underground, in your veins

November 27, 2024 7:00 AM

Some 700 yards deep in Colombia’s richest gold mine, private security guards crouch behind sandbags, trapped in a failing battle with a drug-trafficking gang that has commandeered 30 miles of tunnels worth hundreds of millions of dollars. A Drug Gang Stole 3 Tons of Gold in a Scam So Perfect It’s Still Going (WSJ, archive) But Colombia is not alone in having its mines taken over: Over the past several weeks, the zama-zamas at Stilfontein have been locked in a standoff with police, who surrounded the entrance to the mine shaft and blocked off their food supplies in an attempt — in the words of one cabinet minister — to "smoke them out." South Africa's illegal gold miners are locked in an underground standoff with police (NPR). (previously)
posted by mittens (4 comments total)

I kind of love the bemused Chinese companies being like “why won’t the Colombian government act in our favor against their own nationals?”
posted by corb at 8:49 AM on November 27 [1 favorite]

The comments seem to be unable to decide between racism-tinged hatred of the Chinese and racism-tinged hatred of the South American leftists. A few managed to veer into straight-up racist "these people having a conflict in Latin America had better not somehow decide to try to illegally immigrate to America" which... Never change, WSJ readership. No wait, please do change, you suck.
posted by axiom at 12:06 PM on November 27 [2 favorites]

Good for them!
posted by stet at 12:34 PM on November 27

Hard to feel bad for the mining company in the first story - I wonder what the average miner working for the company makes compared to the average artisanal miner? second story is a fucking horror show.
posted by youthenrage at 1:17 PM on November 27 [1 favorite]