Illegal Mining

The extraction of minerals, metals or other resources without the license, permit or environmental authorization a jurisdiction requires, including unlicensed artisanal mining operations and licensed operations that exceed their permitted scope, both of which frequently cause substantial and unremediated environmental damage such as deforestation, waterway contamination from mercury or cyanide used in processing, and soil degradation. It is a significant driver of environmental crime in a number of resource-rich developing countries, where enforcement capacity is often limited relative to the scale and profitability of illegal operations, and has been linked in some regions to the financing of armed groups through the illicit trade in minerals such as gold and so-called conflict minerals. Enforcement typically combines national mining and environmental regulators with, in the most serious transnational cases, customs and anti-money-laundering authorities tracking the proceeds of illegally extracted resources.