Colombian police capture Buritica invasion ringmaster

Police in Colombia arrested Eduardo Otoya who is suspected of being one of the organizers behind criminal mining in Antioquia, including the invasion by thousands of illegal miners at the Buritica project of Continental Gold. Upon hearing of his arrest, President Juan Manuel Santos Tweeted “congratulations to [the police] for the decisive blow against criminal mining in Antioquia. Capturing Eduardo Otoya, alias ‘The Doctor’”. Otoya was vice president of corporate affairs for junior explorer Continental Gold from 2009 until July 2014, during which time thousands of illegal miners, mostly from the Segovia district, invaded the project. Otoya left the company for violating company policy, according to Continental Gold. The authorities said that Otoya took advantage of his position to obtained information about where Continental had discovered gold-bearing veins. The director general of the national police, Jorge Hernando Nieto Rojas, said Otoya had also been an associate of Diego Fernando Murillo, alias ‘Don Berna’, former head of the Envigado Office criminal gang who was extradited to the US, and had links to the Rastrojos criminal gang, reported Caracol Radio. He also formed a group dedicated to extortion of miners and the illegal mining of gold in Segovia and Buritica. Previously, Otoya worked in the Segovia region with Fiduagraia, a governmental organization undertaking the liquidation process of the bankrupt Frontino Gold Mines (FGM) company, and as general manager of FGM, paving the way for its eventual sale to Gran Colombia Gold. In addition to Otoya, the police arrested 14 other people including a former secretary of the Buritica government on charges of financing terrorism, organized crime, trafficking of firearms, illegal mineral exploitation and environmental contamination. ENDS

Coming soon, a "new" new mining policy for Colombia

Deputy Mining minister María Isabel Ulloa announced the Colombian government’s “new” new plan to improve the min ing sector during a speech to the National Association of Businesspeople of Colombia. Unfortunately, the new plan seems to contain much the same epithets that reform plans over the past six years contained. See the forthcoming CGL #55 March 2016 for details.

Colombia extends concession moratorium

Colombia's Mining and Energy Ministry has extended a moratorium on the receipt of mining concession contract proposals and legalization of traditional miners until february 2012 to give state geological survey Ingeominas additional time to clear a backlog of requests.

The moratorium was initially enacted for a six-month period on 1 February 2011 to clear a backlog of 19,629 concession requests.

The extension means new contract proposals or concession contract transfers cannot be submitted until 2012.

August 2011 Large-scale miners to self-regulate

The mining debate in Colombia will increasingly need to distinguish between traditional, artisanal (often illegal) mining and large-scale mining. Whilst worlds apart in almost every way conceivable they share the same noun – mining – which is why the general public confuses the one with the other and associates the maladies of the former to the potential of the latter. Traditional mining destroys the environment and pays no tax, but everyone from farmers to senators hear the word mining and think that the modern large-scale miners and explorers destroy the environment and pay no tax. Through the recently formed Large-Scale Mining Association, 13 of Colombia’s biggest mining companies have started to address this issue and better educate people.

“One of the biggest challenges from the point of view of the environment is the battle against [illegal] exploitation that is putting at risk the ecological richness of the country. Illegal mining does not comply with any rule; they do not have mining titles or environmental licenses, they use little technology, deteriorate water sources, risk the health of their workers and give poor quality jobs. Nor do they pay taxes or royalties,” says executive director Claudia Jimenez.

The mining association is creating a self-regulating code for its members to promote responsible mining in terms of the environment, community Relations, industrial safety, human rights and economic transparency that will be a higher standard than Colombian law demands.

By operating to this code and annually reporting its results, the association hopes to give better understanding to politicians and the public alike about the actual performance of large miners and the contribution they make to the country and the communities in which they operate, and thus help distinguish themselves from the artisanal miners that cause negative impacts.

At the end of July Colombia enacted a law to combat illegal mining. Law 1450 of 2011 prohibits the use of dredges and other mechanical equipment for mining activities without a mining title that is registered in the National Mining Register. The law requires the government to implement a strategy that distinguishes between informal or traditional mining, and illegal mining.

The law also calls for the mining authority to publish a list of mining titleholders that are in the exploitation stage that have all necessary licenses, and of those agents that are authorized to commercialise minerals. From the start of 2012, commercial agents will only be allowed to purchase minerals from miners that are on the mining authority list.