Can Illegally Mined Gold Suppress Prices?

The blistering report about Elemetal relied upon information from investigators for the Chilean government, which had been tracking one of the company’s sources on the continent because of suspicions that he was taking illegal gold—perhaps mined in the Amazon using mercury as a catalyst, a very pollution-intensive process—and re-smelting it himself into “Good Delivery” bars that looked legitimate. The report cast some doubt on the innocence of Elemetal employees, who claimed to know nothing about the illegal activity further down its supply chain. The press in South America has been covering the problem for the past two years.
http://blog.gainesvillecoins.com/2017/05/05/can-illegally-mined-gold-suppress-prices/