Scandal Erupts Over China’s Zijin Continental Gold’s Half-Billion Dollar Lawsuit Against Colombia’s Government

Colombia is facing a $450 million USD lawsuit from mining company Zijin Continental Gold, and now the case has sparked a political scandal. A leaked document and the failure of a planned partnership between an international law firm and a little-known Colombian entity have raised serious questions about how the government is handling the defense.

The conflict started in late 2023, when the mining company sued Colombia for security failures and unlawful mining activity in its gold mine in Buriticá, Antioquia. The company claimed the government failed to provide security in the area, where armed groups like the ‘Clan del Golfo’ operate and illegal mining is widespread. After an attack in which two people died, the company was forced to stop its operations and took the case to international arbitration, claiming that the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement was violated.

To defend the country, Colombia’s legal agency (ANDJE) began looking for international legal support. They invited firms to send proposals and asked them to consider teaming up with Colombian lawyers. Hughes Hubbard & Reed (HHR), a U.S.-based law firm that in its proposal mentioned a possible partnership with a Colombian firm called Astrea, emerged as the top candidate.

However, in March 2025, former senator Jorge Enrique Robledo raised alarms over this partnership. He claimed that Astrea was created just one month before the selection process and had no experience in the kind of legal work required. Robledo warned of possible corruption and sent a letter to President Gustavo Petro asking him to stop the contract, as he revealed through a video posted on X, and later on, through a press release.

By the end of March, HHR had already pulled out of the partnership in light of the controversy, saying there was never a formal agreement with Astrea. ANDJE claimed everything was done legally and denied that including a Colombian firm had any impact in the selection process. César Palomino, Director of the ANDJE, formally requested preventive support from the Office of the Inspector General of Colombia and the Office of the Comptroller General of Colombia to ensure the transparency and legality of the process, as reported by local radio station Caracol.

However, on April 2, the Colombian radio station W Radio published the original invitation sent to international firms, showing that partnerships with Colombian firms did, in fact, improve a firm’s score in the selection process, which contradicted earlier public statements from the ANDJE.

In response, Yebrail Haddad, deputy director of the ANDJE, admitted that while Astrea was never going to be hired directly, it was mentioned as part of HHR’s plan. “Unfortunately, the agency cannot hire national firms because they lack the needed experience,” he said to W Radio. “Historically, we’ve always asked for at least one Colombian lawyer or, in this case, a firm. That’s where the name Astrea came from. But the agency never planned to sign a contract with them.”

There is still a way ahead for this legal dispute to be resolved, and it traces back to when Continental Gold began operations in Buriticá. Continental was originally a Canadian company that worked closely with the local community and won their support. But things changed after China’s Zijin Mining bought the company in 2019: Locals say Zijin cut off communication and ignored the community’s needs. For more context on this story—and how Continental Gold went from community ally to an adversary— we recommend reading this background story.

Headline photo: The Higabra Valley Tunnel at Continental Gold’s Buriticá goldmine in Antioquia. (Photo: Continental Gold Inc.)