Illegal gold mining has grown into one of the Western Hemisphere’s largest and fastest‑expanding illicit economies, out‑earning narcotics in parts of Colombia and Peru and pushing conflict‑linked gold toward U.S. ports and banks.
Such is one of the conclusions of a new policy report by the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition. The study, Addressing Illegal Gold Mining in the Western Hemisphere: New Approaches for U.S. Policy, describes an ecosystem of trafficking, laundering and corruption that undermines environmental protections and national security while exploiting gaps in U.S. trade and financial oversight.
The authors cite estimates that illegal gold exports are worth $4.8 billion annually in Peru, $2.2 billion in Venezuela and as much as $1 billion in Ecuador, with organized‑crime groups in Colombia and Peru now deriving more revenue from illicit gold than from cocaine.
Over the past three years, law‑enforcement officials at Miami International Airport alone encountered more than a ton of illicit gold, the report notes. Criminal networks use the metal to launder drug proceeds, evade sanctions and finance hostile regimes, according to the coalition.
The problem has been enabled in part by U.S. policy blind spots, FACT said.
Unlike cash, cross‑border travelers are not required to declare gold above the $10,000 threshold. Shell and front companies remain the most common conduit for moving dirty gold and proceeds, a legal gap that has been exacerbated by the U.S. Treasury Department’s March 2025 decision to exclude the vast majority of American legal entities from a rule requiring beneficial-ownership reporting.
Nor is illegal gold mining a predicate offense for U.S. money‑laundering statutes, allowing criminals to avoid long-term prison sentences, according to the report, which outlines a number of federal policy changes that would ostensibly mitigate financial-crime and sanctions risks.
Read the FACT Coalition report here