Colombia court halts gold mining in nature reserve

A Colombian court ruled 11 gold miners must cease operations in a nature reserve, part of an ongoing drive to formalize the mining industry.

The Antioquia superior court ordered mining agency ANM to evict miners from the 50,000ha protected area in the northwestern Chocó department, home to the Embera Katío indigenous people.

Miners with operations in the area include AngloGold Ashanti and local companies Exploraciones Choco Colombia, Gongora and El Molino, according to local newspaper Portafolio. The government awarded mining concessions in the area in 2008, it said.

ANM said the concessions were awarded before the area was declared a reserve and denied it had authorized concessions after legislation in 2013 decreed the area off-limits to mining, agriculture and industry.

"Since starting operating two-and-a-half years ago, the national mining agency has not awarded concessions that overlap reserved areas either totally or partially," ANM president Natalia Gutiérrez said in a statement. "

Unauthorized mining accounts for more than half of the country's operations. In a 2010-2011 census on mining activity in Colombia, the mining ministry (Minminas) registered 14,357 mining production units in Colombia of which 63%, or over 9,000, did not have mining titles.

Illegal gold mining has spread in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia as gold prices jumped sevenfold over a decade to US$1,900/oz by 2011, according to Thomas Hentschel, director of Swiss government program Better Gold Initiative.

Officials from Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela and Peru met at an Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO) meeting in November to discuss joint efforts to fight illegal mining in the region.

BNamericas will host its 2nd Mexico Mining Summit in Mexico City on October 1-2.