Illegal mining rises globally along with gold price, harming legal miners  

Not all artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is illegal, but such operations are a frequent and lucrative target for organized crime and corruption across many regions. 

With gold holding well above $3,000/oz, small-scale mining now accounts for about 20% of global gold production, up from around 4% in the 1990s when gold was closer to $250/oz. 

Soaring gold prices are raising the incentive for illegal gold mining, which fuels social conflict, degrades the environment and harms legal miners.

Just as the higher gold price has large-scale miners tapping into previously uneconomic resources, higher prices are “absolutely” drawing in more small-scale mining as well.

In Africa, mercenaries including the Wagner Group, a Russian state-funded private military group, are in part fueled by gold mining activities. Both sides of the conflict in Sudan are fighting over considerable gold resources being smuggled out of the country each year,.

And Latin American organized crime is diversifying from cocaine to gold sales !