/1 The #COVID19 pandemic hits the world’s most vulnerable populations, including informal gold miners. According to @Reuters, miners are “selling gold at almost 40% discounts as measures to curb the coronavirus crimp supply routes and dry up funding”.

So what's up in Venezuela? https://twitter.com/MarcenaHunter/status/1245614816598749185

/2 The multilayered crisis in Venezuela has driven hundreds of thousands to the mines run by non-state armed groups and crime syndicates in the southern regions of the country. Subsequently, Venezuela spectacularly increased its (informal) gold production.

/3 For more context on mining conflicts in Venezuela check our @CrisisGroup report:

https://www.crisisgroup.org/latin-america-caribbean/andes/venezuela/073-gold-and-grief-venezuelas-violent-south @ICGlatam

/4 Most of the gold is trafficked across the borders of neighboring countries and subsequently funneled into their respective ‘legal’ supply chains. Many Venezuelan refugees, for example, smuggle the gold over informal crossings to Colombia:

https://smugglersparadise.infoamazonia.org/story/refugees  @InfoAmazonia

/5 The recently closed border with Colombia and the increased insecurities on the informal crossings diminish the flow of contraband gold. It’s harder to get USD into Venezuela and more difficult to get the gold out.

/6 Informal or subsistence miners usually have no savings and work to feed themselves and their families. Lower gold prices severely impact their livelihoods and make them less resilient while coping with extreme hardships in Venezuela.

/7 Gold shops in the Colombian border city of Cúcuta are a huge hub for Venezuelan contraband gold. Most shops are now closed and dealers are not buying because of the quarantine. Nevertheless, one dealer told me today that the price for a gram of gold decreased from $44 to $32.

/8 Gold prices plummeted in Venezuela's mining areas. Today, analyzed and smelted gold is bought for $25-32 a gram in Bolívar state. In Jan./Feb. the local price fluctuated around $40. On-site, miners are paid much less.

Market price today: $52.

/9 People with $$ in have an opportunity to cheaply stock up on gold and get very rich in the future.

Just as gold kingpin Alain Goetz told @Reuters: "For gold dealers, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, but only if you can get it out of Africa and turn it into cash."