A 2017 case involving 99.5kg of gold from the Democratic Republic of the Congo transported to Dubai via Nairobi revealed sophisticated document fraud within the regional mineral certification system. The shipment was facilitated using a stolen certificate from the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), a regional body whose certification process was designed to prevent conflict minerals from entering legitimate supply chains. By leveraging a stolen but authentic document, smugglers were able to create an appearance of legitimacy for a significant quantity of potentially conflict-affected gold. This case demonstrates how even well-intentioned traceability systems can be exploited by criminal networks that understand documentation requirements and have access to authentic certificates. It also illustrates Nairobi's role as not just a physical transit point for illicit gold, but as a documentation hub where illegally sourced minerals can acquire paperwork that facilitates their entry into international markets.

Illegal unlicensed gold mining in Kakamega County, Kenya, has created severe environmental degradation along the River Ikoha basin in Ikolomani and Shinyalu constituencies. Approximately 8,000 artisanal miners extract from the region's estimated 1.31 million ounces of gold reserves (valued at Sh171 billion), operating directly within riverbeds and banks without proper oversight. This has resulted in riverbank collapse, water acidification from toxic mining tailings containing mercury (the use of which for gold extraction is illegal in Kenya), cyanide and arsenic, and damage to infrastructure including the Mukoha bridge. Residents of Makhaya village in Shitochi sub-location report that once-reliable water sources are now unsafe for consumption, forcing them to purchase water despite living adjacent to the river.

According to the Strategies for Northern Development (SND) in Moyale sub-county of Marsabit County in Kenya, increased gold mining activities at the Hillo gold mine have led to alarming rates of child exploitation. The unregulated mines have become magnets for Child Labour, attracting hundreds of children who cross borders from neighbouring countries to work in hazardous conditions. The impact on education has been devastating, with one primary school alone reporting 44 boys dropping out to work in the mines. Despite SND's efforts to combat this issue – including the successful rescue of 16 pupils who had abandoned their education for mine work in Dabel and the formation of a Cross Border Working Group to raise awareness – child exploitation remains rampant.

In the Sekotong district of West Lombok, Indonesia, illegal small-scale gold mining has led to severe mercury contamination, causing significant health crises, particularly among children. Despite a national ban on mercury use since 2014, miners continue to use the toxic substance to extract gold, releasing harmful vapours and waste into the environment. This persistent contamination has resulted in birth defects, neurological disorders, and other health issues. The situation is further exacerbated by Child Labour, with children as young as eight involved in mining activities without protective equipment becoming exposed to mercury on a regular basis.

The Antam gold refining corruption case revealed a sophisticated scheme of institutional fraud involving six former executives of Indonesia's state-owned mining company, resulting in an estimated state loss of Rp3.31 trillion (US$203.19 million). Between 2010 and 2022, these high-ranking officials systematically bypassed corporate governance protocols by forming unauthorised partnerships with seven private-sector individuals and entities in the gold refining and smelting business. The executives, including former Vice Presidents and General Managers from Antam's Precious Metal Processing and Refining Business Unit, deliberately circumvented standard business procedures by conducting transactions without proper due diligence, risk assessments, or Board of Directors' approval. Their actions raised critical concerns about potential links to illegal mining, Money Laundering, and even terrorism financing, as they accepted gold from clients without rigorous verification of its origin. The scale of corruption was extraordinary, with private sector collaborators individually profiting billions of rupiah.

In Indonesia, fatalities are common at illegal gold mines, which often lack the necessary safety measures in place to manage and prevent hazards. Unlicensed mines are common across Indonesia, where abandoned sites attract locals who hunt for leftover gold ore without proper safety equipment. A quarter of the more than 8,600 unlicensed mines are gold mines. In July 2024, following intense rains, a landslide at an illegal gold mine killed at least 23 people. According to rescue officials, more than 270 responders were deployed as part of the search and rescue operation, with the response hampered by heavy rains, unstable soil and rugged, forested terrain.

Identified as one of the biggest corruption scandals in the Indonesia’s history, the illegal tin mining operations in the Bangka-Belitung Islands caused an estimated 271 trillion rupiah (US$16.6 billion) in environmental damage, with multiple levels of government allegedly complicit in facilitating illegal mining activities. In this case, PT Timah TBK – a state-owned tin mining company and among the world’s largest producers of refined tin – allegedly facilitated illegal mining activities in Bangka and Belitung between 2015 and 2022. PT Timah alone is reported to have mined an area of 170,363 hectares on the two islands – almost double the area permitted under its mining concession. Many of the company’s illegal mining activities are reported to have occurred in areas that should have been off limits, including protected forest reserves and national parks. In addition to serious environmental damage, the PT Timah case stands out for the large scale of corruption allegedly involved. According to Indonesia newspaper Kompas, investigators from Indonesia’s attorney general’s office claim that PT Timah had leased smelters and purchased illegal tin materials without declaring these transactions. The profits were then reportedly funnelled through third parties to senior officials of PT Timah using fake transactions of smelting services and corporate social responsibility funds.

