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.)

Click on the image above to watch the video.

• Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro’s Struggle to Name An Attorney General.
• Petro’s improvisational governance causing wide ranging problems for Colombia.
• Medellín’s Mayoral Runner Up & Quintero relative kicked out of city council.
• Medellín Mayor “Fico’s” first embarrassment, culture secretary already ousted.
• Public skepticism for Petro’s “Total Peace” initiative shrinks amid increasing violence. https://www.financecolombia.com/hope-is-fading-for-petros-total-peace-after-diaz-kidnapping-and-suspension-of-emc-negotiations/
• Homicides & suspicious deaths involving tourists reaches alarming levels. https://www.financecolombia.com/us-embassy-warns-of-rise-in-violent-crime-in-medellin-via-online-dating-applications/
• Losing the Panam Games is a major embarrassment for Petro Administration & loss for the entire country. https://www.financecolombia.com/colombia-working-to-restore-barranquilla-as-panam-games-host-city-after-rights-were-stripped-for-breach-of-contract/
• Claudia Lopez’s legacy as mayor of Bogotá. https://www.financecolombia.com/bogota-mayor-issues-ultimatum-to-colombian-consortium-building-metro-on-design-delays/
• Petro loses latest round in battle over Bogotá Metro. https://www.financecolombia.com/bogota-metro-faces-more-controversy-as-project-infighting-again-spills-into-the-public-sphere/
• The economy is stalling, reaching only 0.6% growth. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/colombias-economy-grew-modestly-in-2023-as-rate-cut-calls-grow
• JetSmart launches domestic operations in Colombia. https://www.financecolombia.com/jetsmart-to-start-offering-domestic-routes-within-colombia-on-march-14/
• Avianca changes unaccompanied minor policy. https://www.financecolombia.com/avianca-ends-unaccompanied-minor-service-for-travelers-under-14-years-old/
• Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva ousted by prosecutors, replaced by Luis Gilberto Murillo. https://www.financecolombia.com/colombian-foreign-affairs-minister-suspended-for-improper-handling-of-passport-printing-bid-process/
• Piedad Córdoba dies, leaving a mixed and controversial legacy. https://www.financecolombia.com/ruminating-on-the-right-and-left-of-colombian-politics-following-the-death-of-piedad-cordoba/
• Collective Mining (TSX.V CNL) increases drilling in Caldas. https://www.financecolombia.com/collective-mining-encounters-strong-porphyry-mineralization-mobilizes-second-rig/

Don’t forget! Come meet the team and me at the March 7 AI/ChatGPT Happy Hour at the Marquee Hotel in Medellín.

Thursday March 7 2024 Rooftop, Marquee Hotel Medellín 5:30pm Cash Bar

Disclosure: As mentioned, the presenter is long on Collective. Collective is not a sponsor of Finance Colombia or this podcast.

Attacks on Colombia’s largest private gold mine by the Gaitanistas, one of the country’s strongest criminal organizations, have demonstrated the group’s increasing boldness in targeting big business interests.

The attacks left at least two mine workers dead and 15 people injured between May 17 and May 30.

Photo: Zijin Mining’s gold mine in Buritica, Antioquia. (Photo credit: Zijin Mining)

Wildcat miners have been invading the mine in Buriticá, Antioquia, owned by Chinese conglomerate Zijin Mining, and operated by its Continental Gold subsidiary, since at least early 2021, when they began blocking off tunnels to the company’s workers. They now control 60% of the tunnels, a Zijin representative told W Radio on June 1.

Police officers now guard workers in the mine, and the Colombian Mining Association (Asociación Colombiana de Minería – ACM) advises miners to wear bulletproof jackets.

A report by the news magazine Semana found that illegal miners have so far extracted two tons of gold from the Zijin site.

National media reports have blamed the Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia – AGC) for the attack. An online announcement, purportedly from the Gaitanistas, denied responsibility for the attack and blamed illegal miners.

Daniel Bonilla Calle, researcher on illegal mining in Buriticá, told InSight Crime that, as the region’s dominant criminal faction, the Gaitanistas are likely responsible. “I don’t believe that the miners carried out these attacks on their own, but rather the Gaitanistas or someone they hired,” Bonilla Calle told InSight Crime.

Wildcat miners either pay the Gaitanistas a “vacuna” extortion tax, typically about 10% of the gold they extract, or a fixed monthly quota. Some trade a larger proportion of their profits for funds to pay for machinery, according to Bonilla Calle. 

In the wake of the attacks, spokespersons for Zijin urged the government to take “effective and immediate action” to secure the area, something neither the police nor private security have yet achieved.

The company made a similar plea in February, but authorities have sent no reinforcements.

InSight Crime Analysis

High gold prices and a lackluster response from state authorities appear to have encouraged the Gaitanistas to ramp up attacks on private gold mines.

The Zijin site is the first private mine that the group has attacked, said Bonilla Calle. “This is exceptional,” he said. “I consider it a break from the past, the way this illegal group wants to take control over the mining resources of the region.”

For years, criminal groups have laundered gold for easy profits. With gold prices near record levels, illegal mining is particularly attractive.

A week before May’s attack, the most significant since the mine’s invasion began, President Gustavo Petro criticized the group for exploiting the ceasefire with the government to expand their activities. With the breakdown of the ceasefire in March, the Gaitanistas have less to lose in attacking Colombia’s largest private gold mine. Though Colombia’s Mining Minister and Energy Minister Irene Vélez announced new measures, including controls over the use of explosives in the area, the government has made no announcement commitment to sending more security or military personnel to the region.

The state’s failure to repel illegal miners from the site in Buriticá may have emboldened the group, Bonilla Calle said. The Gaitanistas “previously had control over miners in the region but not over the company because this enormous mine had always had the protection of the state,” said Bonilla Calle. “Now, the state is not even capable of protecting the mine’s assets.”

This article, written by Sean Doherty, was originally published by Insight Crime, a Medellín-based foundation dedicated to the investigation and analysis of crime and security in Colombia and Latin America.

The two discuss recent trouble at Zijin Continental Gold’s Buriticá mine and the Petro Administration’s response (or lack thereof). Some positive developments at Collective Mining’s new project near Supía, Caldas, the potential for copper and rare earth metals mining in the country, including Auxico’s new processing facility in Colombia.

The two also discuss other Colombia developments, including Aris Mining’s Marmato project, AngloGold’s copper project, Outcrop Silver & Gold, the political situation at Colombia’s Ministry of Mines & Energy, and a few more developments.

See you at Colombia Gold Summit this November 7-8 in Medellín!

• Finance Colombia: https://www.financecolombia.com/
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• Colombia’s Ministry of Mines & Energy https://www.minenergia.gov.co/en/
• Zijin Continental Gold https://www.continentalgold.com/en/
• Collective Mining LTD (TSX-V: CNL |OTCQX: CNLMF) https://www.collectivemining.com/
• Auxico Resources (CSE: AUAG | OTCQB: AUXIF) https://www.auxicoresources.com/
• Outcrop Silver & Gold (TSX.V: OCG | OTCQX: OCGSF | DB: MRG1) https://outcropsilverandgold.com/

Buriticá has a troubled history, formerly being in lands disputed by leftist guerillas and right-wing paramilitaries until about a decade ago. The town is near still-active narcotrafficking routes, and is a regional center for artisanal, illegal, and illegal artisanal mining (not all artisanal mining in Colombia is illegal).

In 2016, media & analysts visit Continental’s offices in the town of Buriticá where locals talked about their collaboration with and support of the miner (photo: Loren Moss)

When the Continental team came in, they first reached out to the mayor and locals to both explain their plans, but also get an understanding of the local situation, and how they could help. Buriticá Mayor Luis Hernando Zapata told London-based Diálogo Chino that “Continental Gold brought a social investment strategy, where there was motivating information for the territory, where the expectation of the municipality was employment, productive chains, business initiatives, and training.” On the other hand, “Zijin has only supported road construction projects and infrastructure repairs.”

