Gold and Chaos in Orinoco

Crime loves a vacuum, and the tribal people of Venezuela’s Southern Bolivar region say years of neglect by the government...

As companies jostle for the chance to rip wealth from the Orinoco region, the natives tribes who have lived there for...

In 2011, as then-President Hugo Chavez nationalized the gold mining industry, the leftist leader claimed he had a new idea...

Using circular motions, Misael Reyes massages soft wet mud over a copper plate, causing it to flow -- and reveal its riches....

High-resolution satellite images provided by DigitalGlobe and Landsat show the devastation caused by illegal mining in the...