Illegal gold mining now a bigger moneymaker than drugs for crime gangs

[SpacePete]

The worst bad guys narcotraffickers, right-wing paramilitary militias, left-wing insurgents, etc are now into gold mining. Can a war on gold can't be far behind?


"Gold has emerged as one of the best options to store value and even generate returns on investments in an era marked by a loose monetary policy in the developed world and a loss of faith in fiat currencies like the US dollar."

The full article lists the many evils associated with illegal gold mining.

Illegal gold mining has supplanted cocaine trafficking as Latin America's criminal endeavor of choice

For decades, the dominant image of organized crime in Latin America has been the drug cartel. But in recent years, for an increasing number of narcotrafficking groupsas well as right-wing paramilitary militias, and left-wing insurgentsillegal gold mining has become the real moneymaker.

According to a 2015 United Nations World Drug Report (pdf), Colombia's drug cartels make $1 to $1.5 billion a year in wholesale proceeds from both heroin and cocaine, whereas illegally mined gold earned smugglers in the country between $1.9 and $2.6 billion a year. The story is similar in Peru: the value of illegal gold exports, approximately $2.6 billion a year (pdf), now exceeds the value of cocaine trade$1 to 1.5 billion annuallyby a wide margin.

This modern-day gold rush has been fueled primarily by surging demand and subsequent skyrocketing prices over the last 15 years. Gold has emerged as one of the best options to store value and even generate returns on investments in an era marked by a loose monetary policy in the developed world and a loss of faith in fiat currencies like the US dollar. The price of gold peaked in October 2012, when a kilo was worth $57,000. Today, although prices have fallen considerably, a kilo of gold still sells for $37,000compared to, say, the $1,000-2,000 per kilo wholesale price of freebase cocaine.

...

There's another key element of gold mining to the general public: illegal miners can earn $30 to $75 a day. That's not enough to get rich, but far more than an uneducated adult could earn farming in the surrounding highlandsand some local politicians have alleged that governments may not really be interested in shutting down illegal mining because it's providing jobs.In Peru, for instance, some politicians publicly claimed that the miners should be allowed to earn a living, arguing everyone has "the right to make end meets."

Full, in-depth article: http://qz.com/867104/illegal-gold-m...s-latin-americas-criminal-endeavor-of-choice/

 

[Pirocco]

And that bigger money comes from... those buying it.

 

[Ipv6Ready]

Just goes to show how common gold is and how much of it is out there. I doubt the drug cartels care about gold though, they will still prefer UD dollars. There is no loss of faith in UD currency, all that is pumper talk and trying to make gullible people believe.

Look at Stawell gold mine in vic, mined 32,000 ounces this year but closing down as there isn't enough gold to make it economical.

 

[SpacePete]

I doubt the drug cartels care about gold though, they will still prefer UD dollars.

If only there was a way to convert gold into dollars.

 

[Ipv6Ready]

I doubt the drug cartels care about gold though, they will still prefer UD dollars.

If only there was a way to convert gold into dollars.

If your talking street level dealers buying from low end suppliers for tens of thousands yeah potentially, but Not easily done when you're talking in millions at mid level and tens or hundreds of millions at wholesale, gold would be a big hassle.

 

[sfstacker]

I doubt the drug cartels care about gold though, they will still prefer UD dollars.

If only there was a way to convert gold into dollars.

If your talking street level dealers buying from low end suppliers for tens of thousands yeah potentially, but Not easily done when you're talking in millions at mid level and tens or hundreds of millions at wholesale, gold would be a big hassle.

I've never smuggled drug money but I think two duffel bags full of money would be harder to transport than a kilo sized gold bar.

 

[betterlatethannever]

Either way it still would be very very dangerous with cave in's let alone hyped up kooks wired on drugs with an AK47 being waved around the place all to put a meal on the table for your family,I am mainly talking about the diggers themselves.

A not so - Merry Christ - mas

 

[FSF]

If only there was a way to convert gold into dollars.

If your talking street level dealers buying from low end suppliers for tens of thousands yeah potentially, but Not easily done when you're talking in millions at mid level and tens or hundreds of millions at wholesale, gold would be a big hassle.

I've never smuggled drug money but I think two duffel bags full of money would be harder to transport than a kilo sized gold bar.

A kilo of gold is roughly $40K USD but two duffel bags in $100 bills would be about $10 million. You still think it's easier?

 

[sfstacker]

If your talking street level dealers buying from low end suppliers for tens of thousands yeah potentially, but Not easily done when you're talking in millions at mid level and tens or hundreds of millions at wholesale, gold would be a big hassle.

I've never smuggled drug money but I think two duffel bags full of money would be harder to transport than a kilo sized gold bar.

A kilo of gold is roughly $40K USD but two duffel bags in $100 bills would be about $10 million. You still think it's easier?

http://demonocracy.info/infographics/usa/us_debt/us_debt.html (3rd image)
It would be a lot easier to send a dozen indigenous farmers across a border on foot than 10mil worth of cash through an air port.

 

[FSF]

I've never smuggled drug money but I think two duffel bags full of money would be harder to transport than a kilo sized gold bar.

A kilo of gold is roughly $40K USD but two duffel bags in $100 bills would be about $10 million. You still think it's easier?

http://demonocracy.info/infographics/usa/us_debt/us_debt.html (3rd image)
It would be a lot easier to send a dozen indigenous farmers across a border on foot than 10mil worth of cash through an air port.

Perhaps. But why would those be the only respective choices?

 

[Ipv6Ready]

A kilo of gold is roughly $40K USD but two duffel bags in $100 bills would be about $10 million. You still think it's easier?

150kg of gold, much easier to carry two duffle bags of $100 notes lol