In 2022, Honduras took a major step by announcing a ban on open-pit mining, joining El Salvador and Costa Rica as the only Central American countries to prohibit this environmentally destructive practice. The Ministry of Energy, Natural Resources, Environment and Mines cancelled environmental permits for new projects and committed to shutting down existing operations, citing harm to natural resources, public health, and water access. The decision came after years of environmental devastation and violence against activists, illustrated by specific cases like environmentalist Irma Lemus, who was forced to flee the country for protesting mining projects in Colón, and six environmental defenders who were jailed for opposing the Los Pinares mine in Guapinol that allegedly contaminated local drinking water sources. Despite this positive development, some conservationists have expressed concern about potential legal challenges from mining companies that could delay implementation of the government's plans.

In 2014, the Honduran government granted a mining concession to Inversiones Los Pinares to mine iron oxide within the Carlos Escaleras National Park, a protected area crucial for the water supply of over 42,000 people. The project, linked to politically connected business figures, led to environmental degradation, including pollution of the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers. Local communities say they were not properly informed or consulted about the concession and the impacts it would have on their lives. According to environmental defender Reynaldo Domínguez, “the company says that there is no contamination in the river but the exams we organised with independent experts show that there is. It’s very concerning. It’s forcing us to displace entire communities who cannot drink from that water.” Local communities, organised under the Municipal Committee for the Defence of Common and Public Assets (CMDBCP), established a peaceful protest camp in 2018. The protest was met with violent eviction, and several activists were criminalised. In 2019, eight were detained for over two years on charges related to their activism, they were later released after international pressure. The conflict escalated with the killings of local activists Aly Domínguez and Jairo Bonilla in January 2023, and Aly's brother, Oquelí Domínguez, in June 2023. In September 2024, Juan López, another prominent activist, was assassinated. Despite international condemnation, including from the UN and Amnesty International, justice remains elusive, and the mining project continues to threaten the region's environmental integrity.

In early 2022, the Maya Chortí Indigenous community in Azacualpa, western Honduras, witnessed the destruction of their 200-year-old cemetery during the expansion of the San Andrés gold mine, operated by Minerales de Occidente (Minosa), a subsidiary of Canadian company Aura Minerals. Despite a Supreme Court injunction prohibiting further exhumations, the company proceeded with nighttime excavations under police protection, removing or destroying graves and erecting barriers to prevent community access. The Maya Chortí community had engaged in nearly a decade of legal and community-level resistance to protect the cemetery, which they consider a sacred cultural heritage site. While some remains were reportedly relocated, many were left in place as mining operations continued, including regular blasting in the former cemetery area.

Between 2006 and 2013, the Haitian government granted over 50 mining permits to three US and Canadian companies, targeting land occupied by dozens of communities in northern Haiti, without conducting required environmental assessments or consulting local residents. The proposed mining projects threaten to continue Haiti's long history of land grabbing, with mining company representatives already entering farmlands without permission, digging exploratory holes, and pressuring residents to sign land access agreements they don't fully understand. Samuel Nesner, a local activist, highlighted the critical risks: mining would brutally evict peasant farmers from their limited agricultural land, cause severe environmental damage to an already degraded ecosystem, and potentially trigger catastrophic consequences in a country prone to earthquakes. Despite mounting opposition and evidence of potential harm, Haitian government officials and the World Bank continue to propose mining as an economic solution, ignoring the voices of local communities who fear losing their homes and livelihoods to foreign extractive interests.

In Guatemala, officials have documented fraud in applications for mining licences. In 2024, for example, the government revoked an environmental license for a Canadian-run gold mine, citing forged signatures and the loss of more than 900 pages of project documentation. The company is seeking to extract more than 250 million cubic meters of soil and subsoil from a gold and silver deposit in the municipality of Asunción Mita, east of the Guatemalan capital. Local leaders and environmental organisatons warn that the mine will pollute Lake Güija, shared by Guatemala and El Salvador, and the Lempa River, which originates in Guatemala and is the main water source for the Salvadoran capital.

