Due diligence in Colombia’s gold supply chain

This report assesses the Colombian gold supply chains and the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas in the Colombian context. It analyses conditions of mineral extraction and related risks in Colombia’s Antioquia region. Colombia’s second wealthiest department, Antioquia, is possibly the most challenging and, at the same time, pertinent region to promote and implement due diligence measures in the gold supply chain. While Antioquia also has a strong institutional framework committed to improving governance in gold mining areas. it remains difficult to differentiate between legitimate small-scale miners that have not been legalised, or formalised, and those controlled by illegal armed actors or criminal organisations. As a result, Antioquia is probably Colombia’s department where, although formalisation efforts are the strongest, it is most difficult to clearly differentiate between traditional/informal miners and illegal/criminal miners.