AGC Celebrates Update of Colombia Mining Code

Decree Law 685 of 2001 (current Colombian Mining Code) introduces as an objective of public interest the promotion of “technical exploration and exploitation of mining resources owned by the state and privately. These activities satisfy the requirements of internal and external demand and their use is carried out harmoniously with the principles and standards of rational exploitation of non-renewable natural resources and the environment.

More than twenty years after the issuance of the decree, the balance in Colombia is not completely positive for all actors in the sector, especially for artisanal, subsistence and small-scale mining. Institutions in charge of supervising mining activity have not had the necessary mechanisms to carry out their work effectively. The lack of clear rules and regulations that promote the regular and formal progress of mining triggered the systematic escalation of illegal mining in several regions of the country, especially in gold mining.

This particular situation has led to the occurrence of environmental impacts such as indiscriminate logging, impacts on ecosystems, and the contamination of rivers. These challenges add to social problems such as the forced abandonment of territories and extermination of ethnic peoples through the use of violence. It is important to clarify that traditional mining continues to be the way of life of many communities, in contrast to illegal mining, which does not meet minimum regulatory standards.

Due to the above, the current Colombian Government presents a proposal for a new Mining Code, more focused on protecting territories, ecosystems, water, civil society and food security, in strict compliance with human rights and international agreements for environmental protection.

The proposal to reform the Colombian mining code presented by the current government is framed on seven key principles:

1. Protection of the environment
2. Autonomy of the entities. territorial
3. Citizen participation
4. Mechanisms for granting a concession contract
5. Elimination of the concept of public utility activity and social interest of mining
6. Illicit extraction of minerals
7. Economic remuneration and social responsibility 

These principles propose changes in citizen participation mechanisms, define excludable mining zones, autonomy mechanisms for territorial entities and changes in environmental licensing systems, which will be subject to review and adjustment by the Congress of the Republic of Colombia. 

These approaches go hand in hand with what was stated by the current president of the republic, Gustavo Petro, who has assured that the new rules must “recover the traditional miner of Colombia and strengthen traditional mining, empowering it.”

In this sense, a spectrum is currently very favourable in Colombia to propose solutions that promote good environmental practices, the use of the best technologies for extraction and artisanal gold mining process, directly helping the construction of the country, which is consistent with the missionary objective of the Artisanal Gold Council (AGC) and the projects it develops in Colombia.

For this reason, the Artisanal Gold Council (AGC) celebrates that changes are being studied in Colombia for the good of artisanal mining communities, which improve their capabilities, improve their quality of life and present favourable environmental conditions.