This was the opposite approach to what was happening almost simultaneously with South African mining company Anglo Gold, almost 370 kilometers away near Cajamarca, Tolima. Though, Anglo had made all the right moves in the capital of Bogotá with politicians and regulators, the company failed to win the hearts and minds of the locals, and apparently did not understand the higher degree of citizen engagement and influence in Colombia. Cajamarca residents voted 6,165 to 76 against Anglo Gold!

Headline photo: The small town of Buriticá has less than 3,000 residents, with another 7,000 in the surrounding area. It is less than an hour past the popular tourist town of Santa Fé. itself 90 minutes from Medellín (photo: Loren Moss)

With such public opposition at the local level, Ashanti’s La Colosa and Quebradona projects are stalled, as Colombia’s environmental authority (ANLA) have so far refused to issue licenses. In 2019, Anglo sold a significant chunk of its Colombian assets to Royal Road Minerals.

As Continental developed its mine, it also worked to develop relationships with the local community, including with local artisanal miners who had been working in the area for centuries. Continental, which was building an environmentally friendly gold processing facility on site, instituted a program to buy and process gold ore from artisanal miners, so they wouldn’t have to try to poison themselves with mercury or sell gold to organized crime.

Continental did have to take action against illegal “claim jumpers,” who were not interested in collaborating with the company, but were mining on Continental’s claim, and causing the risk of landslides and collapses. Efforts were effective due in part to the close coordination and relationships between Continental, local, and national officials.

Unlike many mining companies, Continental employed highly qualified Colombians in top management, such as Mateo Restrepo Villegas as Executive Vice President and later, President, and Mauricio Castañeda as vice president of exploration.

“A very special recognition to the Continental Gold Women’s team, the first of its kind to participate in the National Mine Rescue Olympics and a champion of discipline, courage and bravery”. Silvana Habib Daza, President, The National Mining Agency (ANM).

Continental worked to open mining opportunities to women, and even sent an all-woman team to the 12^th International Mines Rescue Competition in West Virginia, USA. Continental employed local seamstresses in Buriticá to create the company’s uniforms, and supported local educational efforts, even opening a community center.

Investors were impressed when Continental’s management sold the mining company to China’s Zijin mining for over a billion USD. Zijin Chairman Chen Jinghe specifically said in a statement that “Zijin is conscious of the demonstrated responsibility of Continental’s operation towards the well-being of the local communities and the responsible management of environmental aspects of its operation. Zijin commits to continuing with a similar approach, focus and investment in that regard. Zijin will practice in all its operations with the same commitment of Continental towards transparency and ethics and will continue to operate in a highly responsible manner in Buriticá, Antioquia and Colombia more broadly.”

Visiting continentalgold.com features on the home page content from 2017 highlighting a video from a visit of Silvana Habib Daza, who headed Colombia’s National Mining Agency two presidential administrations ago!

However, that has not been the case.

Immediately after the 2019 transaction, Finance Colombia began to reach out to executives of the new owners with the hopes of keeping open the excellent lines of communication enjoyed with the previous management. The new Zijin-Continental Gold management never responded to outreach and appeared to have a policy of reticence towards media. The perception is that, now a business unit of a global mining conglomerate connected with the Chinese government, there was no need for investor relations, media communications, community relations, or any such inconveniences.

Zijin executives seem to be highly media-shy and prefer not to engage with the public. Visiting continentalgold.com features on the home page content from 2017 highlighting a video from a visit of Silvana Habib Daza, who headed Colombia’s National Mining Agency two presidential administrations ago! In other words, the site has apparently been untouched since Zijin took control.

From community friend to villain

Soon after Zijin purchased Continental, local relationships began to sour. There have been three documented work stoppages at the Zijin mine, something that did not happen with the previous Continental ownership. While Continental took an aggressive stance against illegal miners, it did seek to collaborate with artisanal miners, and understood the difference. Before the sale to Zijin, Continental reportedly backed to the tune of $20 million USD a government operation against illegal mines often controlled by mafias and manned by trafficked victims. The efforts were backed by artisanal miners, who were always at the risk of extortion or displacement by illegal miners.

On the other hand, just this month, the Western Antioquia Miners Association that represents artisanal miners, has asked the Colombian government to take action against Zijin, who it accuses of filling subterranean tunnels with sludge, leading to the deaths of two miners last year.

In 2021 Zijin paid approximately $11 million USD to the Colombian government, but the municipality of Buriticá only saw about $100,000 USD of that, less than the cost of a nice condominium in Medellín.

In the sludge incident last August, Zijin asked the government to intervene and remove blockades set up by residents of Buriticá to protest the death of Victor Enrique Peña Alvarez and Jesús Arturo González, Contreras. At first Zijin denied that there were no dead miners thus no reason for protests…until the bodies were found. Locals accused Zijin of entombing the miners under sludge and rocks. Peña came to Colombia as a child from Venezuela, while González was an internally displaced refugee from Urabá, a rural region of Colombia north of Buriticá that suffers from domination by the Clan del Golfo mafia.

The town of Marmato, Colombia last week issued a proclamation recognizing Collective Mining’s (TSXV: CNL) (OTCQX: CNLMF) social activities and efforts within the municipality.

Relationships between Zijin and the local community have continued to deteriorate to the point where Zijin has released a letter dated January 26 of this year, addressed to President Gustavo Petro and copied to a couple dozen other politicians, military brass, and government functionaries. Petro, in the first year of his term as Colombia’s President, promised during his campaign to be an ally of artisanal miners.

While the team that built Continental has moved on to found a new mining company called Collective Mining already winning accolades for good relations with the local community, in Colombia Zijin seems to be playing from Anglo’s playbook with efforts focused on Bogotá, locals be damned.

It is true that to a real extent, mafia groups are active in the region. Three Continental Gold geologists were killed in 2018, but at the time, Continental executives pointed out to Finance Colombia that the criminal acts took place over eight hours away by road from Buriticá. Today, Zijin is making a grave mistake in painting the resistance to its activities and conduct, or local artisanal mining as mafia related.

The letter, reproduced below and translated by Finance Colombia, is fascinating in its tone, even irony. Signed by Leizhong Li, the last sentence of the fifth paragraph on the second page says of what it calls illegal miners: “the vast majority of them are foreigners and do not belong to the community of Buriticá.” As of press time, we have been unable to confirm whether in fact, the denouncer of foreigners, Mr. Li, is a “Paisa” belonging to the community of Buriticá.

Full disclosure, let it be known the editor of this piece is too, “a foreigner and does not belong to the community of Buriticá.”

Buriticá, 26 January 2023

Lord

GUSTAVO FRANCISCO PETRO URREGO

President of the Republic of Colombia

HOUSE OF NARIÑO

Bogota D.C. E.S.D

Ref.: Urgent request for intervention

Your Excellency Mr. President,

The company Continental Gold Limited Sucursal Colombia (hereinafter referred to as the “Company”) is a subsidiary of the Chinese conglomerate Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd., dedicated to the exploration, exploitation and development of mining properties and projects around the world, and whose main asset in Colombia is the Buriticá Gold Project, recognized as one of the “Projects of Strategic National Interest” (PINE) by the Intersectoral Commission on Infrastructure and Strategic Projects, as it is considered the first large-scale modern underground mine in Colombia.

The project, located in Buriticá, a municipality in western Antioquia, was launched in March 2020, after obtaining the corresponding approvals for its expansion and culminating with the construction phase, thus starting the large-scale commercial production of the Buriticá Mine, its main products currently being doré bars, copper concentrate, and gold.

