Platinum and gold mining in chocó: Poverty, natural wealth and informality

Abstract

The Department of Chocó, Colombia, has the largest platinum alluvial extraction in Latin America, with gold as an associate metal. Such materials are extracted by informal artisanal and small-scale mining organizations.This text aims to examine the sustainable development of Chocó’s mining, and takes the Department’s dimensions as analytical units: The ‘social’ dimension shows how poverty is exacerbated. The ‘environmental’ dimension determines harms and risks in a megadiverse area, and the economic dimension ‘economy’ explains the dependency of informal mining and illegal activities.Thus, we argue, “The economic informality precludes the sustainable development of platinum and gold mining”. Finally, we discuss insights for transformation change.