Tropical deforestation is mainly driven by agricultural expansion, land grabbing, illegal logging, urbanization, cattle ranching as well as mining. However, extraction of minerals and its impacts in high biodiversity regions are still poorly known, particularly in Colombia, a tropical megadiverse hotspot. Here, using high-resolution datasets of forest cover changes and detailed geospatial mining data for Colombia, we show a growing contribution of legal mining to national deforestation: 3.4% over the 2001–2018 period, with a peak at 5.6% in 2017. During this period, around 121 819 ha have been deforested inside legal mining concessions, and an estimation of over 400 000 ha deforested by both legal and illegal. Gold and coal are the most important legally-mined materials in Colombia associated to deforestation, particularly in the recent years with 511% and 257% tree cover loss increases respectively (average over 2016–2018 compared to 2001–2015 average of mined material deforestation average). Three Colombian departments summed out ∼70% of the national deforestation occurring in legal concessions: in 2018, up to 23% of deforestation in Antioquia was taking place in legal mines (gold producer). Finally, we found that only 1% (respectively, 3%) of the concessions contribute to 60% (>90%) of the legal mining-related deforestation, mainly driven by large clearings to agriculture. Environmental law enforcement, monitoring activities and engaging the mining industry in effective forest conservation and landscape restoration strategies are urgently needed in Colombia for preserving biodiversity and ecosystem services.

热带森林砍伐主要是由农业扩张、土地掠夺、非法采伐、城市化、养牛场和采矿驱动的。然而，人们对矿物的开采及其对生物多样性高地区的影响仍然知之甚少，特别是在哥伦比亚这个热带大型生物多样性热点地区。在这里，使用哥伦比亚森林覆盖变化的高分辨率数据集和详细的地理空间挖掘数据，我们显示合法采矿对国家森林砍伐的贡献越来越大：2001-2018 年期间为 3.4%，2017 年达到峰值 5.6%。在此期间，合法采矿特许区内约有 121 819 公顷的森林被砍伐，合法和非法砍伐的森林估计超过 40 万公顷。黄金和煤炭是哥伦比亚与森林砍伐相关的最重要的合法开采材料，特别是近年来，树木覆盖率损失分别增加了 511% 和 257%（2016-2018 年的平均值与 2001-2015 年开采材料平均砍伐率的平均值相比）。哥伦比亚的三个部门总结了约 70% 的全国森林砍伐发生在合法特许权中：2018 年，安蒂奥基亚省高达 23% 的森林砍伐发生在合法矿山（黄金生产商）。最后，我们发现只有 1%（分别为 3%）的特许权导致了 60%（>90%）的合法采矿相关森林砍伐，主要是由对农业的大面积清理造成的。哥伦比亚迫切需要环境执法、监测活动以及让采矿业参与有效的森林保护和景观恢复战略，以保护生物多样性和生态系统服务。