Unearthing Security Challenges: Securing Mining Operations in Colombia

While working in the Office of Global Security (OGS) at Goldman Sachs I was fortunate enough to lead the firm’s security efforts at the coal mines they owned in Colombia at the time. Although I left the firm ten years ago, and they have long since divested the mines, I still keep in touch with the team we had in place there – Some are still working with the mines.

Supported by a great team, the innovative tools, techniques, and solutions I applied there offered me incredible experience I have since applied across every type of asset class in every type of environment. The entire effort is a firm reminder that all effective security, regardless of the ultimate countermeasures selected and the program implemented, starts with carefully assessing the risk and designing a program that adheres to the fundamentals of physical security, protection, and overall risk management.

With mine sites covering more than 12 square miles in northeastern Colombia, hundreds of miles of railroad (co-owned by the mining companies) and road (paved and unpaved) routes that were both critical to our logistical operations; office exposure in Bogota and Barranquilla, and port operations along the northern Colombian coast, the security program was as sophisticated, in-depth, and complex as they get.

All of the work was done in about four years between 2010 – 2013 using the best resources at the time, although with a lot of improvisation due to the sometimes inhospitable conditions. However, when I look at how far security has come over these last 10 years, I think about how much more effective and efficient we would be today while adhering to the same fundamentals and mitigating the same level of risk.

Over the next few weeks, I hope to post several articles on the entire program as it was back then, the challenges we overcame, and how I would approach it today.

I’ll start with this short video of our mounted Securitas patrol, in July 2012, getting ready to start their shift. They would go out every day, late afternoon, for a dusk patrol of the areas that we weren’t able to cover on foot, via dirt bike, or had been recently flooded.