Highway blockades by workers in Colombia’s informal mines, are disrupting economic activity in three provinces.
Miners in Santander and Norte de Santander, predominantly from the informal gold sector, are protesting the government’s plan to declare an area near the Andean wetland known as Santurbán as a temporary natural reserve, which would bar them from the gold deposits beneath its soil.
Separately, in Antioquia province in the northwest, workers are protesting the destruction of excavators and other heavy machinery used in illegal or informal gold mining by security forces.
More than two-thirds of the nation’s gold is produced by in operations that lack full certification. Many of the mining operations in rivers and remote mountains are controlled by organized crime groups.
The sector has received a boost this year as gold prices soared to a record as the spreading conflict in the Middle East increases haven demand and traders assess risks from the upcoming US presidential election. The metal has surged by about a third this year to $2,738.95 on Friday.
The government of President Gustavo Petro was elected on pledges to protect the nation’s environment, which has sometimes brought it into conflict with environmentally-damaging sectors such as cattle ranching and illegal mining.
With protests entering a fifth day, Mines and Energy Minister Andres Camacho said Friday in a post on X that talks to end the protests are ongoing. Agreements have been reached to allow for the intermittent opening of roads, Camacho said, following a meeting with miners in Antioquia.
Blocked roads have prevented more than 140,000 tons of products from reaching their destination, El Tiempo newspaper reported Thursday. This comes after nationwide protests in September paralyzed swathes of the country after the government announced plans to hike diesel prices.
The environment ministry at the start of the year issued a decree with which it can determine places where mining activity is restricted for five years while officials determine if the area meets criteria to become protected. This five year period can also be extended.
In September, the government signaled that it would publish a resolution to assign this status to an area around the Santurbán wetland, which would mark the first time it used the decree.
(By Andrea Jaramillo)
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