Colombia’s Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners Search for Financial Inclusion By Carolina Dominguez & Sophia Hart in collaboration with Elizabeth Echavarria of Solidaridad Network
Abstract Colombia consistently ranks at the top across different indices regarding favorable environments for financial inclusion. However, there seems to be a disconnect between policies considered conducive for change and the reality for informal sectors like artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). Despite the enactment of financial inclusion policies, many artisanal and small-scale miners have yet to see substantial positive change to their profession or their communities. This article will examine the strengths and weaknesses of financial inclusion laws and regulations in Colombia as it relates to ASM. Specifically, through referencing two cases of mining communities affected by the lack of financial inclusion, this article explains current Colombian laws and decrees that affect informal sectors like ASM, and offers recommendations for three important stakeholders in ASM: government, the private sector, and NGOs. Our partner in this research, Solidaridad Network, is working on an ASM financial inclusion pilot as part of the project Practice for Change, financed by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Solidaridad Network is an international civil society organization that envisions a world in which the economy works for all, while respecting the planet, each other, and generations to come.1 The organization enables farmers and workers to earn a living income, shape their own future, and work to make sustainability through supply chains the norm.2 This type of work is important because access to financial opportunities and services will improve the lives of miners and their small communities. These opportunities will enable them to continue on the path to formalization and work without the threat of violence.
ASM in Colombia Artisanal and small-scale mining has existed in Colombia for centuries, and has mostly been conducted by native peoples. The practice was originally based on the principle of “first in time, first in right,” which means that whoever finds minerals first is entitled to them.3 Historically, this has allowed rural communities to search for nat2
ural resources on government lands without a legal permit. However, mining rights today belong to those who appear in the Mining Register. The Mining Register excludes artisanal and small-scale miners due to their lack of formal business practices, keeping them from legally being able to do their jobs and provide for their communities.4 The 2011-2012 mining census found that 63 percent of operations lacked legal mining titles in the National Mining Registry and, in 10 of the departments surveyed, over 80 percent of operations did not have legal mining titles.5 ASM activity in Colombia is significant, representing 72 percent of the country’s total gold production as reported in 2013.6 However, since the early 2000s, Colombia has experienced increased violence in mining towns from neo-paramilitary and drug trafficking groups looking to sell gold to fund their criminal enterprises.7 This type of illegal mining has brought in approximately 7 billion dollars a year for criminal groups.8 In response, since 2015, the government has prioritized ending illegal mining in order to cut off a lucrative source of income for armed groups.9 Significantly, artisanal and smallscale miners lose the most in the ongoing battle between the Colombian government and these illicit groups. The government has often lumped together the ASM sector working towards formalization (informal mining) and the illegal criminal operations of military and drug trafficking groups (illegal mining), creating greater barriers to formalization and, most importantly, to sustainable and productive livelihoods for the miners.
Financing Gold Mining in Antioquia Gold is found in 44 percent of Colombia’s departments, including the Department of Antioquia, which contains most of the country’s gold and represents approximately half of all gold production.10 Most of the gold production in Antioquia is carried out by artisanal and small-scale miners. For example, the 2011-2012 census estimated that about 1,224 mining units out of a total of 1,526 produced gold without a mining title in Antioquia, approximately 80 percent.11 A more recent study by the
