{"version":"1","article":{"id":"colombia-alluvial-gold-evidence-2025-report-2026","slug":"colombia-alluvial-gold-evidence-2025-report-2026","language":"en","url":"https://haberpaper.com/en/news/colombia-alluvial-gold-evidence-2025-report-2026","api_url":"https://haberpaper.com/api/v1/articles/colombia-alluvial-gold-evidence-2025-report-2026?lang=en","title":"Colombia detects alluvial gold activity across 118,410 hectares in 2025","summary":"A government–UNODC report classifies 75% of the detected area as illicit, 21% as permitted and 4% as transitioning to legality.","category":"business","region":"world","topics":[],"published_at":"2026-10-06T20:26:23+03:00","modified_at":"2026-10-06T20:26:23+03:00","publication_basis":"publication-record","event_period":"2025-10-02","event_period_basis":"event-or-reference-period","sources":[{"name":"Ministerio de Minas y Energía de Colombia","url":"https://www.minenergia.gov.co/es/sala-de-prensa/noticias-index/colombia-registro-118410-hectareas-con-explotacion-de-oro-de-aluvion-en-2025-segun-el-informe-anual-del-gobierno-nacional-y-unodc/","checkedAt":"2026-10-06","publishedAt":"2026-10-02"}],"translations":[{"language":"tr","url":"https://haberpaper.com/tr/news/colombia-alluvial-gold-evidence-2025-report-2026","api_url":"https://haberpaper.com/api/v1/articles/colombia-alluvial-gold-evidence-2025-report-2026?lang=tr"},{"language":"en","url":"https://haberpaper.com/en/news/colombia-alluvial-gold-evidence-2025-report-2026","api_url":"https://haberpaper.com/api/v1/articles/colombia-alluvial-gold-evidence-2025-report-2026?lang=en"},{"language":"ar","url":"https://haberpaper.com/ar/news/colombia-alluvial-gold-evidence-2025-report-2026","api_url":"https://haberpaper.com/api/v1/articles/colombia-alluvial-gold-evidence-2025-report-2026?lang=ar"},{"language":"fr","url":"https://haberpaper.com/fr/news/colombia-alluvial-gold-evidence-2025-report-2026","api_url":"https://haberpaper.com/api/v1/articles/colombia-alluvial-gold-evidence-2025-report-2026?lang=fr"},{"language":"es","url":"https://haberpaper.com/es/news/colombia-alluvial-gold-evidence-2025-report-2026","api_url":"https://haberpaper.com/api/v1/articles/colombia-alluvial-gold-evidence-2025-report-2026?lang=es"}],"data_types":[],"data":null,"data_compilations":[],"data_downloads":[],"content":{"paragraphs":["A monitoring report released on October 2 by Colombia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime identified evidence of alluvial gold exploitation on 118,410 hectares of land in 2025. That was 4.5% above the 113,310 hectares identified in 2024. The indicator measures the area where activity was detected, not the volume of gold produced. The government and UNODC classify 75% of the mapped area as illicit or unauthorised, 21% as holding technical and/or environmental permits, and 4% as in transition toward legality. Those categories describe the reported status of the mapped footprint rather than output or revenue.","The series shows the detected area rising again after declines in 2021 and 2022: 105,060 hectares in 2023, 113,310 in 2024 and 118,410 in 2025. The report also says the illicit or unauthorised component grew 10% between 2024 and 2025. Evidence of activity appeared in 15 of Colombia’s 32 departments. Eighty-two percent of the illicit area was concentrated in Chocó, with 41,493 hectares; Antioquia, with 24,282; and Bolívar, with 7,222. The distribution shows where the mapped activity is concentrated, while the national total aggregates areas across regions and legal-status categories.","The report tracks overlap with ecologically and socially sensitive territories. It places 58,216 hectares, or 49% of all detected land-based activity, in areas where mining is not permitted; 43,048 of those hectares are in the Pacific Forest Reserve. The mapped indicator inside the National Natural Parks System rose 153% from 2023 to 2025. Lands of Black communities accounted for 45% of the national total, and 84% of the detected area on those lands was in Chocó. Indigenous reserves represented 0.4% of the total, though the indicator there rose 25% over 2023–2025. The report also flagged 215 locations of water-based activity along 11 Amazon rivers, in areas near 64 Indigenous reserves.","The monitoring report describes illegal armed-group presence as a critical factor in areas where alluvial gold activity is mapped. The minister said the government’s response would focus on three fronts: formalising activity with a path to legality, pursuing criminal structures with the Defence Ministry, and restoring affected territories. UNODC’s regional representative said the challenge is to turn evidence into decisions, targeted interventions and concrete action in the territories. The report contributes a mapped view of where activity is detected and the environmental and social settings in which it occurs."],"key_points":[],"sections":[]},"text":"A government–UNODC report classifies 75% of the detected area as illicit, 21% as permitted and 4% as transitioning to legality.\n\nA monitoring report released on October 2 by Colombia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime identified evidence of alluvial gold exploitation on 118,410 hectares of land in 2025. That was 4.5% above the 113,310 hectares identified in 2024. The indicator measures the area where activity was detected, not the volume of gold produced. The government and UNODC classify 75% of the mapped area as illicit or unauthorised, 21% as holding technical and/or environmental permits, and 4% as in transition toward legality. Those categories describe the reported status of the mapped footprint rather than output or revenue.\n\nThe series shows the detected area rising again after declines in 2021 and 2022: 105,060 hectares in 2023, 113,310 in 2024 and 118,410 in 2025. The report also says the illicit or unauthorised component grew 10% between 2024 and 2025. Evidence of activity appeared in 15 of Colombia’s 32 departments. Eighty-two percent of the illicit area was concentrated in Chocó, with 41,493 hectares; Antioquia, with 24,282; and Bolívar, with 7,222. The distribution shows where the mapped activity is concentrated, while the national total aggregates areas across regions and legal-status categories.\n\nThe report tracks overlap with ecologically and socially sensitive territories. It places 58,216 hectares, or 49% of all detected land-based activity, in areas where mining is not permitted; 43,048 of those hectares are in the Pacific Forest Reserve. The mapped indicator inside the National Natural Parks System rose 153% from 2023 to 2025. Lands of Black communities accounted for 45% of the national total, and 84% of the detected area on those lands was in Chocó. Indigenous reserves represented 0.4% of the total, though the indicator there rose 25% over 2023–2025. The report also flagged 215 locations of water-based activity along 11 Amazon rivers, in areas near 64 Indigenous reserves.\n\nThe monitoring report describes illegal armed-group presence as a critical factor in areas where alluvial gold activity is mapped. The minister said the government’s response would focus on three fronts: formalising activity with a path to legality, pursuing criminal structures with the Defence Ministry, and restoring affected territories. UNODC’s regional representative said the challenge is to turn evidence into decisions, targeted interventions and concrete action in the territories. The report contributes a mapped view of where activity is detected and the environmental and social settings in which it occurs.","corrections":[],"editorial_illustration":{"kind":"symbolic-editorial-illustration","documentary":false,"scope":"section","asset_id":"business","url":"https://haberpaper.com/assets/illustrations/business-1536.webp","width":1536,"height":1024,"alt":"Symbolic industrial workshop with machinery, a warehouse and a crane.","language":"en"},"section_illustration":{"kind":"symbolic-editorial-illustration","documentary":false,"scope":"section","asset_id":"business","url":"https://haberpaper.com/assets/illustrations/business-1536.webp","width":1536,"height":1024,"alt":"Symbolic industrial workshop with machinery, a warehouse and a crane.","language":"en"}}}