United States Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Act
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill creates the United States Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Strategy, a comprehensive multi-year plan led by the Secretary of State to combat illicit gold mining across Latin America and the Caribbean. It targets the networks of transnational criminal organizations, drug traffickers, and terrorist groups that profit from illegal gold extraction, with a particular focus on Venezuela and the Maduro regime. The bill authorizes up to $10 million for fiscal years 2025-2026 to implement the strategy.
Who Benefits and How
- Artisanal and small-scale (ASM) miners in Latin America gain access to formalization assistance, skills training, financing, mercury-free refining technologies, and pathways out of illicit actor control.
- U.S. gold supply chain companies benefit from new responsible sourcing partnerships, traceability systems, and certification processes that facilitate contact with vendors of legally sourced gold.
- Latin American governments (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru) receive technical assistance for anti-money laundering frameworks, law enforcement capacity building, and sanctions implementation.
- Indigenous communities and affected populations benefit from protections against human trafficking, forced labor, and environmental contamination from illicit mining.
- U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies gain expanded international cooperation frameworks for tracking illicit gold flows and financial crimes.
Who Bears the Burden and How
- Transnational criminal organizations, drug traffickers, and terrorist groups (ELN, FARC defectors, El Tren de Aragua) face disrupted revenue streams, financial investigations, and targeted sanctions.
- The Maduro regime in Venezuela faces increased scrutiny, asset tracking, and sanctions on officials engaged in illicit gold commercialization.
- Foreign persons controlling commodity trading chains linked to illicit actors lose access to U.S. territory, markets, and financial systems.
- The Ortega-Murillo government in Nicaragua faces disruption of illicit gold trade networks through punitive measures.
- Federal taxpayers bear the cost of up to $10 million in authorized appropriations.
Key Provisions
- Directs the Secretary of State to develop a comprehensive Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Strategy within 180 days, with semiannual briefings to Congress
- Requires a classified briefing within 90 days on illicit gold mining activities in Venezuela and its gold trade with Turkey and Iran
- Establishes coordinated international financial investigations to track assets linked to Venezuelan money laundering
- Creates a public-private partnership modeled on the Swiss Better Gold Initiative for responsible gold value chains
- Authorizes up to $10 million for FY2025-2026 implementation
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Establishes and implements a multi-year Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Strategy to combat illicit gold mining in the Western Hemisphere, targeting transnational criminal organizations, terrorist groups, and the Maduro regime in Venezuela, while promoting responsible artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) formalization.
Key Policy Areas
Foreign Affairs, Law Enforcement, Trade, Environment, Finance
Primary Purpose
Establishes and implements a multi-year Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Strategy to combat illicit gold mining in the Western Hemisphere, targeting transnational criminal organizations, terrorist groups, and the Maduro regime in Venezuela, while promoting responsible artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) formalization.
Policy Domains
United States Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Act
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Artisanal and small-scale gold miners in Latin America
- U.S. gold supply chain and jewelry companies
- Latin American governments (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru)
- Indigenous communities affected by illicit mining
- U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies
- Environmental protection organizations
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Transnational criminal organizations and drug traffickers
- Maduro regime in Venezuela
- Foreign commodity traders linked to illicit actors
- Ortega-Murillo government in Nicaragua
- Federal taxpayers
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
John Cornyn
R-TX | Primary Sponsor
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Cornyn (for himself and Mr. Kaine) introduced the following …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Department of State, Department of the Treasury, Latin American governments (Colombia, Peru) receiving capacity building
Department of State faces effects in multiple directions
Positive-direction: Latin American governments (Colombia, Peru) receiving capacity building, Latin American governments receiving sanctions framework assistance
Negative-direction: Department of the Treasury, Maduro regime and Venezuelan state gold enterprises (Minerven), Maduro regime in Venezuela, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Officials of the Maduro regime engaged in illicit gold commercialization, Ortega-Murillo regime in Nicaragua, U.S. representatives at multilateral institutions and development banks
Transnational criminal organizations and drug traffickers in gold supply chains, Transnational criminal organizations involved in illicit gold mining
Foreign commodity traders controlling supply chains linked to illicit actors, Foreign persons laundering illicit gold assets linked to terrorists and drug traffickers
Artisanal and small-scale gold miners in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, Artisanal and small-scale gold miners seeking formalization
U.S. companies sourcing responsibly mined gold, U.S. gold refining and jewelry companies practicing responsible sourcing
Gold certification and traceability service providers
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_president"
- → President of the United States
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of State
- "the_administrator"
- → Administrator of USAID
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A form of mining common in the developing world that employs rudimentary, low-cost extractive technologies and manual labor, is frequently subject to limited regulation, and often features harsh and dangerous working conditions.
Includes persons on lists of US-designated foreign terrorist organizations, specially designated global terrorists, significant foreign narcotics traffickers, OFAC blocked persons, and drug trafficking organizations.
Private sector organizations, industry representatives, and civil society groups representing communities in areas affected by illicit mining and trafficking of gold, including indigenous groups.
State, Treasury, DHS (CBP, ICE), DOJ (FBI, DEA), Interior, USAID, and other agencies designated by the President.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology