(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The notorious drug cartel Clan del Golfo, or Gulf Clan, has been described by Secretary of State Marco Rubio as “a violent and powerful criminal organization.” Its leaders are also on a U.S. financial blacklist.
And yet, the U.S. Mint buys an untold amount of gold that’s sourced from mines controlled by that cartel, according to the New York Times.
In an investigation published Sunday, the Times described how gold from cartel-controlled mines winds up at the U.S. Mint.
In the town of Caucasia, for instance, five-man teams of miners pay the Gulf Clan about $400 per month for permission to do business there. Those miners typically sell their gold to local shops, which also pay the cartel $400 per month.
At the shops, workers melt the gold together and pour it into a mold. “And just like that, the first metamorphosis is complete,” the Times reported.
Shopkeepers are required by the Colombian government to keep ledgers, ostensibly to ensure that the people they transact with mine in authorized areas using only hand tools and no mercury. But in practice, the regulatory system is a farce, according to the Times.
“Workers are not mining only with hand tools. Or in authorized areas … [But] the Colombian authorities rarely examine barequero gold’s origins to determine legality,” the Times reported.
After the gold is melted down, the shops sell it to a government-owned exporter, which then sends it to the U.S.
“The exporter said it checks the same database … verifying that the gold is legal. The gold from La Mandinga is mixed with supplies from around Colombia and melted into bars,” the Times reported. “Export records show that many of them, worth about $255 million over the past year or so, arrive in Texas. There the gold becomes American.”
Once the gold is in the U.S., companies here treat it as American. Companies sell the gold to the U.S. Mint, which sells more than $1 billion of investment-grade gold coins per year.
According to the Times, a full supply chain audit would flag the cartel gold. “But for two decades — a period covering nearly all of the post-Sept. 11 gold boom — the Mint never asked its suppliers where they bought gold,” the Times reported, citing a 2024 Treasury Department inspector general’s report.
The Times said it shared its findings with the Treasury Department, which oversees the Mint. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reportedly said he would investigate the gold procurement practices.
“This review is focused on ensuring that the U.S. Mint’s gold suppliers comply with the law and strictly satisfy their obligations, and that the Mint takes every step possible to continue to vigorously safeguard our national security and uphold market integrity,” he said in a written statement to the Times.
In November 2024, the Wall Street Journal first reported on the Gulf Clan’s gold-mining activities — revealing that the cartel commandeered some 30 miles of tunnels from Zijin Mining Group, a Chinese state-controlled company.
We ran a story back in 2024 about how a Colombian cartel called the Gulf Clan commandeered gold mines from a Chinese firm.
The Times reported today that the US Mint is buying an untold amount of gold that's sourced from this cartel. https://t.co/o2rYFJpSOb pic.twitter.com/TxQMLBRbqJ
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) April 26, 2026
The Gulf Clan reportedly commandeered the tunnels through brute force, forcing Zijin security forces to retreat with explosives and gunfire “in what a company official described as trench warfare.”
“Miners often seize Zijin tunnels by first tossing explosives and shooting at guards,” the Journal said at the time, citing a security guard at the site.
“The miners carry jackleg drills and set off as many as 250 detonations a day to break through rock. Their advance has cost Zijin two of the mine’s three sections,” the newspaper reported at the time.
“The richest and deepest part of the gold mine remains in company hands. Zijin has about 4,500 workers there and at processing centers. The company excavates around 4,000 tons of rock a day, which yields an average of 53 pounds of gold.”
The Gulf Clan also reportedly provides its miners with prostitutes, marijuana and other drugs.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
