Encouraging responsible gold mining through legality, better practices, and knowledge management
Mining Horizon strengthens the Government of Colombia’s capacity to govern artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM), and to mitigate the impacts of informal gold mining on the environment. The activity also responds to the Colombian Government’s request for technical assistance to strengthen formalization of the mining sector and to train miners in good mining practices. Formalization and governance of the ASGM sector are key to reducing deforestation, land degradation, and environmental pollution. Unregulated gold mining also undermines the governance system, fosters corruption, and threatens communities’ social and economic well-being. Mining Horizon is implemented nationally but also focuses on Antioquia, Chocó, and a third department (TBD). Mining Horizon is administered through USAID/Washington’s Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM) activity and runs from June 2021 to December 2022.