[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5570 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5570
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 19, 2023
Mr. Mills (for himself and Ms. Kamlager-Dove) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in
addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
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;
(C) perpetuates human rights abuses and land
occupation against indigenous communities; and
(D) can cause significant environmental
destruction.
(2) A lack of economic opportunities, corruption, 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) ranges from employing rudimentary, simple, and
low-cost extractive technologies and manual labor-
intensive techniques to being highly mechanized, using
large earth-moving equipment and high through-put
processing centers;
(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 (referred to in this
section as the ``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 protected indigenous land and
environmentally protected areas, such as national parks and
conservation zones, to prevent mining-related contamination of
ancestral indigenous land and 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 building the capacity of investigative and
anti-corruption offices and 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 increase regulations of the ASM sector;
(B) to facilitate licensing and formalization
processes for ASM miners;
(C) to create and implement environmental
safeguards to reduce the negative environmental impact
of mining on sensitive ecosystems; and
(D) to develop mechanisms to support regulated
artisanal mining as a job growth area;
(8) to engage the mining industry to encourage the building
of technical expertise in best practices, environmental
safeguards, 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, including the indigenous
communities that are directly impacted, to reduce the negative
environmental impacts of ASM, particularly--
(A) the use of mercury in preliminary refining and
in extracting gold;
(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 environmentally safe and sustainable
mining practices, including by scaling up the use of
mercury-free gold refining and extracting technologies,
and mining methods and technologies that do not result
in deforestation, forest destruction, air pollution,
water and soil-contamination, and other negative
environmental impacts associated with ASM;
(C) to reduce the costs associated with
formalization and compliance with mining regulations;
(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;
(E) to adopt and utilize environmentally safe and
sustainable mining practices, including--
(i) mercury-free gold refining and
extracting technologies; and
(ii) extractive techniques that do not
result in--
(I) forest clearance and water
contamination; or
(II) the release of dust or
uncontrolled tailings containing toxic
chemicals;
(F) to pursue alternative livelihoods outside the
mining sector; and
(G) to fully access public social services in ASM-
dependent communities;
(12) to support and encourage socioeconomic development
programs, law enforcement capacity-building programs, and
support for relevant international initiatives, including by
providing assistance to achieve such ends by implementing the
Strategy;
(13) 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;
(14) to assist local journalists with investigations of
illicit mining, trafficking, and commercialization of gold and
its supplies in the Western Hemisphere; and
(15) to promote responsible sourcing and due diligence at
all levels of gold supply chains.
(c) Challenges Assessed.--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
for their output;
(5) mining-related trafficking in persons and forced or
coerced labor, including sex work and child labor; and
(6) the use of elemental mercury and cyanide in ASM
operations, including the technical aims and scope of such
usage and its impact on human health and the environment,
including flora, fauna, water resources, soil, and air quality.
(d) Foreign Assistance.--The Strategy shall describe--
(1) existing foreign assistance programs that address
elements of the Strategy; and
(2) additional foreign assistance resources needed to fully
implement the Strategy.
(e) Submission.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the President shall submit the Strategy to the
appropriate congressional committees.
(f) Briefing.--Not later than 180 days after submission of the
Strategy, and semiannually thereafter for the following 3 years, the
Secretary of State, or the Secretary's designee, shall provide a
briefing to the appropriate congressional committees regarding the
implementation of the strategy, including efforts to leverage
international support and develop a public-private partnership to build
responsible gold value chains with other governments.
SEC. 5. CLASSIFIED BRIEFING ON ILLICIT GOLD MINING IN VENEZUELA AND
NICARAGUA.
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act,
the Secretary of State, or the Secretary's designee, in coordination
with the Director of National Intelligence, shall provide a classified
briefing to the appropriate congressional committees, the Select
Committee on Intelligence of the Senate, and the Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives that
describes--
(1) the activities related to illicit gold mining,
including the illicit mining, trafficking, and
commercialization of gold--
(A) inside Venezuelan territory carried out by
illicit actors, including defectors from the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and
members of the National Liberation Army (ELN); and
(B) inside Nicaragua carried out by state-owned
mining companies such as Empresa Nicaraguense de Minas
(ENIMINAS);
(2) Venezuela's illicit gold trade with foreign
governments, including the Government of the Republic of Turkey
and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran; and
(3) Nicaragua's illicit gold trade with foreign
governments, including the Venezuelan regime and the Government
of Russia.
SEC. 6. INVESTIGATION OF THE ILLICIT GOLD TRADE IN VENEZUELA.
The Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of the
Treasury, the Attorney General, and allied and partner governments in
the Western Hemisphere, shall seek to--
(1) lead a coordinated international effort to carry out
financial investigations to identify and track assets taken
from the people and institutions in Venezuela that are linked
to money laundering and illicit activities, including mining-
related activities, by sharing financial investigations
intelligence, as appropriate and as permitted by law; and
(2) provide technical assistance to help eligible
governments in Latin America establish legislative and
regulatory frameworks that bolster legal mechanisms to disrupt
illicit mining, including by supporting the capacity to impose
and effectively implement targeted sanctions on--
(A) officials of the Maduro regime or any successor
thereof not installed through free or fair elections
who are directly engaged in the illicit mining,
trafficking, and commercialization of gold; and
(B) foreign persons engaged in the laundering of
illicit gold assets linked to designated terrorist and
drug trafficking organizations.
SEC. 7. LEVERAGING INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT.
In implementing the Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Strategy
pursuant to section 4, the President should direct United States
representatives accredited to relevant multilateral institutions and
development banks and United States ambassadors in the Western
Hemisphere to use the influence of the United States to foster
international cooperation to achieve the objectives of this Act,
including--
(1) marshaling resources and political support; and
(2) encouraging the development of policies and
consultation with key stakeholders to accomplish such
objectives and provisions.
SEC. 8. PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP TO BUILD RESPONSIBLE GOLD VALUE
CHAINS.
(a) Best Practices.--The Administrator of the United States Agency
for International Development (referred to in this section as the
``Administrator''), in coordination with the Governments of Colombia,
of Ecuador, and of Peru, and with other democratically elected
governments in the region, shall consult with the Government of
Switzerland regarding best practices developed through the Swiss Better
Gold Initiative, a public-private partnership that aims to improve
transparency and traceability in the international gold trade.
(b) In General.--The Administrator shall coordinate with the
Governments of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and other democratically
elected governments in the region determined by the Administrator to
establish a public-private partnership to advance the best practices
identified in subsection (a), including supporting programming in
participating countries that will--
(1) support formalization and compliance with appropriate
environmental and labor standards in ASM gold mining;
(2) increase access to financing for ASM gold miners who
are taking significant steps to formalize their operations and
comply with labor and environmental standards;
(3) enhance the traceability and support the establishment
of a certification process for ASM gold;
(4) support a public relations campaign to promote
responsibly-sourced gold;
(5) include representatives of local civil society and
indigenous communities to work towards soliciting the free and
informed consent of those living on lands with mining
potential;
(6) facilitate contact between vendors of responsibly-
sourced gold and United States companies; and
(7) promote policies and practices in participating
countries that are conducive to the formalization of ASM gold
mining and promoting adherence of ASM to internationally-
recognized best practices and standards.
(c) Meeting.--The Secretary of State or the Administrator, without
delegation and in coordination with the governments of participating
countries, should--
(1) host a meeting with senior representatives of the
private sector and international governmental and
nongovernmental partners; and
(2) make commitments to improve due diligence and increase
the responsible sourcing of gold.
SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There is authorized to be appropriated to the Department of State
$10,000,000 to implement the Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Strategy
developed pursuant to section 4.
<all>