Dirty Gold, Clean Cash
Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this segment
From the jungles of Colombia to the suburbs of Ohio, the illegal gold mining trade can be found all over the world.
"It's now bigger than cocaine in Latin America, according to government estimates down there," says Nicholas Nehamas, an investigative reporter for the Miami Herald. "We're talking a $2 to $3 billion dollar a year industry in Colombia alone."
Nehamas and a team of reporters looked into the gold trade for The Miami Herald's new series, “Dirty Gold, Clean Cash.” It’s a deep dive on the illegal gold trade, which has been going on for decades, but is starting to get noticed by governments.
According to Nehamas, it’s not an easily traceable problem, and to understand the illegal gold trade, you have to look to the cartels.
