![]() He said the worst impact of the illicit mining was deforestation, often carried out with heavy machinery, "because it triggers a degradation spiral." "Eradicating illegal crops means that other revenue sources have been developed," Juan Francisco Garcia, a forest engineer, told AFP. By comparison, a kilo of cocaine is worth around $965 and is more difficult to sell.Ĭolombia's ecosystem, with one of the greatest biodiversities in the world, is seriously affected by illegal mining of minerals such as gold, coal, tungsten and nickel, which finances illegal armed groups "Illegal mining activity brings in more money than cocaine," asserted Colonel Jorge Rojas, who coordinated the military operation which resulted in 24 arrests.Ī gram of gold is worth $27 in this region, and 10 percent of the mines are run under control of the FARC, Colombia's Marxist rebel group, Rojas said. Sparsely populated, with little government presence and squeezed between neighboring Venezuela and Brazil, Guainia province is looked upon with hungry eyes by those who scoff at a 2012 no-mining ban there. "Beaches" and dredges dot the area, part of the Puinawai natural park that is one of the biggest protected spaces in Colombia, home to three indigenous reserves. The dredge was destroyed November 26, in a joint Brazilian-Colombian military operation against clandestine mining. Some 100 kilometers (60 miles) from this "beach" in Colombia's rugged eastern Guainia region, close to the town of Campo Alegre, a dredge that had been pumping masses of riverbed sand mixed with gold stood in the Inirida river. Instead, it is the detritus from illegal mining, proceeds of which fund armed groups and guerrillas.
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