[Music] in the early morning Darkness Colombian police get ready for another raid they're not hunting cocaine Labs or kidnappers they're preparing to shut down nine illegal gold mines this is Simon Romero reporting from caucasia Columbia for the New York Times officers say this man is a warlord who profits from mining gold gold has become the newest front in Colombia's seemingly endless internal war with the precious metal selling for high prices and authorities cracking down on cocaine production leftist gorillas and criminal militias are shifting to Gold to fund their operations the police raid provokes Fury in the miners who say they are caught in the middle of a war between the authorities and these illegal militias villagers armed with sticks demand the release of miners arrested in the operation a minor says that it's the government's fault that he and others are forced to pay protection money called vaccines to the armed groups echoing a common suspicion he adds that the point of these operations is to clear miners from the land to make way for foreign mining companies Colombia's illegal gold industry is wreaking environmental Havoc giving these backlands the world's highest level of mercury contamination according to the UN mining has destroyed Forest canopies giving this land a lunares appearance the police haven't found this gold mine yet this is what a 21st century Gold Rush looks like leardo Vias has been mining for gold for the past 25 years since he was 9 years old the 150 workers at this illegal gold mine are the first cogs in a complex chain feeding booming demand for gold an investment used to hedge against economic uncertainty these are Wildcat miners the gold they dig is Theirs to keep but if they find nothing nothing they go home empty-handed here one sees the other side of the coin that these families have made ends meet for Generations working in mins like this one where the mix of gold and conflict is most clearly seen is the recent protest in the small town of anori 5,000 Miners and peasants moved into the town to protest police closures of illegal gold mines the miners say they've come to protest the government but off camera admit that farc Rebels had made assistance in order many here say they stopped harvesting coca the raw material in the production of cocaine to mine gold but they warn they might go back for