Based on the analysis of the case of Suárez, Cauca, three key moments in the Colombian mining scene from 2002 to 2015 are presented: the 2002 mining concession fair, the strengthening of organizational processes, and the territorial control on the part of armed groups and criminal organizations. These moments make evident the neoliberal state discourse deployment on the mining policy and the particular characteristics it has been acquiring since its implementation. All these elements serve to establish the peculiarities shaping the mining practice in Colombia, which also render its classification as a case of neo-extractivism more complex.