S. 797: United States Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Act

This bill requires the Department of State to develop a comprehensive strategy to combat illicit gold mining in the Western Hemisphere, with a focus on artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), a form of mining typified by labor-intensive techniques, dangerous working conditions, and limited regulation.

The required strategy shall include policies, programs, and initiatives to (1) interrupt the linkages between ASM and illicit actors such as drug traffickers and foreign terrorist organizations; (2) deter ASM in environmentally protected areas; (3) build the capacity of foreign civilian law enforcement to counter linkages between illicit gold mining and money laundering, forced labor, sex work, child labor, and trafficking; (4) support efforts by foreign governments to increase regulation of the ASM sector; and (5) interrupt the illicit gold trade in Nicaragua. The strategy must also include policy recommendations for responding to linkages between the government of Venezuela and the illicit mining, trafficking, and commercialization of precious metals and stones.

Additionally, the bill requires the U.S. Agency for International Development to coordinate with democratically elected governments in the region to establish a public-private partnership to improve transparency and traceability in the international gold trade.

Written by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.