Alberto Pimentel Mata, Guatemala’s Minister of Energy and mining from 2020 to 2023, allegedly engaged in numerous corruption schemes and accepted large bribes on a monthly basis during his tenure. According to US officials, Pimentel demanded bribes from mining industry groups in exchange for necessary licenses and permits. In one instance, he allegedly accepted a large sum to expedite consultation processes for mining in Izabal for the benefit of private entities. Investigators said he further misused his office by allowing a private company to “write the terms of reference” for a government contract that would favour the company as a prospective bidder. In another case, he accepted bribes from a local company “with no experience in the project activities” in exchange for granting them a contract. He did this despite receiving a more affordable bid from a more experienced company for the same contract. Furthermore, for those who would not pay, Pimentel engaged in retaliatory practices that would make it more difficult for them to operate in Guatemala’s mining and energy sector.

The Solway Group's operations at the Fénix nickel mine in El Estor, Guatemala exemplifies how multinational mining corporations can leverage financial power to circumvent legal restrictions and manipulate local governance. When the Guatemalan Constitutional Court temporarily suspended mining operations in 2021 pending proper community consultation, leaked documents revealed that Solway had been quietly funding community leaders involved in the consultation process, transferring approximately US$5,000 monthly to influence outcomes. The company's tactics extended beyond simple bribery to include proposals for "buying leaders," creating "fictitious jobs," and even contemplating destructive measures like contaminating local crops to displace Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities from resource-rich land. Additionally, Solway maintained strategic relationships with Guatemalan officials, providing "Christmas gifts" to judges who later ruled in the company's favour, allowing them to continue operating, and making substantial payments to the National Civil Police who subsequently cracked down on community protests. In December 2023, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the Guatemalan government violated the rights of the Indigenous Q’eqchi’ community by permitting the Fénix nickel mine to operate on their ancestral lands without proper consultation. The court ordered an immediate halt to mining activities, mandated the government to recognise Indigenous land rights, and required the establishment of a development fund for the affected community.

According to ENACT Africa, most of the illegally mined gold in Ghana is smuggled through clandestine networks to the United Arab Emirates. Ghana reportedly lost about US$1.1 billion in revenue from gold exports from 2019 to 2021. In Al Jazeera’s documentary Gold Mafia, which focused on gold trafficking in Africa, Alistair Mathias, a Canadian citizen, claimed to smuggle about US$40 million worth of gold out of Ghana every month to launder money for several African heads of state. In an interview, Mathias stated that “I can move as much as I want wherever I want for the most part... See, the best thing with gold is it is cash.”

In 2025, a Ghanian newspaper reported on a young woman's experience of horrific sexual exploitation in galamsey camps. The report states that she was trafficked under false employment promises only to be forced into servicing seven to ten men daily to "eat and survive." The victim, who remains anonymous for safety reasons, described a system of organised exploitation where women have no autonomy and face violent beatings for resistance or attempted escape. Her experience highlights how illegal mining operations often function as fronts for Human Trafficking and forced prostitution, creating lawless environments where women and children are commodified within the shadow economy of gold extraction. While the Ghanaian government has increased efforts to combat illegal mining's environmental damage, advocacy groups emphasise that addressing this "human crisis" requires comprehensive intervention including rescue operations, psychological support, rehabilitation services, and justice for victims who have suffered in these exploitative enclaves. The survivor, now receiving counselling in a shelter, represents countless others still trapped in similar circumstances throughout Ghana's illegal mining regions.

The illegal cobalt mining industry in the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly around Kolwezi, has produced alarming reproductive health consequences for local women. According to nurse Julie Nshinda at the Trinité Medical Center near the COMMUS mine, there has been a significant increase in miscarriages, premature births, and congenital malformations since mining intensified in 2019, with her centre receiving 5-10 women monthly with reproductive health complaints, including documented cases of babies born with exposed internal organs and brain protrusions. One resident, Angèle, who lives less than a kilometre from the COMMUS mine and has worked in artisanal mining for 16 years, reports experiencing four successive miscarriages. Female artisanal miners frequently stand in contaminated water and handle ore with bare hands for 8-10 hours daily, earning only US$6-35 per day while being exposed to potential radiation from uranium and thorium present in copper and cobalt rocks.

Ghana’s significant gold deposits have attracted artisanal and smal-scale (ASM) miners and Chinese corporations alike, and given Ghana its colonial-era moniker of the ‘gold coast’. However, gold mining has also led to deforestation, soil erosion, and pumped various chemicals – including the highly toxic mercury and cyanide – into waterways. River pollution has meant that many farmers can no longer use nearby water sources for irrigation, and the state water utility has warned that Ghana may need to start importing water by 2030 if illegal mining continues to poison rivers. A recent survey conducted by WaterAid found that 79% of illegal miners surveyed in the country reported health issues directly linked to mining. Furthermore, rising gold prices continue to incentivise criminal syndicates’ involvement in illegal gold production, which is significant across Ghana’s illegal mining sector.

