Colombia Reports Growth in Illegal Gold Mining

A new report from the United Nations and the Colombian government shows that illegal gold mining in Colombia is growing. In 2025, the area used for alluvial gold mining grew by 4.5 percent compared to the year before, covering about 118,410 hectares of land. Much of this growth happened on land belonging to Afro-Colombian communities. The report was put together by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, also known as UNODC.

Alluvial gold is gold found in riverbeds and stream beds. Miners use simple tools and methods — like panning, sluicing, and mechanical dredging — to pull the gold out of the water and mud. Because these methods do not need a lot of equipment or money, alluvial mining often attracts small-scale, illegal, or informal miners who work outside the law.

According to the report, 75 percent of all alluvial gold production in Colombia is illegal. Another 21 percent has some kind of environmental or technical permit, and 4 percent is in the process of becoming legal. This means that most of the gold being pulled from Colombia's rivers is being mined without permission from the government.

Almost half of Colombia's 32 regions, called departments, showed signs of alluvial gold mining last year. About 61 percent of the new mining activity took place on Afro-Colombian lands. The report also found that alluvial gold mining was detected in 30 Indigenous reserves across the country.

Indigenous and Black Colombians have long faced more hardship than other groups in the country. They are more likely to live in poverty, in isolated areas, and to be affected by Colombia's decades-long armed conflict. Experts say this makes their communities more vulnerable to illegal activity, including mining on their lands without their consent.

Nearly half of the areas where mining took place are zones where mining is not allowed at all. These protected areas include forest reserves and national parks. Illegal mining in these zones is damaging important ecosystems and threatening wildlife that depends on clean rivers and forests.

Colombia's Minister of Mines and Energy, Maria Nohemi Arboleda, said illegal gold mining is destroying forests and polluting rivers with dangerous chemicals. She also pointed out that 79 municipalities with alluvial gold mining in 2025 also had coca plant cultivation. She said that nearly half of the areas with gold mining also had coca crops growing nearby.

Arboleda called the combination of illegal gold mining and drug crops a 'perfect business' for criminal groups. Security sources say illegal gold mining is the second-largest way that armed criminal groups in Colombia make money, right after drug trafficking. Arboleda called on countries that buy gold to require traceability systems — ways of tracking where gold comes from — to make sure it was mined legally.