 Our work is responsible with the environment, meets all quality standards and contributes to the territory. We have modern mining technology, we do not use mercury in any cycle of our process, and we achieve zero discharge of industrial wastewater. The company reports investments of more than 44 million dollars for the construction of the most modern water treatment plant in Colombia and one of the most modern in Latin America.

Within the framework of the above, we vehemently appreciate the support provided by the National Government, which has been key to the consolidation of the Project, as well as the immense efforts deployed by the different authorities in order to confront the situation of risk that the Illegal mining has generated in our mining work and in the municipality where we currently operate.

However, in Buriticá the action and control of illegal mining exercised by the Clan del Golfo continues, which puts at risk not only the situation of public order, but also the life and integrity of those who carry out this type of activities in an irregular way, of the Company’s personnel, their

contractors, the Public Forces and the community of the municipality of Buriticá and western Antioquia in general.

Faced with the above panorama, and despite the efforts made by the municipal and departmental authorities, we find that the situation has overwhelmed the capacity of the local Public Force, which has not been able to contain the advance of illegal mining activity that affects the municipality, and on the contrary has seen how illegal action increases over time.

Next, we allow ourselves in the most respectful way to share with you the situation of affectation of the Ilegal Mining in our operations of the Buriticá Mine.

The mining area of the company is divided into 3 development zones: high, medium and low, according to different levels, respectively called Yaraguá tunnel, Rampa Sur tunnel and Higabra tunnel. In the lower area, adjacent to the Higabra tunnel, most of the mine’s infrastructure is located: Processing Plant, Treatment Plant, Administrative Offices and Camps.

 Currently , 100% of the Yaraguá tunnel is affected by illegal mining, which has also invaded most of the Rampa Sur tunnel, forcing the Company to abandon its production mining operations in the upper and middle areas and concentrate its main efforts in the lower part of Higabra . However, at the end of 2022, illegal miners connected the structure of the Higabra tunnel, displacing Company personnel using firearms and improvised explosive devices, amid a display of violence that continues today.

According to the above, more than 50% of our underground mining bores are invaded by illegal mining; in recent months, there has been an increase in the presence of unauthorized miners in the Company’s infrastructure. It is estimated that this number has increased from 400 to 700 in the Yaraguá, Rampa Sur and Higabra tunnels. The above, together with the existence of unauthorized mining work in the municipality of Buriticá, in areas adjacent to the mining title, covers a total of approximately 2,000 people engaged in illegal mining activity, according to the calculations made by the Company, the vast majority of them are foreigners and do not belong to the community of Buriticá.

These activities are carried out through excavated accesses from private properties of third parties directed towards the underground infrastructure of the Company, from which they complete the strategy of “block domain”, invade the tunnels of the operation to carry out mining activities in a mechanized manner, with large-scale work, without control or planning, much less respect for environmental mining or safety in mining operations, also using illegally obtained explosives or artisanal manufacture that are also used to attack the Company’s personnel, its contractors, security guards and to the Public Force. It is estimated that around 100 tons of illegal explosives were used over the past year, of which approximately 70 percent were manufactured by INDUMIL. In addition, and in order to intimidate the employees of the Company, to contractors and repel the Public Force, they shoot handguns and rifles and install gas cylinders and fire extinguishers loaded with explosives in the tunnels.

 During the years 2021 and 2022 alone, the Company attended with its team of mining rescuers 16 injured by explosives, including direct personnel, contractors and Public Force, in addition to 5 people who were injured in the framework of activities unauthorized miners left in the tunnels to be rescued by Company personnel. Likewise, the discovery of 5 bodies of personnel outside the work of the Company abandoned inside the Yaraguá tunnel was reported.

Unfortunately, this situation of violence, framed by the use of firearms, illegal detonations inside the tunnels and the use of improvised explosive devices, has been increasing exponentially, as can be seen in the following comparative table:

In this way, in addition to blocking the work of the Company and putting at risk the lives of the personnel working inside the tunnels, an approximate amount equivalent to 1.5 tons of ore is illegally extracted through the illegal connections, not including the estimate of the illegal extraction in other areas of the mining title and surrounding areas, which represents for the State (according to calculations made during the year 2021) losses equivalent to:

+US$84M for theft of explosive material and blasting accessories

+US$ 3M for royalties lost

+US$11.8M for rent tax

+US$ 2M for self-withholding

The stolen ore is processed inside the illegal mining works, for which “Entables” processing plants have been built inside the tunnels, which makes them difficult to detect, causing environmental damage and human health due to the use of mercury.

As confirmed by the same authorities, mining activities in the municipality of Buriticá are permeated by the Clan del Golfo, and mean a very important income for their criminal apparatus, which adds to the resources they obtain from drug trafficking, smuggling, among other illicit activities. This is also a fuel that clearly affects the environment in the area, society as a whole and threatens the security of the region and the country. As observed by the Company in the framework of its operation, the effects of illegal mining can be summarized in the following points:

1. 1. 1. Environmental pollution: These illegal groups carry out illegal exploitation anywhere. In their activities they leave residues such as tailings anywhere without any rigorous and technical disposal, which leads to a contamination of water resources and serious erosive processes in productive lands, so important today for the country.

In their illegal extraction activities, they have even reached the point of carrying out their beneficiation process underground, with the implementation of “entables” that constantly carry mercury. It is an archaic management, which uses a substance prohibited in Colombia for this type of use because of its harmfulness to humans and the environment. It is also a dangerous and highly destructive method for ground water and general water resources.

1. 1. 2. They only focus on mineral-rich resources regardless of the effects on natural resources. They do not mind wasting natural resources without taking into account processes of prevention, mitigation, remediation and compensation. Their focus is only on high-grade exploitation for the highest possible profits. In this way they leave other minerals forgotten, which becomes an inefficient process. Proof of this is that the Company’s ore recovery rate is more than 90% and that of these people does not reach 50%, with the aggravating factor of its polluting approach.

1. 1. 3. This anti-technical mining in Buriticá shows a lack of standards and no investment in industrial safety. Illegal mining does not implement Industrial Safety, Health and Environment or technical standards, it does not think about the integrity and work environment of miners. Because of this, there are constant safety accidents, injuries and even people killed in these activities. By entering these anti-technical sinkholes, the miners risk their lives.

1. 1. 4. Miners in the area are treated like slaves. Criminal activities have several modalities to take advantage of the work of these people and obtain profits. First of all, it is through the control of illicit mining. It also occurs through an agreement between these criminal organizations and the miners through renting land or charging them through extortion from ancestral miners. At the same time, these organizations control the miners through drugs, exploiting them so that they can obtain them, consume them and work tirelessly. This is clearly a perverse situation that affects the human rights of those who exercise this activity.

1. 1. 5. These criminal organizations threaten the national economy and damage social order. They exploit and smuggle gold without paying taxes or royalties to the country. This affects the Colombian economy. Most of the miners are foreigners who, due to their economic situation, accept these precarious conditions that affect their quality of life. At the same time, local populations are affected because these activities lead to an increase in drug consumption, prostitution, theft and in general environments of chaos, insecurity and social decomposition.

This increases deinstitutionalization in the territory, destroys the value system of the communities, their culture and affects the growth of young people and their expectations of life. Many of them succumb to the possibility of obtaining easy or illicit money, which affects the education and growth of the next generation of young people.

1. 1. 6. It threatens Zijin-Continental Gold’s normal operations and the company’s legal rights. Illegal Mining permanently and with impunity connects the Company’s tunnels from the surface, which also affects productivity, tools and machinery. In their actions they have managed to connect the ventilation system and the emergency tunnels. These facilities are at permanent risk due to the intention of these organizations to seize the mining panels through violence. To do so, they shoot and send explosives, which threatens the life and integrity of our employees, causing our daily operation to be frequently compromised. They act massively in the different ramps of the Company and since September 2021 they have invaded one of them (Yaraguá) completely.

