of illegal gold mines in the country has not only caused deforestation but also gang fights, deaths of innocent people and even an epidemic of malaria.
About 90% of Venezuela’s total gold production comes from clandestine mines.
It’s estimated that about 100,000 people are currently involved in the illegal extraction and smuggling of gold to the point that about 90% of Venezuela’s total gold production comes from clandestine mines, AFP notes in an in-depth report.
While most of those operations are believed to be in the Eastern side of the country, close to the border with Colombia, they have recently begun to spread out, with many of them now “primarily in mafia hands,” the head of the Venezuelan Mining Chamber, Luis Rojas, told the news agency.
Armed gangs are not only directly threatening the life of those who mine for them, their unlicensed and supervised operations are also causing lethal diseases, such as malaria, to come back. The disease has abandoned the remote jungle areas where it quietly persisted until the last decade, and spreading it around the nation at levels not seen in Venezuela for 75 years, local medical experts have said (in Spanish).
READ ALSO: Illegal mining is Latin America’s new cocaine
Because they hunt for gold in watery pits, the perfect breeding ground for the mosquitoes that spread the disease, illegal miners are catching malaria by the tens of thousands. As Venezuela’s economy is in tatters, there is often little fumigation and no medicine to prevent mosquitoes from biting miners and then carrying the disease back home, which is leaving entire towns desperate for help.
And while local health authorities have tried fighting the disease by distributing mosquito nets and basic treatment, NGOs have focused on finding the root causes of the increase in cases of malaria across the country.
One of the best-known initiatives is the Wesoichay Project created by the Venezuelan Association for the Conservation of Natural Areas (Acoana), which researched the relationship between malaria and mining. The study concluded that limited job opportunities, poor access to education and little involvement of indigenous people in public policy led to more illegal mining.
Gangs and mafias are fighting for the gold in the Venezuelan forests, while miners die because of the unlicensed and unsupervised mining in the Amazon forest. (Image courtesy of Venezuela Ministry of Tourism)
12 Comments
Lubo Todorov
Were is the damage ! The photos are from normal river deposition !
Christopher Kuntz
River looks normal to me, I have seen such waters before……..not saying there isn’t environment destruction or degradation caused by mining, but I do agree with you Lubo – looks normal to me from the photo.
MINING.com Editors
There are some telling phtos here: https://news.mongabay.com/2016/03/gold-mining-in-venezuela-a-perfect-storm-of-illegality-deforestation-and-mafias/, here: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/venezuelas-gold-rush-illegal-miners-face-malaria-mercury-poisoning-organised-crime-1612873 and here:http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2013944_2183069,00.html
We couldn’t use them due to copyright issues.
MINING.com Editors
Image shows Canaima National Park, not necessarily the damage caused by illegal mining.
Mark Harder
When the US West was being developed – the development of mining, forestry and ranching, law enforcement followed settlement. Law enforcement was introduced when lawless social conditions became intolerable and politics/politicians were forced to intervene. In Canada, by contrast, the RCMP founded forts and governed the Canadian West in anticipation of settlement. Settlers tended to move to areas that had the protection afforded by law enforcement. As a result, Canada suffered no more crime – gangs, casual murders confiscation of land by anyone powerful enough to take it – than the rest of the country. The “Wild West’ phenomenon in the US was the result of the anarchy that prevailed there. My point being that the situations that Mining News has reported in Venezuela, Peru and parts of Africa can be seen the same light. Rule of law has not really penetrated these areas. Yes necessitated by environmental destruction, police and military have sporadically cracked down on the miners, but these actions would appear to be misdirected, haphazard and therefore futile. The governments involved need to recognize that small-scale mining in their countries is a fact of life and needs to be regulated, not prohibited; and that the presence of law-enforcement and the provision of social and material resources needs to be permanent for peace and prosperity to prevail in the ‘wild wests’ of these countries.
BTW, a basic geography lesson: You can be in eastern Ven. near the border of Guyana, or you can be in the west, near the border of Colombia, but you can’t be in eastern Ven. near the border of Colombia.
Krusty1234
Poverty begets crime. Socialist states and autocracies beget poverty…..
Wayne Waters
When are Humans going to admit “they are destroying this Wonderful Planet”!
Kwatampora Alex Binego
It appears that this illegal mining for gold “disease” is not only in Venezuela but is also in Africa. in Uganda, areas that have gold have been overwhelmed by un licensed illegal miners whom we term here as “Artisanal Miners” but to our surprise, these so called “Artisanal Miners” are now carrying out mechanized commercial mining. Strangely, some of the legal license holders are denied the opportunity to mine by these Artisanal miners but whom I would prefer to call “Illegal Miners”. Whereas I do not vouch for the “illegal Miners” to be kicked out by Government Authorities, I strongly recommend that they be regulated and should not operate within gazetted licensed areas. In fact, some of the license holders decided to give up some areas so that these Illegal miners can survive but they still continue invading the rich areas. Apparently, some of these local miners are very good “Geologists” as they know how to trace rich sources of the Gold. in-spite of the above, our Government has started registering these miners with a view of regularizing their activities but this problem appears to be global in one way or another and it must be curtailed.
Carlos Pena
Mark Harder: The challenge here is the fact that the law enforcers that should regulate both formal and informal mining activities (police and military) are also the ones that operate most of the mining business in this country. It’s just corrupt authorities that were given the green light to mine freely in exchange for loyalty to the central government.
Ronald Fries
Du pipi de minet vos photos!
Dommage que vous ne publiez pas les photos de ce qui se passe réellement ici au Venezuela, avez-vous peur d’épouvanter vos lecteurs?
Photos du Km 88 Estado Bolivar prises par la GN (guardia nacional)
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3c38ca90dd35b8e7187c16b17db0cba20ca74b04f58c6b0ff0fe825d84a378a6.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bce5f300d28a77e5ecc1378dd51460c06402799fcc9a97ec57bb29fbd180aafc.jpg
Art Easian
The UN and the World Bank have been working in Africa to reduce the use of mercury amalgamation. Venezuela is just a lost case. Minimata disease from mercury poisoning is part of life and death. It’s been going on since Placer Dome was kicked out and nobody really cares whast happens in the jungle. The same belt is a mess from Colombia to Brazil.
https://www.marxiste.org/international/amerique-du-sud/venezuela/1839-hugo-chavez-vive-la-revolution-socialiste
They nationalized the mining industry !
Art Easian
https://www.marxiste.org/international/amerique-du-sud/venezuela/1839-hugo-chavez-vive-la-revolution-socialiste