Research from NGO Verité found that up to 91% of Venezuela's and 87% of Colombia's gold exports are illegally produced, often controlled by organised crime groups backed by large-scale investments. Some of the world's most active organised crime groups and non-state armed groups are reportedly directly involved in the production and sale of such illegal gold, including Mexico's Sinaloa cartel and Italy's 'Ndrangheta mafia, as well as Brazilian, Russian, and Chinese syndicates._ Illegally produced gold from Latin America is exported to refineries (with the help of corrupt officials), melted down and blended with legally produced and scrap gold, or mixed to make alloys, then exported to global markets. Canada and the US are the biggest importers of Latin American gold & indeed, the latter's gold imports from Latin America exceed the volume of gold that Latin America claims to export. Whilst Switzerland is responsible for refining around 70% of globally-produced gold, some of the county's refineries have stopped purchasing gold from Latin American suppliers linked to illegal gold mining and human rights abuses, leaving a gap in the market which US refineries have rushed to fill, purchasing this surplus gold in Switzerland's place and introducing it to global markets. Indeed, Verité found that 90% of the Fortune 500 companies that filed conflict mineral disclosures last year (from across telecoms, IT, car manufacturers, and machinery producers) had purchased gold from refineries linked to illegally mined gold from Latin America. In 2022, over 320 illegal gold mines were counted in the nine states that make up Brazil's Legal Amazon. Major drug trafficking factions, including the Primeiro Comando da Capital, have infiltrated mining operations in Indigenous territories, running protection rackets, extorting taxes, controlling pits, and forging partnerships with gangs in neighbouring Venezuela to sell contraband minerals. Gold is also the top export of Bolivia, with the mining region transecting national parks and reserves.