Given the alarming situation affecting the legitimate mining operation carried out by the Company; the environment through the generation of irreversible environmental impacts; to the integrity of our workers, contractors, Public Force and the people who enter these farms without an adequate technical structure in terms of support and electrical connections, exposure to gases in deficient conditions of ventilation and countless conditions of insecurity that can trigger a catastrophic event, not to mention the economic detriment that the illicit extraction of minerals represents for both the Company and the State in terms of royalties and taxes, we request your urgent intervention to restore order and guarantee the development of an operation mining whose initial and main objective has been to contribute through modern mining, with a social and environmental vocation to the economic development of the country, which is not possible to achieve without its intervention. The situation is already critical and, if immediate and forceful actions are not taken, it will put an end to this project.

Mr. President, we want to state that as a Company we have denounced all illegal mining activities, maintained contact with different local, departmental and national authorities and we have made known to the public the critical situation that the Company and the municipality of Buriticá are experiencing, as a result of the flagelo of illegal mining and the criminal organizations that have a presence in the region. Likewise, until the month of August

2022 an inter-institutional table was established, coordinated by the competent mining and environmental authorities, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior, spaces where the existing problems were discussed in search of solutions and that would be extremely opportune to resume.

The Company expresses its willingness to participate in all scenarios of dialogue and particularly in the Dialogue Tables convened by the authorities, Ministries and Government entities, likewise the company has always expressed its willingness according to the government’s vision to expand formalization programs and thus give more opportunities to our neighboring communities framed in the law.

I take this opportunity to reiterate our Company’s commitment to the sustainable development of Western Antioquia and our conviction that the acceptance of local, departmental and national communities and authorities is the basis of legitimacy to advance this mining operation with the highest standards and thus be able to take advantage of natural resources responsibly and rationally, as is our mission.

Finally, we reiterate the high valuation that the Company, its Board of Directors, its Management team and employees have of the work carried out by the National Government, the Ministries, the environmental authorities, the departmental and municipal authorities, the Public Force, the organs of control and justice to ensure that in Buriticá and western Antioquia human rights and freedoms can be enjoyed, the environment can be preserved and the rule of law and democratic institutions is strengthened.

We respectfully attach presentation of our company.

Cordially

LEIZHONG LI

CEO

Zijin Continental Gold.

With copy to:

Iván Velásquez Gómez, Minister of Defense Rafael Lara Losada, Deputy Minister of Defense Iván Danilo Rueda, High Commissioner for Peace

Helder Fernán Giraldo Bonilla, Commander General of the Armed Forces

Luis Mauricio Ospina Gutiérrez, Colombian National Army Commander Óscar Murillo Díaz, 7th Colombian Army Division Henry Armando Sanabria Cely, Director General of the Colombian Police

William Castaño Ramos, Commander of Carabineros and Rural Security National Police of Colombia Carlos Humberto Rojas Pabón, Commander Region Six National Police of Colombia

Irene Vélez Torres, Minister of Mines and Energy Giovanni Franco Sepúlveda, Deputy Minister of Mines

Fernando Lozano, Director of Public Safety and Infrastructure Maríto Susana Muhamad, Minister of Environment

Alfonso Prada Gil, Minister of the Interior Rodrigo Negrete, Director of ANLA Álvaro Pardo Becerra, President ANM

Aníbal Gaviria Correa, Governor of Antioquia

Jorge Alberto Jaramillo Pereira, Secretary of Mines of the Government of Antioquia

Oswaldo Juan Zapata Quijano, Secretary of Security and Justice of the Government of Antioquia Francisco Barbosa Delgado, Attorney General of the Nation

Margarita Cabello Blanco, Attorney General of the Nation Carlos Hernán Rodríguez, Comptroller General of the Nation Carlos Ernesto Camargo Assis, Ombudsman

Roy Leonardo Barreras Montealegre, President of the Senate of the Republic of Colombia Juan Camilo Nariño, President ACM

Bruce MacMaster Rojas, ANDI President

María Bibiana Botero, Executive President of Proantioquia Luis Hernando Graciano, Mayor of Buriticá

Aicardo Antonio Urrego Úsuga, Mayor of Cañasgordas Alconides Úsuga Carmona, Mayor of Giraldo

Andrés Felipe Pardo, Mayor of Santa Fe de Antioquia

Sergio Cabrera Cárdenas, Ambassador of the Republic of Colombia to the People’s Republic of China.

Collective Mining is led by Ari Sussman and much of the leadership team that developed Continental Gold in Buriticá, Colombia, before a 2 billion sale to Zijin Mining of China. Sussman and his team were widely recognized not only for their successful mining, but their strong social commitment and relationships with the surrounding communities, including creating opportunities for women in mining, and collaborating with nearby artisanal miners.

APC-1 intercepted the mineralized breccia from 291.6 meters downhole (170 meters vertical) with results as follows:

• 8 meters @ 2.49 g/t AuEq including:
• 9 meters @ 4.55 g/t AuEq from 291.6 meters down hole; and
• 3 meters @ 3.67 g/t AuEq from 352 meters down hole

Collective says that mineralization is remarkably continuous along the axis of the discovery intercept and is hosted within a breccia sulphide matrix consisting of chalcopyrite (Cu) and pyrite. Additionally, overprinting carbonate base metal porphyry veins flood the breccia matrix in various locations along the mineralized interval in APC-1 with visible sphalerite (Zn) and Galena (Pb) observed. The breccia clasts are all quartz diorite in composition and this hydrothermal system is clearly linked to a porphyry system.

After successfully developing Continental Gold, Ari Sussman (center) is now leading Collective Mining, Ltd.

APC-1 was drilled to the south from Pad 1 on the northern fringe of an 800 meter X 700 meter target area as defined by rock sampling, soil geochemistry and geology mapping. Apollo remains open to the east, west, south and at depth for further expansion. Due to the size of the target area at Apollo, the company has completed the construction of two additional drill pads. Drill holes APC-1W and APC-2 have already been completed with APC-3 and APC-4 currently underway. Future assay results for Apollo will be reported in batch format once received and interpreted by the company.

The Apollo target area consists of newly generated porphyry and porphyry related targets with coincidental high-grade copper and molybdenum soil anomalies in places measuring greater than 500 parts per million (“ppm”) in copper and 30 ppm in molybdenum. Additionally, surface sampling at Apollo has uncovered a series of high-grade gold outcrops with numerous rock samples assaying greater than 3 g/t gold.

Apollo is road accessible all year-round and is situated within an elevation range of 1,800 to 2,000 meters above sea level. Additionally, an electrical substation is located less than one kilometer from the target area.

“The discovery at Apollo opens a new and very exciting front for the company. Firstly, it is the first time that the company has discovered a significant amount of copper. Secondly, large mineralized systems generally have multiple styles of overprinting mineralization and in the case of Apollo, we have already observed three different mineralization types, namely two types of porphyry related CBM veins and of course the mineralized breccia. Our technical team also believes that the Apollo discovery may be the first in a series of porphyry and breccia discoveries at the Apollo target,” said Ari Sussman, Collective’s Executive Chairman. “With a second rig recently commissioned and now coring, we have made the decision to soon add a third rig to the program in order to aggressively unlock the potential value of this discovery.”

