[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 799 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 799
To establish and implement a multi-year Legal Gold and Mining
Partnership Strategy to reduce the negative environmental and social
impacts of illicit gold mining in the Western Hemisphere, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 27, 2025
Mr. Cornyn (for himself and Mr. Kaine) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish and implement a multi-year Legal Gold and Mining
Partnership Strategy to reduce the negative environmental and social
impacts of illicit gold mining in the Western Hemisphere, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``United States Legal Gold and Mining
Partnership Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The illicit mining, trafficking, and commercialization
of gold in the Western Hemisphere--
(A) negatively affects the region's economic and
social dynamics;
(B) strengthens transnational criminal
organizations and other international illicit actors;
and
(C) has a deleterious impact on the environment,
indigenous peoples, and food security.
(2) A lack of economic opportunities and the weak rule of
law promote illicit activities, such as illicit gold mining,
which increases the vulnerability of individuals in mining
areas, including indigenous communities, who have been
subjected to trafficking in persons, other human rights abuses,
and population displacement in relation to mining activity,
particularly in the artisanal and small-scale mining sector.
(3) Illicit gold mining in Latin America often involves and
benefits transnational criminal organizations, drug trafficking
organizations, terrorist groups, and other illegal armed groups
that extort miners and enter into illicit partnerships with
them in order to gain revenue from the illicit activity.
(4) Illicit gold supply chains are international in nature
and frequently involve--
(A) the smuggling of gold and supplies, such as
mercury;
(B) trade-based money laundering; and
(C) other cross-border flows of illicit assets.
(5) In Latin America, mineral traders and exporters, local
processors, and shell companies linked to transnational
criminal networks and illegally armed groups all play a key
role in the trafficking, laundering, and commercialization of
illicit gold from the region.
(6) According to a report on illegally mined Gold in Latin
America by the Global Initiative Against Transnational
Organized Crime--
(A) more than 70 percent of the gold mined in
several Latin American countries, such as Colombia,
Ecuador, and Peru, is mined through illicit means; and
(B) about 80 percent of the gold mined in Venezuela
is mined through illicit means and a large percentage
of such gold is sold--
(i) to Mibiturven, a joint venture operated
by the Maduro regime composed of Minerven, a
gold processor that has been designated by the
Office of Foreign Assets Control of the
Department of the Treasury, pursuant to
Executive Order 13850 (relating to blocking
property of additional persons contributing to
the situation in Venezuela), and Marilyns Proje
Yatirim, S.A., a Turkish company; or
(ii) through other trafficking and
commercialization networks from which the
Maduro regime benefits financially.
(7) Illegal armed groups and foreign terrorist
organizations, such as the Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional
(National Liberation Army--ELN), work with transnational
criminal organizations in Venezuela that participate in the
illicit mining, trafficking, and commercialization of gold.
(8) Transnational criminal organizations based in
Venezuela, such as El Tren de Aragua, have expanded their role
in the illicit mining, trafficking, and commercialization of
gold to increase their criminal profits.
(9) Nicaragua's gold exports during 2021 were valued at an
estimated $989,000,000 in value, of which--
(A) gold valued at an estimated $898,000,000 was
shipped to the United States;
(B) gold valued at an estimated $48,700,000 was
shipped to Switzerland;
(C) gold valued at an estimated $39,000,000 was
shipped to the United Arab Emirates; and
(D) gold valued at an estimated $3,620,000 was
shipped to Austria.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate congressional committees.--The term
``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the
Senate;
(B) the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban
Affairs of the Senate;
(C) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House
of Representatives; and
(D) the Committee on Financial Services of the
House of Representatives .
(2) Artisanal and small-scale mining; asm.--The terms
``artisanal and small-scale mining'' and ``ASM'' refer to a
form of mining common in the developing world that--
(A) typically employs rudimentary, simple, and low-
cost extractive technologies and manual labor-intensive
techniques;
(B) is frequently subject to limited regulation;
and
(C) often features harsh and dangerous working
conditions.