According to Siddharth Kara, author of Cobalt Red, children are systematically trafficked into the Democratic Republic of the Congo's cobalt mining industry through organised militia networks. Militia groups known as "commandos" allegedly abduct, traffic, and recruit children from regions hundreds of miles away from the copper-cobalt mines. These children are forced to work in extremely hazardous conditions, earning as little as one or two dollars per day – money that ultimately funds the militia groups controlling them. Children represent the most vulnerable and heavily exploited demographic within the illegal mining operations, often working in toxic environments where they directly handle cobalt, a substance that is "toxic to touch and breathe," while receiving minimal compensation. The exploitation persists despite the technical illegality of these operations, as government corruption allows these abuses to continue unchecked. A 2020 US Department of Labour report noted that despite the Democratic Republic of the Congo's mining code prohibiting Child Labour, enforcement is severely hampered by the mining ministry's lack of labour inspectors and financial resources. The report identified only 20 active labour inspectors for the entire mining sector, with some receiving as little as US$5 per month in salary, making them highly susceptible to bribery. Furthermore, according to research by Amnesty International, government officials frequently accept bribes to ignore illegal mining operations and Child Labour violations. Their 2016 report documented how mining police (PMH) extort illegal miners rather than enforcing regulations, demanding payments of 1,000-5,000 Congolese francs (US$1-5) to allow miners to access sites or to avoid arrest.

The deaths of children mining for cobalt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was the subject of a 2019 lawsuit brought against companies such as Apple, Tesla, and Google by Congolese families who argued that their children were killed or maimed while mining for cobalt used to power smartphones, laptops and electric cars. The lawsuit, which was the result of field research conducted by anti-slavery economist Siddharth Kara, accused the companies of aiding and abetting in the death and serious injury of children working in cobalt mines in their supply chain. The families argued in the claim that their children were working illegally at mines owned by UK mining company Glencore. The court papers alleged that cobalt from the Glencore-owned mines is sold to Umicore, a Brussels-based metal and mining trader, which then sells battery-grade cobalt to Apple, Google, Tesla, Microsoft and Dell. The families and injured children sought damages for Forced Labour and further compensation for unjust enrichment, negligent supervision and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

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.

In Colombia's mining regions, particularly Chocó, child prostitution has emerged as a devastating consequence of extractive industries. In 2014, the Comptroller's office documented an alarming increase in brothels ("casa de citas") in mining municipalities like Istmina, where child prostitutes provided services specifically to miners. Journalists corroborated these findings, revealing child sexual exploitation in illegal mining camps across Bajo Atrató, Carmen del Darien, and Tado. These operations often featured mobile brothels strategically established on weekends to meet demand from mining workers. Young victims, locally referred to as "guisas," were controlled by criminal networks connected to illegal mining operations, or organisations that paid extortion to armed groups. Severe poverty sometimes led parents to acquiesce to their children's sexual exploitation as the income supported impoverished families. Despite ethical codes maintained by large mining companies, their inability to monitor employee conduct during off-hours created environments where this abuse continued with impunity.

According to research by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, in Bajo Cauca, the demobilised Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC’s) 34th Front, extracts an estimated US$1.2 million monthly by taxing gold miners and equipment owners through a “vacuna” extortion system – charging up to 10% of miners' production or fixed monthly fees per backhoe. In regions like Caquetá, they operate their own dredging equipment while simultaneously extorting other miners. These funds have been used to purchase arms and finance rebel activity, and the group’s reach extends across departments including Antioquia, Tolima, and Nariño, with some units collaborating with rival National Liberation Army (ELN) or criminal drug factions to control gold flows.

In Puinawai National Park in Colombia, law enforcement officials are increasingly cracking down on the link between coltan mining and Drug Trafficking. According to documents filed in the US Federal Court, members of the Cifuentes Villa family run a collection of cobalt mines that have been described by prosecutors as a Money Laundering operation, used to support a criminal narcotics enterprise. Mines operated by the Cifuentes Villa family have been blacklisted by the US Treasury, presenting a Sanctions Evasion risk, and Colombian authorities have pulled their license to mine cobalt in certain hotspot areas.

In Colombia, where it is estimated that 5% of the world’s coltan deposits are located, illegal coltan mining is historically associated with the demobilised Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Bandas Criminales (splinter groups created from the remnants of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC) paramilitary group, known as BACRIM)) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), designated as a terrorist group by the US and EU, are also known to engage in illicit gold mining activities in many departments of Colombia as well as Venezuela, where their links with the latter’s government enable them to profit from these operations, despite Colombia’s efforts to tackle them. Criminal activities include extorting ASM miners, acquiring legal mines, illegally extracting gold, bribing officials, and laundering proceeds through legal companies.