Abstract Illicit trade in gold, mainly sourced from South America and Africa, is used to fund criminal activities such as the drug trade. Laundering money through the purchase of illicit gold, then having it refined and being paid for in clean funds is a major problem, and drives further growth in illicit mining. In order to restrict the influx of illicit gold into the legal domain, it is necessary to be able to identify the traded item as being of a licit or illicit nature. The only way that this can be done with any certainty is by determining, from its chemical composition, the source of the gold and the means by which it has been processed and upgraded. The example dealt with here shows how the use of compositional, processing and geological knowledge is able to discriminate gold from different origins. Data derived from a physical sample is far better able to constrain the source than a paper trail of certification, which can be manipulated.

ABSTRACT Perla gas field is a world-class giant and one of the most significant in Latin America in the last decade. The field was discovered in August 2009. It is the largest gas field in Latin America with approximately 17 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas in place, or 3.1 BBOE. The field, located in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Venezuela, was discovered, and is operated by Cardon IV S.A., a 50/50 joint operating company formed by Repsol and Eni. The Perla discovery is important because it is a Play opener for the southern Caribbean domain, triggering a new exploration cycle in the region and proving a previously unknown Tertiary thermogenic petroleum system. The discovery well encountered a thick carbonate section (240 m [787 ft] thick) with excellent primary reservoir properties. The trap is a combination structural and stratigraphic, defined by a northwest–southeast trending asymmetric faulted structure and pinch-out of the carbonate reservoir rock to the north. The proven hydrocarbon column exceeds 350 m (1148 ft) and is in complete hydraulic continuity, and the structural-stratigraphic closure exceeds 100 km 2 (39 mi 2 ).