Figure 1: Plan View of the Guayabales Project Highlighting the Apollo Target

Figure 2: Plan View of the Apollo Target Area Outlining the Porphyry and Breccia Targets, their Related Soil Anomalies and Drill Holes Completed or Currently Underway

Figure 3: Plan View of the Hydrothermal Breccia Discovery Made at Apollo

Figure 4: Apollo Target Cross Section N-S With APC-1 and Related Core Photos Highlighted

Table 1: Assay Results

*AuEq (g/t) is calculated as follows: (Au (g/t) x 0.95) + (Ag g/t x 0.014 x 0.95) + (Cu (%) x 2.06 x 0.95) + (Mo (%) x 6.86 x 0.95+(Zn(%)x 0.80 x 0.95)+ (Pb(%)x 0.45 x 0.95) utilizing metal prices of Cu – US$4.50/lb, Mo – US$15.00/lb, Zn – US$1.75/lb, Pb – US$1.0/lb, Ag – $21/oz and Au – US$1,500/oz and recovery rates of 95% for Au, Ag, Cu, Mo, Zn and Mo. Recovery rate assumptions are speculative as no metallurgical work has been completed to date.

** A 0.4 g/t AuEq cut-off grade was employed with no more than 10% internal dilution. True widths are unknown, and grades are uncut.

Finance Colombia’s executive editor Loren Moss was able to connect with Trejo to discuss Antioquia’s growth and resiliency during the pandemic, also exploring the role of Colombia’s departmental government (Colombia has departments instead of states or provinces) in investment promotion along with the municipal agencies like ACI Medellín, and the national agencies like ProColombia.

Finance Colombia: I want to ask you about the current status of Antioquia, how are we doing after a year of pandemic? Antioquia has a very diverse economy, obviously there is a lot of activity in the agricultural and industrial area, but it’s also a department that has tourism and events, large events. So my question is, how do you see the entire economic state of Antioquia and in which sectors has it affected the economy the most? But before that I ask you to explain your role and what your responsibilities are in the government, so that people understand what Daniela Trejo is doing in Antioquia.

Daniela Trejo Rojas: First of all, let me introduce myself. I am Daniela Trejo, the new secretary of economic development, innovation and new economies of the department of Antioquia. Previously I had been working as director of internationalization and this brings me new challenges, thinking first of all about employment. Employment is like the pain and the cut off of everything that this secretary does, and it’s to take care of and protect the business fabric, I will tell you a little by way of context, Antioquia is the second largest population conglomerate and economy of Colombia.

Here we speak very well of businesspeople and others. Whenever we talk about Antioquia one thinks of Medellín and then in Valle de Aburrá (Aburrá Valley, where Medellín is situated). In Valle de Aburrá there are 10 municipalities that make it up, but in the department, there are 125 municipalities. We are the department of Antioquia and of those 125 in Medellín and in the Aburra Valley, in these 10 municipalities we have very important companies such as Familia, Grupo Argos, Grupo Éxito, Grupo BIOS, Bancolombia, Suramericana, which are the large holding companies of Colombia, which are in the stock market and that for us they are all a source of pride because they represent that business fabric and that productive specialization of the department.

Antioquia is home to several of Latin America’s most important multinational enterprises.

It’s convenient to tell you that COVID hit us very hard. Last year we closed with a loss of approximately 130,000 jobs. The main economy of Antioquia is in the services sector, in the commerce sector, of course they were very affected sectors and that was largely due to those strict closures that we had in the first three months of the pandemic, where we doubled the unemployment we had, in December of last year we had a recovery of 150,000 jobs and we closed the year with a loss of 130,000. This year we have that goal, and it’s to recover 100,000 jobs, but that is not a goal for the department of Antioquia alone, it’s a goal that we have with other sectors such as construction, services and manufacturing, and merchants. We know that we have to come together to move the department forward.

Regarding the context for those who haven’t traveled and for those who don’t know either Colombia or Antioquia, we are divided into 9 subregions. In those 9 subregions we have the Aburra Valley, and here we have a whole ecosystem of innovation, for us this is a source of pride. We have Ruta-N and we have many entrepreneurs and enterprises that are publishing everything; creative industries and business ventures, technology and added value, but we have other subregions, all very different with a diversity of climates, with a diversity of soils, and that has allowed us to specialize. If we go north, we find ourselves in Urabá where we have access to the sea. In Urabá we have an important logistical location for the tertiary economy and from there 40% of the bananas and plantains that the country exports go out.

But if we go down a little bit, we get to the southwest where the specialties are coffees and citrus fruits. Today we are finding very specialized markets in Europe & Asia for our coffees, not only exporting them as commodity coffees, green coffee but already specialized coffees. We have a region in the North where dairy and textiles are also very significant. We have of course historical knowledge in mining, especially the Mid-Magdalena region and there we already have foreign companies that are in the exploration stage.

We have eastern Antioquia where our José María Córdova international airport is located, there we also find very diverse soil and we are promoting all the exploration in medicinal Cannabis, but also the Hass avocado, passionflower, mango, vegetables. This is how our territory is made up, we also have a sub-region that I forgot, the Occident of Antioquia. From the Occident of Antioquia, we have very agricultural locations and we also have a mining presence so we think of it as an important logistics corridor for the development that we are going to have in Urabá.

That is a context for you to understand that Antioquia has a multiplicity of soils and territories, however, what contributes the most to the Antioquia team is trade, manufacturing and construction, those are the factors that contribute the most and that were most affected in the pandemic.

Finance Colombia: Well speaking of the Occident of Antioquia, they are building the 4G highway projects and they are also building the Antioquia port. When do you plan to finish all this? If I understand correctly, you are going to start making a 4 lane highway from Las Palmas to El Tablazo, near the José Maria Cordova international airport (serving Medellín), a project that will be carried out for 36 months under construction by the firm Conconcreto. I remember 6 years ago when Rionegro was a rural town, and Rionegro is a suburb now, as Envigado was before. It’s how Las Palmas was 10 years ago, it’s already Rionegro, they are expanding the roads into double lanes each way, and I imagine that La Ceja and El Carmen de Viboral will be the next. But speaking of that, with so much growth, when do you think the 4G projects and the port of Antioquia will be finished? How is that going? And what changes do you hope these development projects will bring to the regional economy?

Daniela Trejo Rojas: We have a series of infrastructure projects, some more representative than others, of course betting on the regions where we see that there is significant potential. The Department of Antioquia is very focused on Urabá trying to strengthen the port that we already have there. These are projects that are medium-term, but committing to a special date is difficult because each of the projects has a trajectory and has a dynamic, but we hope in three years to be able to have the roads and also the port developments in Urabá, that will allow us to have competitive advantages between Antioquia and other departments, we will be much closer as a port than other departments that have a large flow of merchandise and that today they are leaving through Barranquilla, they are leaving through Cartagena and that they will be able to pass through Antioquia and have to close all the commercialization there.

With Viva Air announcing Medellin as its new international hub, Antioquia can expect nonstop connectivity throughout North America, South America, and Europe.

So for us that also implies changing the locations of the soil a bit, going from having almost concentrated the spirit of Urabá in the production and commercialization of plantain, banana, pineapple and passion fruit, also moving to products transformed with high added value that also induce us to compete with other markets, but you know that port developments also bring social and cultural impact.

You were asking me about the Orient of Antioquia around Llanogrande: the San Nicolás Valley implies a challenge and immense potential for us. Today we can say that they are two valleys that are connected, it’s even very difficult to determine when Envigado ends and when I am in La Ceja, or when Envigado ends and I am already in Rionegro through the same infrastructure. Before it was very easy because you could notice the change in the roads and lighting, and today you go from Rionegro to La Ceja and find more dynamic restaurants, hotels and others, so we can say that they are two valleys that are completely established, and that has also allowed us to have developments such as  the Orient of Antioquia Tunnel that connects us easily between the two valleys, and allows us to have more interaction and that is finally competitiveness for the department, that I can land in Rionegro and in 15 minutes I can be in Medellín, that increases the competitiveness that we have as a territory. After this year of pandemic, we saw that people are leaving Medellín to live in  the Orient of Antioquia, people are located in Llanogrande, in La Ceja, in El Carmen, in El Retiro and there is a real estate pressure that for the mayors has been a bit complex to handle. People are already migrating to  the Orient of Antioquia, to the entire San Nicolás Valley and this also brings to mind some adversities in infrastructure and waste collection, and all the solid waste management is very important.

