S. 799 — United States Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Act

This section states nine congressional findings on the illicit mining, trafficking, and commercialization of gold in the Western Hemisphere, including its negative economic, social, environmental, and security impacts; involvement of transnational criminal organizations, drug traffickers, terrorist groups (e.g., ELN), and illegal armed groups; and use of international supply chains for smuggling, money laundering, and asset flows. The findings cite data showing more than 70% of gold mined in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru and about 80% in Venezuela as illicit—much of the latter sold through networks benefiting the Maduro regime—and detail Nicaragua's 2021 gold exports valued at $989 million, including $898 million to the U.S., $48.7 million to Switzerland, $39 million to the United Arab Emirates, and $3.62 million to Austria.

This section defines terms for purposes of the Act, including (1) appropriate congressional committees (i.e., Senate Committees on Foreign Relations and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; House Committees on Foreign Affairs and Financial Services); (2) artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), as rudimentary, low-cost mining operations typically using manual labor, limited regulation, and dangerous conditions; (3) illicit actors, encompassing persons on U.S. lists of foreign terrorist organizations, specially designated global terrorists, significant foreign narcotics traffickers, blocked persons, and drug trafficking organizations; (4) key stakeholders, as private sector, industry, and civil society representatives (including indigenous groups) committed to the Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Strategy; (5) Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Strategy (Strategy), as the strategy required under section 4 of the Act; and (6) relevant federal departments and agencies (i.e., State, Treasury, Homeland Security including Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Justice including FBI and DEA, Interior, USAID, and other agencies designated by the President).

This section directs the Secretary of State, in coordination with relevant federal departments and agencies, to develop a comprehensive, multi-year Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Strategy to combat illicit gold mining in the Western Hemisphere. The strategy must include policies, programs, and initiatives (1) to interrupt linkages between artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) and illicit actors; (2) to deter ASM in environmentally protected areas to prevent contamination of water, soil, forests, and health-impacting aerosols; (3) to counter financing of illicit mining and related actors through due diligence and responsible sourcing, U.S. market and financial sanctions on linked foreign persons, anti-corruption efforts, and support for anti-money laundering (AML) oversight; (4) to build capacity of foreign law enforcement to address ASM linkages to money laundering, human trafficking, forced labor, cross-border gold and hazardous materials smuggling, and related surveillance; (5) to implement 2017 and 2018 memoranda of understanding with Peru and Colombia; (6) to enhance regional AML cooperation, intelligence sharing, mining-sector transparency, and compliance; (7) to support foreign governments in ASM licensing, formalization, regulated cultural mining as job growth, and environmental standards; (8) to engage the mining industry on best practices and technologies; (9) to establish gold supply chain due diligence, tracing, tracking, and certification per OECD guidance; (10) to engage civil society on reducing ASM environmental impacts including mercury use, deforestation, illegal dams, water/soil pollution, and toxic dust; (11) to aid ASM miners in formalization, mercury-free technologies, cost reduction, and breaking from illicit actors; (12) to interrupt Nicaragua's illicit gold trade using authorities under E.O. 14088 (Oct. 24, 2022); (13) to assist local journalists investigating illicit gold activities; and (14) to promote responsible sourcing and due diligence.

This section directs the Secretary of State, or the Secretary's designee, in coordination with the Director of National Intelligence, to provide a classified briefing not later than 90 days after the date of enactment to the appropriate congressional committees, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence describing (1) illicit gold mining activities—including mining, trafficking, and commercialization—inside Venezuela by illicit actors such as defectors from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and members of the National Liberation Army (ELN); and (2) Venezuela's illicit gold trade with foreign governments, including Turkey and Iran.

This section directs the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Attorney General, and Western Hemisphere partners, to (1) lead international financial investigations to identify and track Venezuelan assets linked to money laundering and illicit activities, including mining, by sharing intelligence as appropriate; and (2) provide technical assistance to Latin American governments to establish sanctions frameworks targeting (A) Maduro regime officials engaged in illicit gold mining, trafficking, and commercialization and (B) foreign persons laundering such assets linked to designated terrorist and drug trafficking organizations.

This section directs the President, in implementing the Strategy required by section 4, to instruct U.S. representatives to relevant multilateral institutions and development banks, as well as U.S. ambassadors in the Western Hemisphere, to use U.S. influence to foster international cooperation in achieving the Act's objectives, including (1) marshaling resources and political support and (2) encouraging the development of policies and consultation with key stakeholders.

This section directs the Secretary of State, in coordination with the governments of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and other democratically elected governments in the region, to consult with Switzerland on best practices from the Swiss Better Gold Initiative (i.e., a public-private partnership to improve transparency and traceability in the international gold trade) and to establish a public-private partnership to advance those practices through programming in participating countries that (1) supports formalization of and compliance by the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) gold sector with existing environmental and labor standards; (2) increases awareness of financing access for ASM gold miners formalizing operations; (3) enhances traceability and establishes certification for ASM gold; (4) supports a public relations campaign promoting responsibly sourced gold; (5) includes local civil society representatives to obtain free and informed consent from communities on lands with mining potential; (6) facilitates contacts between vendors of responsibly sourced gold and U.S. companies; and (7) promotes policies conducive to ASM formalization and adherence to international best practices. The section further directs the Secretary or USAID Administrator, without delegation and in coordination with participating governments, to host a meeting with senior private sector representatives and international governmental and nongovernmental partners to make commitments improving due diligence and increasing responsible gold sourcing.

This section authorizes appropriations of not more than $10 million for FY2025 and FY2026 to the Department of State to implement the Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Strategy developed pursuant to section 4.