In Buriticá, northeastern Colombia, a complex case of illegal gold mining illustrates the intersection of Organised Crime, environmental destruction, and economic exploitation surrounding the Zijin gold mine. Since 2021, Colombia's largest criminal armed group, the Gaitanista Army of Colombia (EGC or "Gulf Clan"), has infiltrated the massive gold deposit – South America's largest, with reserves exceeding 300 metric tons – by creating an unauthorised network of tunnels extending over 84 km alongside the legal mining operation. The illegal miners have seized control of approximately 60% of the mine's operations, leading to underground armed confrontations with security personnel that resulted in 2,260 explosions and 2,450 gunshots in 2023 alone. The mining company Zijin (which acquired the operation from Canadian-based Continental Gold in 2019) has filed a US$500 million lawsuit against the Colombian government for failing to provide security, citing the deaths of two employees and injuries to dozens more as evidence of deteriorating conditions despite the deployment of specialised police units to combat illegal mining.