Also in the same ecosystem, we forget that there are territories that don’t have very good networks of public services, that don’t have good drinking water networks, we still find many of those municipalities that their villages have aqueducts that have been built by the communities themselves and that they themselves administer. Today that means that we are arriving there with demands that the territory is not very prepared to handle. It’s important not only with roads, in  the Orient of Antioquia we from the department have an important position especially in Rionegro, we also have the decentralization of innovation centers where we are talking with the Orient of Antioquia’s chamber of commerce, where we are talking with businessmen from  the Orient of Antioquia and we have a special project that is  the Orient of Antioquia’s airport city, thinking towards the future and taking advantage of the free zone that we already have there.

In the future we are going to start building the second most important complex in Colombia, today El Dorado (Bogotá’s international airport) is not enough, it’s the Bogotá airport, today it doesn’t provide for the maintenance, spare parts and others of its aircraft, and we are understanding that the transport and logistics sector is leaving to migrate to eastern Antioquia, that implies that we have to help young people think about the areas in which they want to work, what kind of professions and trades we need to promote in  the Orient of Antioquia because if the demand reaches us and we don’t have someone to fill it, it would be a problem, but that cannot be solved overnight, that has to be with enough time, so that is why we are preparing. But if we envision where the urban growth is and the economic development of the department, surely the answer is: towards  the Orient of Antioquia and towards Urabá.

Finance Colombia: Yes, I was at an event with the mayor of Medellín and the president of Viva Air and they announced that they are going to name Rionegro as the hub and their vision is that they have about 20 planes already in the factory being built, and it’s funny because like when they already have 20 planes on order, and they say their long-term vision is to connect—basically they are doing what COPA (Copa Airlines) did with Tocumen in Panama, that’s what they want to do with Medellín, and connect, in the words of the president of Viva Air, from Buenos Aires to New York all with connectivity in Medellín. I imagine that they are going to have to build or expand the airport again, they just finished renovating the José María Córdova airport, but I imagine they will have to expand it more, I also hear about making a second runway. I don’t see where; I imagine they know how to do that.

What can you tell me? Because I have also heard rumors of making more airports, for example in the Occident of Antioquia, since Santa Fe de Antioquia is a very touristy area, at least they are expanding the highway, but beyond Santa Fe and San Jerónimo, there is also a lot of activity in Buriticá, with 4G highways that are already under construction, are there current plans? I understand that you are not Secretary of Transportation but if there is something you can tell me about plans to expand the roads?

Daniela Trejo Rojas: Answering you very precisely if we are now promoting developments other than our José María Córdova international airport? No, we have to go step by step, the Orient of Antioquia still has a lot of capacity, since we don’t have overcrowding. The demand that the airport has, we have where to grow, and we are also betting that free zones are a tool for economic development. They can bring foreign direct investment, we don’t see that we still have to bet on airport issues in another region other than the Orient of Antioquia so that it becomes very strong, but speaking of competitiveness, we have all the rehabilitation of the railway system, which is a nice project that is led by the department through the Antioquia railway.

Where many of the sections of the Antioquia railway will be rehabilitated, which was liquidated in 1956 and some sections were left without use, absolutely without use. Today we see all the potential for them to be rehabilitated, many of these sections are in feasibility, others are in pre-feasibility, and in particular there is one that I want to tell you about, which is the one that goes from Barbosa to Puerto Berrio, all of the Rio Magdalena to Medellín.

Antioquia intends to rebuild its railway network.

In that section, today there is a national government plan to rehabilitate the navigability of the Magdalena River, this river is one of the arteries of the country, it crosses all the states, including Antioquia, and in Puerto Berrio there are plans to have a multimodal port that we allow the loading and unloading of maritime merchandise and connect it with the railway section between Barbosa & Puerto Berrio, especially we have the garbage ecosystem, almost all the waste and garbage collection of the Aburra Valley goes to this side of the department of Antioquia, and in the garbage we see a potential for a circular economy and green business.

We think this section of the railway in one day can transport people and in others, for example at night, it can transport garbage, but it’s not only transportation but also to achieve that garbage to complete a cycle, that we call green business and circular economy, and that we can see value in the management of that garbage. It’s a project that today is ahead of schedule in its completion, since last year the feasibility of the project was verified and it’s a work that we hope has already been very viable in that administration. We also have other sections that are being rehabilitated, among that we have the section of the “Tren del Rio,” it’s expected that we will have the railway crossing the Aburra Valley, that project is also in pre-feasibility, and there is a section that goes to Urabá, inclusive. This is the section that is more in its infancy, but it’s expected that we will achieve rail connectivity throughout the entire department. Previously we had it, 60 years ago we had it and today we see the potential of having a multimodal plate, also of lowering the load a little off our roads so that they are more efficient, and that we can also take advantage of the Magdalena River and be able to have loading and unloading of multimodal merchandise in this important area in Puerto del Rio.

I don’t know if you knew that in the 1920s all merchandise taken out from Antioquia was by mule, they had 1 or 2 days of travel crossing mountains to go down to the middle Magdalena (river) and arrive especially at Cisneros, in Cisneros the order was made and the Magdalena was crossed until reaching Puerto Berrio, and in Puerto Berrio the merchandise left to Barranquilla. In Barranquilla there were all the ships with international destinations, including those that were leaving Antioquia and if they wanted to go to Europe they had to go to New York and from New York on to Europe.

That is to say that ancestrally there were already some roads, this is very beautiful, in its time Puerto del Rio was a point of arrival for artists, for tourism it’s spectacular. You started the conversation with tourism and I have not mentioned much about that, and we have some municipalities with a history, still with that railway and with those spectacular railway stations, preserved, with still very light infrastructures that have allowed nature to be preserved. Today ecotourism is important in Antioquia, bird watching and being able to enjoy nature today is one of the great bets we have in the department This is especially speaking of infrastructure other than road and airport infrastructure.

Finance Colombia: Yes, that is something I remember my first time in Colombia almost 20 years ago, that was something very curious for me, that there are no trains. One thing that impacts me, still the case but much better now, is that Colombia has always been very regional, as you mentioned there was no transportation to go to Bogotá or Medellín before modern times. I talked to the president of Tecnoglass and he commented on how expensive it is to transport materials within Colombia, due to lack of infrastructure. They are in Barranquilla because that is where the port is, they export a lot of merchandise. Colombia now is changing a lot, before it was not a great force in exporting, perhaps a little coffee, and before,  textiles, so that seems great to me, mainly because of the industry that can grow by having railways but also for example in the tourism sector.

In Bogotá I took the tourist train to go from Bogotá to Cajicá and Zipaquirá, in this case it would be longer distances. I imagine it is like taking a train from here to Puerto Berrio, but you are there near Hacienda Napoles and so many things of nature that can be seen, right? I find it very interesting that the railway system can be used not only to transport people and make more connectivity not only with the Magdalena River, but there can also be access to Bogotá and that tourist part of western Antioquia, far west near the Magdalena River, and also connecting with Santander and towards Bucaramanga and those areas because they also connect with the Magdalena River.

Speaking of which, because you mentioned Urabá, are there tax incentives? I know that here we have the free zone, here nearby if I understand correctly there are three free zones in Antioquia, but what incentives are there? Because in Urabá we are already going to have the port, but that area has been an area to some extent forgotten, that is to say, much development is lacking, there is still opportunity and we cannot complain about what happened in history, but currently there is a lot of development that is missing. Are there incentives to encourage or promote investment and development in the north of Antioquia? Speaking more specifically after the mountains, speaking of the coastal plain there in Urabá.

