In the remote landscapes of the Orinoquía, the Minastyc project is emerging as a revolutionary venture for rare earth mining in Colombia. Behind its supposed economic and technological potential lies a complex web of legal conflicts, international tensions, and territorial disputes.
“This has to be Colombia’s flagship project. It’s the pioneering project that will be an example to the world — proof that we can carry out mining properly and in harmony with the environment, as part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, which is technology,” enthused Juan Guillermo García, a Colombian mining investor and former Navy officer.
García unfolds a paper map and points to several key spots in a mining area called Minastyc, located a short boat ride away on the Orinoco River, just south of Puerto Carreño and facing Venezuela.
“Welcome to Minastyc. This is the pilot project: tantalum, vanadium, neodymium, gold. And as exploration continued, we began finding minerals like rare earths,” García spoke of promising deposits, Colombia’s first potential rare earth mine, a project he called a “unicorn.”
Cheerful and charismatic, wearing snow-sports sunglasses, military boots, and a fisherman’s hat, he marched through a lunar landscape of gray and black volcanic rocks, between savannas marked with holes dug by workers extracting mineral samples.
With over 15 years of experience in a turbulent market of confusing legislation, corruption, and armed groups in some of the most remote corners of the Colombian Amazon and Orinoquía, García has earned a name for himself in harsh environments, while the Minastyc project has been surrounded by controversy. “To have a legal business, as we’re doing and have always done, I had to understand the dark side,” García commented, referring to operating amid informality and illegality.
Minastyc’s story begins in 2010, with Clímaco Silvestre Unda Barrios, a man from the Colombian plains who identifies as a member of the Sáliba people, and his late son — who shared the same name and led the project. The pair applied for a mining title for 2,000 hectares of land a few kilometers south of Puerto Carreño, the capital of Vichada department. The property, later reduced to almost 190 hectares of savanna and lunar-like igneous terrain, was named Minastyc in 2014. Today, Unda Sr. runs a small watermelon farm, selling his produce on Puerto Carreño’s waterfront, along the Orinoco River.
From the outset, the property was embroiled in disputes. In 2016, Unda Sr. signed a preliminary transfer contract with three business executives: Ángel Yezid Naranjo Castillo, Wilson Urrego Linares, and Giovanny Cadavid Pinilla. But a year later, Canadian businessman Kenneth Daniel Fraser signed an agreement with Unda Jr., granting him exclusive rights to extract and sell minerals.
In 2019, the Canadian company Auxico Resources, representing Minampro, entered the picture and began assessing the site’s potential. According to their reports, the company did not limit itself to Minastyc: it also took samples on the Venezuelan side of the border. Between September and December 2020, Auxico signed an advance transfer and mining operation agreement with Unda Sr. worth 750 million Colombian pesos, of which 741 million were paid. The contract stipulated that Unda would fully and exclusively cede the rights derived from the application to formalize the mining title before the National Mining Agency.
In May 2021, sampling revealed high-quality rare earths on the Minastyc site, with rare earth oxide contents above 56%. However, several sources familiar with the project have cast doubt on those results, alleging that minerals from Venezuela could have been planted on the property prior to collection. “I can’t guarantee that the samples they submitted were from Colombia,” said one source, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons. At that time, García was reportedly in charge of the operation. When asked about this, García denied the accusations.
Auxico Resources later announced plans to build a US$116 million rare earth refinery in Santa Marta, one of Colombia’s main ports, and acquired properties adjoining Minastyc, expanding its holdings to 1,482 hectares. In April 2023, it received approval for its Environmental Impact Study. In June that year, it also obtained a two-year environmental license, seemingly paving the way for Colombia’s first rare earth extraction project.
However, serious setbacks followed. In January 2022, Canadian financial regulator Autorité des Marchés Financiers barred Auxico from engaging in securities trading due to disclosure violations. After discovering Auxico’s regulatory problems in Canada, the Naranjo-Urrego-Cadavid trio recovered control of the mine and began working with García in September 2022, as the relationship between him and Auxico broke down. According to Auxico Resources: “After identifying inconsistencies, Auxico terminated its relationship with Minampro and is now focused on stabilizing the project’s situation and ensuring its development in full compliance with Colombian law.
García denounced Auxico and Unda himself filed a complaint with the Puerto Carreño Prosecutor’s Office for threats he received — allegations he confirmed in an interview. “We made the mistake of bringing in a company that later stole the project. They kicked us out and claimed it was theirs. After we left, the project never moved forward, it got stuck.”
In an email response, Auxico Resources denied all allegations of threats by its security contractor, mineral planting or other irregularities: “Auxico Resources entered Colombia with a strong commitment to legality, transparency, and community development. The company was deceived by a third party and responded with diligence and corrective measures. Today, Auxico reaffirms its determination to demonstrate the legitimacy and potential of the Minastyc project through verifiable, ethical, and technical means.”
Meanwhile, Auxico signed a joint venture agreement with Colombia’s Gracor S.A.S. in October 2022, whose “purpose consisted of working jointly on the sale and acquisition, commercialization, and marketing project of tin, tantalum, rare earth, and other mineral concentrates throughout the national territory.” The agreement gave Auxico a 70% share in profits, with the aim of exporting up to 100 tons of mineral with a concentration above 65% per month.
But the partnership was short-lived. On November 1, 2023, Auxico and Gracor signed a termination agreement. According to the document, contractual disputes led to a conciliation hearing in October 2023. Documents reviewed by Amazon Underworld, including correspondence between Auxico Resources and Gracor, show that Auxico accused Gracor of failing to provide certificates of origin for the minerals they purchased. Gracor would also not provide the certificates to Amazon Underworld when requested. Under the settlement, Auxico would hand over 15,140 metric tons of tin held in storage. In exchange, Gracor would reimburse 565.8 million Colombian pesos (US$ 120,772) corresponding to operational advances.
Minastyc’s story continues. In October 2025, García told Amazon Underworld he was preparing his first export, of 15 tons of tin concentrate, while seeking buyers for rare earths. “We haven’t found the right buyer yet. Everyone wants rare earths, but no one will say how much they’re really worth,” he said.
A few months earlier, Unda sat outside his weathered house on a woven PVC chair, gently strumming his guitar, in a cowboy hat and sandals. The holder of the rare earth unicorn project has endured profound personal tragedy: his son, Unda Jr., who was involved in mineral trading, was murdered in a Puerto Carreño bar in 2019, and he lost his daughter during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Unda adjusts his fingers on the strings, loosens his lips and sings a verse from a Juan Gabriel song: “I have no money, nor anything to give. The only thing I have is love to love with.”
Click here to read the full special report The Price of Progress: The Dark Side of Critical Minerals in the Amazon
Lead Researcher
Bram Ebus
Researchers
Daniela Castro, María de los Ángeles Ramírez, Emily Costa, Fábio Bispo, Hyury Potter, Isabela Granados, Natalie Barusso.
Cover and infographics
Laura Alcina
Maps
Natalie Barusso
