Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) produces 15–20 % of the world’s gold but provides around 90 % of all jobs in gold mining. We explore the sector’s challenges and potential – and profile mines that practice responsible small-scale mining, for example under Fairtrade or Fairmined, which ban whole-ore amalgamation with mercury.
Gold mining supports more than 100 million people – and in parts of the world it also runs on child labor, displacement and armed violence.
For every gram of gold, industrial mining moves around three tonnes of rock – some 18 tonnes for a single wedding ring. Gold is also
Oro Verde, Spanish for “green gold,” was a community program of Afro-Colombian miners in the rainforest of Chocó, founded in 2000. They recovered gold and
Gold mining is two industries that happen to share a name. One employs around a million people and produces roughly 85 % of the world’s
Around 100 million people worldwide live off artisanal and small-scale gold mining.1 That’s 90 to 95 % of every job in gold mining – from