Daniela Trejo Rojas: Well I’ll tell you, we have a particularity as a department and that is that after the signing of the peace process, the national government came up with a strategy called ZOMAC and PDET regions that consists of those municipalities and the most affected areas by the armed conflict and where for more than 10 years we have been investing in changing the productive vocation of the soil, trying to replace illicit crops. Especially in Antioquia we have done it with coffee and cocoa, but also with other projects, fish farming and beekeeping projects.

We in Antioquia have a corridor where we have four subregions where we can find 55 ZOMAC, areas that were declared the most affected by the armed conflict, and 24 PDET municipalities, that in other words is a strategy where the government says what we can do with these territories, How can I change the productive vocation to encourage the establishment of local and foreign companies so that we can generate the different dynamics of the economy, promote development in another way, and this is often not so easy. It is not easy to simply make a refund, but who am I selling to? How do I trade? How do I inject technology and innovation into it? Sometimes very complex and important investments are required. We have those municipalities in Antioquia, we have four sub-regions, among them is Urabá that we have mentioned so much, we also have municipalities in the north, in the northeast and in Bajo Cauca, almost all the municipalities or areas that are there as most affected are in those four subregions that if you see them on the map, it is as if they formed a corridor that weaves through Urabá.

There the national government through its agency for the renewal of the territory implements the PDET strategy along with tax incentives, that is: “how do I make a businessman decide to invest in Mutatá, in Caucasia, in Vegachí, in El Bagre,” and not in the Orient of Antioquia where the port, where the free zones are located? So special tax incentives are created both in income tax and in industry and commerce. We also have slightly lighter incentives where entrepreneurs get a very important discount. I am going to tell you about some municipalities:  Caucasia, Tarazá, Puerto Nare, Puerto Berrio, Támesis, Vegachí, Santa Fe de Antioquia are municipalities that have very good tax incentives, they are ZOMAC, and they are a little more distributed throughout the territory. The PDETs are concentrated in this corridor that runs from the northeast, Bajo Cauca and that ends in Urabá. There we have proper incentives in industry with trade discounts, notices and boards, and we have three permanent free zones, we have one in Apartado, Urabá, we have one in  the Orient of Antioquia in Rionegro, and we have one in Caldas, in the Aburra Valley (north of Medellín) These are the strips, for us they are the poles of development and commercial exchange where businesspeople have some discounts, where they have tax extensions to bring inputs and to export. Those free zones still have a lot of potential. We see that entrepreneurs are a bit fearful, but it has become a hub for the development of suppliers where within the free zone where, for example, as a businessperson I occupy the textile space, I can find someone who brings me the fabrics, who brings me the threads, all the spare parts for the machines and that way I can export and import more easily and obviously benefit from important incentives.

Today we are looking to have more expansion of these zones, so they don’t remain only in the special areas. We also seek to have special free zones…today for example in Guarné they already have their free zone, companies are already seeking to participate, and the legislation is new, “fresh from the oven.” We spent more than six months reviewing it, sending comments to the ministry, and they shared it just 15 days ago. It’s just published, it is a strategy of the national government to be able to attract investments directly so that they can install themselves in those territories and see that for many years they will have significant discounts in sales, commerce, notices and boards, among others.

Now that you mentioned the textile sector, we in Antioquia historically have an important vocation in the textile area. In the 60s we had the largest companies in the Aburra Valley installed in Itagüí and in Medellín, today we see that it is a sector that continues to grow, and which has been growing by 2.4% a year. Today it represents around 18,000 companies and 117,000 jobs generated. This is according to the chamber of commerce (so the statistics are) formal, the legalized business. Outside of this. the number must be doubled (due to the informal economy) but the numbers that I give you are those that we have in the chamber of commerce.

The textile sector continues to have gigantic potential, and we have been promoting it. From the department of Antioquia, we have been betting on it because we know that there is ancestral knowledge that has passed from generation to generation and that moves local economies and especially economies of gender. When we go to the municipalities, we find that those clothing and fashion companies are led by women and this helps us to boost local economies. It’s another sector that I did not make much mention of, but I would not want to let it pass because it is a sector that we have been betting on and that we see that there are export opportunities especially to the United States. That even with the pandemic, a business line was developed of supplies and personal protective equipment. Last year we had four companies within the department that did export, especially masks to the United States, and this is important because it shows the resilience of entrepreneurs to take advantage of the difficulty of a pandemic and turn it into an opportunity to transfer it to their own business production line. So Loren, this is a summary of what we have been doing, of these productive bets, of those large infrastructure projects; not only roads but also railways, ports in Urabá and the job we have in the Orient of Antioquia, Airport city. If you are living in the Orient of Antioquia, you are going to see the transformation that it will have in 5 years. It will be an impressive thing because we know that it is the “second story” of Medellín and the Aburrá Valley. We want to thank you for the space, for opening the space in your agenda that we had postponed many times, thank you for that and that it is not the first and the last time.

Finance Colombia: Yes, of course, one last question and I also want to give you space if there is a subject or a topic that I forgot to ask you, I also want to give you the opportunity to mention if there is any news from the government but my last question is how does the government of Antioquia work and collaborate with other actors in the development of the economy?

Daniela Trejo Rojas: Last year was a very interesting year for us from the department’s perspective because our development plan set goals for this secretariat which were very different from the ones they had been working on before. We have a direction that is the focus on internationalization that it had been focusing its efforts on international cooperation. The United 2020-2023 development plan presents us with three other challenges: The promotion of exports, the attraction of direct foreign investment and the promotion of the territory, which are topics of the focus for what ACI Medellín has been doing and also what the national government does for ProColombia.

Antioquia has one of Colombia’s most diverse economies.

This forces us to open our gaze towards the department and understand that when we talk about internationalization it is not only international cooperation but also that export issues are fundamental, to enable, for example, competitive infrastructures. They are fundamental for the internationalization of companies, but also to promote the territory. Who more than we who know the municipalities, who speak with the mayors, can promote the territory and attract investors to settle here? Since last year we began to work hand in hand with ACI and with other organizations, including ProColombia of the national government, the ACI has two foci: the attraction of foreign investment and also international cooperation. They do not work in the export line, although I think they are going to start doing it because we are already seeing that need. They are very focused on Medellín and Valle de Aburra, but the alliance we made last year for the internationalization of the territory put a challenge on us that is to always work with the gaze of both a city and region.

I, as an Antioquian, I tell them: I enjoy all the effort they have made in Medellín to position the city, but it is not a lie that the companies that are in Antioquia today have their production outside the Valley of Aburra. They cooperate, but outside of the Aburra Valley, so there is a connection that is impossible to separate and makes our relationship necessary, since to us as a team and as the manager put us a challenge and that is that we have to do it together, territorial promotion: see what the productive stakes are, that Medellín is not walking on the one hand and I on the other, but that it is a regional & city setting.

Since last year we signed an agreement outside the internationalization alliance, we have been doing it, the work is extremelyhand-in-hand and not only with the city-region but also with the national government through ProColombia because there are many promotion issues where they are the experts, where they have regional alliances in other countries then we know that it is a matter of working together. For you to understand a little, Antioquia has four purposes from our secretary: international operation, attracting investment, promoting the territory and promoting exports. The ACI complements a lot in that purpose and ProColombia helps us with the issue of exports and territorial promotion, that is the job. We even have a table that is the internationalization table where we are with other entities such as ProAntioquia, the chamber of commerce in Medellín for Antioquia, talking about the issues and having a common discourse and narrative that is very important.

Finance Colombia: I think this will be the first meeting between us and to see how we can support you in your missions, Daniela Trejo, thank you very much for your time.

