Recently Colombia’s press has begun to report what has been dubbed as the "rotten pot" of corruption in the Colombian Institute of Geology and Mining (INGEOMINAS). Thousands of mining rights have been handed out to individuals and companies without regard for technical, economic or environmental regulations. According to the national government, five types of irregularities have been discovered. These include the presence of mining rights in national parks and páramos [a high altitude ecosystem unique to Colombia where mining is prohibited]; the investment in mining rights in areas with high potential by former employees of INGEOMINAS using confidential information; areas with mining rights where legislation is not being adequately enforced; the stockpiling of mining rights; and the violation of the rights of traditional mining communities. These irregularities highlight the widespread and systematic corruption within INGEOMINAS.
The scandals began to surface after investigations regarding corruption in the delivery of mining rights to the so-called "mining cartels" pointed instinctively towards AngloGold Ashanti (AGA). Furthermore, former employees of INGEOMINAS are under investigation, some of whom are now staff members of AGA. Julian Villarruel, director of INGEOMINAS until 2007 is now Director of Operations of AGA in Gramalote (a municipality in the department of Norte de Santander). Liliana Alvarado, former Deputy Director of subsoil resources, is now a socioeconomic analyst for AGA. This raises the question: Does this transfer of information and privileged knowledge from INGEOMINAS not constitute a conflict of interest?
It cannot be overlooked that AGA is the company with the largest number of mining rights in Colombia. At the last count (according to the Colombian mining property registry in February 2011) it had almost 496 mining rights in 20 departments, covering a total area of around one million hectares.
The final question that must be asked is: if AGA is by far the largest beneficiary of titles delivered by INGEOMINAS, if the corruption scandals continue to affect INGEOMINAS, how should AGA be held responsible for the massive collection of land titles in Colombia?
One would hope that the authorities have the capacity to find out who is ultimately responsible.
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