(3) Illicit actors.--The term ``illicit actors'' includes--
(A) any person included on any list of--
(i) United States-designated foreign
terrorist organizations;
(ii) specially designated global terrorists
(as defined in section 594.310 of title 31,
Code of Federal Regulations);
(iii) significant foreign narcotics
traffickers (as defined in section 808 of the
Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (21
U.S.C. 1907); or
(iv) blocked persons, as maintained by the
Office of Foreign Assets Control of the
Department of the Treasury; and
(B) drug trafficking organizations.
(4) Key stakeholders.--The term ``key stakeholders'' means
private sector organizations, industry representatives, and
civil society groups that represent communities in areas
affected by illicit mining and trafficking of gold, including
indigenous groups, that are committed to the implementation of
the Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Strategy.
(5) Legal gold and mining partnership strategy; strategy.--
The terms ``Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Strategy'' and
``Strategy'' mean the strategy developed pursuant to section 4.
(6) Relevant federal departments and agencies.--The term
``relevant Federal departments and agencies'' means--
(A) the Department of State;
(B) the Department of the Treasury;
(C) the Department of Homeland Security, including
U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement;
(D) the Department of Justice, including the
Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug
Enforcement Administration;
(E) the Department of the Interior;
(F) the United States Agency for International
Development; and
(G) other Federal agencies designated by the
President.
SEC. 4. LEGAL GOLD AND MINING PARTNERSHIP STRATEGY.
(a) Strategy Required.--The Secretary of State, in coordination
with the heads of relevant Federal departments and agencies, shall
develop a comprehensive, multi-year strategy, which shall be known as
the Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Strategy, to combat illicit gold
mining in the Western Hemisphere.
(b) Elements.--The Strategy shall include policies, programs, and
initiatives--
(1) to interrupt the linkages between ASM and illicit
actors that profit from ASM in the Western Hemisphere;
(2) to deter ASM in environmentally protected areas, such
as national parks and conservation zones, to prevent mining-
related contamination of critical natural resources, such as
water resources, soil, tropical forests, and other flora and
fauna, and aerosol contamination linked to detrimental health
impacts;
(3) to counter the financing and enrichment of actors
involved in the illicit mining, trafficking, and
commercialization of gold, and the abetting of their activities
by--
(A) promoting the exercise of due diligence and the
use of responsible sourcing methods in the purchase and
trade of ASM;
(B) preventing and prohibiting foreign persons who
control commodity trading chains linked to illicit
actors from enjoying the benefits of access to the
territory, markets or financial system of the United
States, and halting any such ongoing activity by such
foreign persons;
(C) combating related impunity afforded to illicit
actors by addressing corruption in government
institutions; and
(D) supporting the capacity of financial
intelligence units, customs agencies, and other
government institutions focused on anti-money
laundering initiatives and combating the financing of
criminal activities and terrorism to exercise oversight
consistent with the threats posed by illicit gold
mining;
(4) to build the capacity of foreign civilian law
enforcement institutions in the Western Hemisphere to
effectively counter--
(A) linkages between illicit gold mining, illicit
actors, money laundering, and other financial crimes,
including trade-based money laundering;
(B) linkages between illicit gold mining, illicit
actors, trafficking in persons, and forced or coerced
labor, including sex work and child labor;
(C) the cross-border trafficking of illicit gold,
and the mercury, cyanide, explosives, and other
hazardous materials used in illicit gold mining; and
(D) surveillance and investigation of illicit and
related activities that are related to or are
indicators of illicit gold mining activities;
(5) to ensure the successful implementation of the existing
Memoranda of Understanding signed with the Governments of Peru
and of Colombia in 2017 and 2018, respectively, to expand
bilateral cooperation to combat illicit gold mining;
(6) to work with governments in the Western Hemisphere,
bolster the effectiveness of anti-money laundering efforts to
combat the financing of illicit actors in Latin America and the
Caribbean and counter the laundering of proceeds related to
illicit gold mining by--
(A) fostering international and regional
cooperation and facilitating intelligence sharing, as