Daniela Trejo Rojas: Many thanks Loren, see you soon.

Images courtesy ACI Medellín

El pasado 29 de julio se cumplió el plazo para que EPM entregara este material a la JEP. La empresa no respondió a los requerimientos de la JEP, ni envió justificación sobre el incumplimiento. Por esta razón, la JEP abrió el incidente en contra del gerente de EPM.

— Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz (@JEP_Colombia) August 20, 2020

The subpoena relates to EPM’s troubled Hidroituango dam project (above photo) in Ituango, Colombia. Where several years ago in order to build the hydroelectric project, EPM transferred bodies from cemeteries in the rural hamlet of Barbacoas. That area of Colombia’s Antioquia department is still troubled with organized crime as a transit corridor for illicit narcotics. In earlier decades it was a conflict zone between guerrilla groups such as the FARC and ELN and paramilitaries such as the AUC. Countless rural people were “disappeared” during the conflict; some were combatants, but most were innocents caught in the 3-way crossfire between the guerillas, government forces, and paramilitaries.

Any possible remains of conflict victims encountered during the construction of the dam would have to be investigated and accounted for. According to independent forensic investigations carried out  by the University of Antioquia in Medellín, some of the remains exhumed by EPM contractors appear to be conflict victims, but EPM is accused of re-interring the remains without proper investigation or resolution, and by flooding the area, preventing the continuation of the search for victims’ remains.

While these alleged violations occurred during 2017, before Rendón was appointed, an initial subpoena by the peace tribunal was issued last year, and the current administration has, according to the JEP, ignored it.

The JEP stated that “there is a notorious disagreement between EPM’s affirmations in relation to the administrative transfers of the cemeteries and what was found by the JEP in the laboratory of the University of Antioquia.”

“Likewise, there is no clarity of the due compliance with the information gathering processes with the communities, nor of the development of the search, prospecting and exhumation processes carried out, nor of how these comply with the requirements of the law and technical and ethical standards,” said the JEP in its subpoena.

The JEP demanded that EPM deliver within five days from last Thursday, “the reason and supporting documents by which and based on which EPM supported the statement or consideration in the sense that none of the bodies buried in the cemeteries of the towns of Orobajo (Sabanalarga), Barbacoas (Peque) and La Fortuna (Buriticá) had no relationship with the armed conflict.”

As the legal representative of EPM, Rendón is subject to arrest should the documents not be delivered.

EPM issued a statement in response to the subpoena stating:

“EPM reports that on the afternoon of this Thursday, August 20, it received, from the JEP, the notification of an act through which an incident of correctional measures is opened to the General Manager of EPM, for allegedly not sending information in a timely manner that had been requested from the Company by this authority.

This same order grants a term of five days for the pertinent explanations to be sent.

EPM is evaluating the content of the document and will give the corresponding explanations in the term indicated therein.”

The donations by Zijin Continental Gold are expected to also relieve pressure on Medellín hospitals and allow rural patients to be treated locally without travel.

The San Juan de Diós Hospital located in the tourist town of Santa Fe de Antioquia will receive 4 vital sign monitors with capnography capability (blood carbon dioxide monitoring), essential for treating respiratory diseases like Coronavirus infections. San Juan de Diós is the only level-2 care facility in the region outside of Medellín. Smaller local hospitals in the towns of Cañasgordas, Giraldo and Buriticá will receive COVID-19 blood testing kits, and along with clinics in the hamlets of Bagadó and Lloró, all will share a shipment of:

• 1,000 N95 face masks
• 1,000 hospital gowns
• 200 boxes of surgical gloves
• 100 protective suits
• Antibacterial gel
• 4 biohazard protection kits

The mine ha already been distributing via health brigades in local villages, filter masks, antibacterial gel, liquid soap, ammonia, infrared remote-sensing thermometers, and other supplies. In addition, the Toronto-based company has been purchasing produce and crop outputs from small farmers and entrepreneurs in the area to support their incomes and livelihoods in the face of a drop in demand and commerce.

Yaraguá System

• The Athena vein (Figure 1) was discovered in a cross-cut currently being developed as part of underground construction of the Buriticá mine. Subsequent to the discovery, development drifting was initiated along the vein from the cross-cut in both east and west directions. Assay results from systematic channel sampling have, to date, returned two intervals of very high-grade gold with results as follows:
  • 50 meters @ 60.9 g/t gold and 42 g/t silver at 2.64 meters width in the western side of the drift from the cross-cut.
  • 35 meters @ 26.37 g/t gold and 14 g/t silver at 2.65 meters width in the eastern side of the drift from the cross-cut.

• The Athena vein was intersected at an elevation of 1,190 meters and is situated between the Murcielagos and San Antonio master vein packages in the central portion of the Yaraguá system. High-grade mineralization remains open along the vein and underground drift development advancing in both the west and east directions. The Athena vein will also be targeted by definition drilling at various elevations both above and below the Higabra tunnel elevation.

• The Cassandra vein (Figure 2) was also discovered while sampling the walls of a separate cross-cut being developed through the Yaraguá system. Cassandra is a shallow-dipping vein situated between the San Antonio and HW veins and is one of a number of new shallow veins that are being outlined within this area. Drifting along the Cassandra vein was initiated with continuous high-grade gold being encountered as follows:
  • 135 meters @ 33.4 g/t gold and 24 g/t silver at 2.62 meters width.

• The Cassandra vein was intersected at an elevation of 1,175 meters within the San Antonio master vein package in the western portion of the Yaraguá system. This shallow dipping vein is one of a number of new veins that are being outlined through new underground development within this area. Previous exploration drilling was not orientated appropriately to identify veins with this geometry. Underground drift development continues to advance along the vein and additional results will be announced in due course.

• The Athena and Cassandra veins have been intersected near the elevation of the mine infrastructure in the Higabra valley. Drilling density at this elevation is relatively sparse and coincides with the lower limit of mineral resources in the Indicated category. The Company is confident that additional mineralized structures will be discovered with further underground development and drilling as sample density increases at these elevations and below.
• Face channel sampling in the drifts includes gold mineralization that extends beyond the width of the development drift, indicating additional potential for broader mineralization than currently reported.
• The Athena and Cassandra veins will be incorporated into the mine plan and the Company expects that it will be in a position to potentially begin mining the veins as early as Q4 2020.

“We are extremely enthusiastic with the discovery of bonanza-grade gold in the Athena and Cassandra veins. Importantly, both veins have already been developed along significant strike lengths and remain wide-open for expansion,” commented Ari Sussman, CEO. “Given that the Athena and Cassandra veins are located so close to our mining infrastructure in the Higabra valley, they will be sequenced into the early part of the production schedule with mining to begin as early as Q4 2020.”

Figure 1: Underground Channel Sampling Results from the Newly-Discovered Athena Vein in the Yaraguá System, Sublevel 1190

Figure 2: Underground Channel Sampling Results from the Cassandra Vein in the Western Portion of the Yaraguá System, Sublevel 1175

Geological Description of the Buriticá Project

Continental’s 100%-owned, 186,821-acre / 75,604-hectare project, Buriticá, contains several known areas of high-grade gold and silver mineralization, of base metal carbonate-style (“Stage I”) variably overprinted by texturally and chemically distinctive high-grade (“Stage II”) mineralization. The two most extensively explored vein systems in these areas (the Yaraguá and Veta Sur systems) are central to this land package. The Yaraguá system has been drill-outlined along 1,350 meters of strike and 1,800 vertical meters and partially sampled in underground developments. The Veta Sur system has been drill-outlined along 1,300+ meters of strike and 1,800 vertical meters and has been partially sampled in underground developments. Both systems are characterized by multiple, steeply-dipping veins and broader, more disseminated mineralization and both remain open at depth and along strike, at high grades.