A Washington Post investigation about Chinese-led illegal overseas gold mining operations illustrates the environmental and social dangers they are bringing to communities worldwide, and a lack of ability to curtail them.

The Chinese government's efforts to increase its gold reserves have reportedly led to greater investment by Chinese citizens in global gold mining. However, much of this investment involves unlicensed operations by private investors in gold-rich countries.

With little to no regulatory oversight, such illegal operations have led to widespread environmental devastation and deadly accidents throughout these countries. In the province of South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, over 450 such groups are reportedly operating. Meanwhile, a collapse of a gold mine in Mali in February 2025 killed at least 48 people. The use of deadly cyanide for the sake of faster gold processing is also a regular feature of such operations. Since the beginning of 2024, authorities in 15 countries have brought cases against Chinese gold mining entities.

However, requests from these countries to help investigate or rein in such groups have faced denial or silence from Chinese official counterparts. Moreover, Chinese official accounting of its gold purchases also serves to hide the scale of such mining. One report by Goldman Sachs concludes that at times, Chinese central bank gold purchases have been 60 times higher than officially declared, with the implication that much of this gold comes through these illegal operations. Critically, once such gold is smelted together with legally mined gold, it becomes indistinguishable on the world market, making tracing and accountability extremely difficult.

The article highlights one example of how illegal gold mining takes place: in the village of Sekotong in Bali, Indonesia, decades of small scale gold mining by residents has been quickly displaced by the arrival of a much more sophisticated and large scale Chinese mining operation. Since 2022, this illegal operation has sprawled and cleared land across hundreds of acres, while further degrading even larger amounts of forest and farmland through groundwater pollution from cyanide use. At the same time, local small-scale gold miners have lost their means of living as they cannot compete. Eventually, clashes with frustrated local residents led to an official investigation in 2024. However, a year after these investigations began, the mines continue to operate with no end in sight.

The article lists more than 15 countries in South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia where Chinese gold miners are reportedly operating illegally.

This has led gold-rich countries to accuse Beijing of enabling the exploitation of their gold deposits. Chinese officials, including the ambassador to Ghana, have denied these allegations. However, neither the Chinese Foreign Ministry nor the China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporters (CCCMC) have responded to detailed inquiries, and the Chinese Embassy in Washington stated it was unaware of the claims and declined further comment.

In addition, a September 2025 report by Inside Climate News revealed the expansion of Illegal, semi-industrial gold mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 2020, with Chinese nationals and Congolese partners accused of devastating at least 155 miles of rivers and streams in Haut-Uélé province. The Netherlands-based group PAX found that Congolese “artisanal cooperatives” were used as fronts for much larger, Chinese-financed operations protected by army and police units. The report documented river diversions, heavy-machine excavation, and contamination from mercury and cyanide, leaving flooded pits where residents, including children, have drowned. Locals said that forests and farmland were destroyed and water supplies polluted.

This page compiles news articles about illegal gold mines operated by Chinese private investors overseas, as well as the human rights and environmental issues associated with these operations.