appropriate, to identify and disrupt financial flows
related to the illicit gold mining, trafficking, and
commercialization of gold and other minerals and
illicit metals; and
(B) supporting the formulation of strategies to
ensure the compliance of reporting institutions
involved in the mining sector and to promote
transparency in mining-sector transactions;
(7) to support foreign government efforts--
(A) to facilitate licensing and formalization
processes for ASM miners;
(B) to develop mechanisms to support regulated
cultural artisanal mining and artisanal mining as a job
growth area; and
(C) to implement existing environmental standards;
(8) to engage the mining industry to encourage the building
of technical expertise in best practices and access to new
technologies;
(9) to support the establishment of gold commodity supply
chain due diligence, responsible sourcing, tracing and tracking
capacities, and standards-compliant commodity certification
systems in countries in Latin America and the Caribbean,
including efforts recommended in the OECD Due Diligence
Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from
Conflict-Affected and High Risk Areas, Third Edition (2016);
(10) to engage with civil society to reduce the negative
environmental impacts of ASM, particularly--
(A) the use of mercury in preliminary refining;
(B) the destruction of tropical forests;
(C) the construction of illegal and unregulated
dams and the resulting valley floods;
(D) the pollution of water resources and soil; and
(E) the release of dust, which can contain toxic
chemicals and heavy metals that can cause severe health
problems;
(11) to aid and encourage ASM miners--
(A) to formalize their business activities,
including through skills training, technical and
business assistance, and access to financing, loans,
and credit;
(B) to utilize mercury-free gold refining
technologies and mining methods that minimize
deforestation, air pollution, and water and soil
contamination;
(C) to reduce the costs associated with
formalization and compliance with mining regulations;
and
(D) to fully break away from the influence of
illicit actors who leverage the control of territory
and use violence to extort miners and push them into
illicit arrangements;
(12) to interrupt the illicit gold trade in Nicaragua,
including through the use of United States punitive measures
against the government led by President Daniel Ortega and Vice-
President Rosario Murillo and their collaborators pursuant to
Executive Order 14088 (relating to taking additional steps to
address the national emergency with respect to the situation in
Nicaragua), which was issued on October 24, 2022;
(13) to assist local journalists with investigations of
illicit mining, trafficking, and commercialization of gold and
its supplies in the Western Hemisphere; and
(14) to promote responsible sourcing and due diligence at
all levels of gold supply chains.
(c) Assessment of Challenges.--The Strategy shall include an
assessment of the challenges posed by, and policy recommendations to
address--
(1) linkages between ASM sector production and trade,
particularly relating to gold, to the activities of illicit
actors, including linkages that help to finance or enrich such
illicit actors or abet their activities;
(2) linkages between illicit or grey market trade, and
markets in gold and other metals or minerals and legal trade
and commerce in such commodities, notably with respect to
activities that abet the entry of such commodities into legal
commerce, including--
(A) illicit cross-border trafficking, including
with respect to goods, persons and illegal narcotics;
(B) money-laundering;
(C) the financing of illicit actors or their
activities; and
(D) the extralegal entry into the United States
of--
(i) metals or minerals, whether of legal
foreign origin or not; and
(ii) the proceeds of such metals or
minerals;
(3) linkages between the illicit mining, trafficking, and
commercialization of gold, diamonds, and precious metals and
stones, and the financial and political activities of the
regime of Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela;
(4) factors that--
(A) produce linkages between ASM miners and illicit
actors, prompting some ASM miners to utilize mining
practices that are environmentally damaging and
unsustainable, notably mining or related ore processing
practices that--
(i) involve the use of elemental mercury;
or
(ii) result in labor, health,
environmental, and safety code infractions and
workplace hazards; and
(B) lead some ASM miners to operate in the
extralegal or poorly regulated informal sector, and
often prevent such miners from improving the
socioeconomic status of themselves and their families
and communities, or hinder their ability to formalize
their operations, enhance their technical and business
capacities, and access finance of fair market prices