Who’s behind your gold? In this category we introduce the people, cooperatives and projects behind Fairtrade, Fairmined and SMO certified gold. Plus insights into small-scale mining, development work and tangible impact.
Aidalid Vergara and her colleagues belong to the Asociacion Agrominera Unida por Mindalá (AGROMIN), a women’s cooperative in Colombia. They are so-called “barequeras” and wash gold from riverbeds – a hard job.
Ten mining cooperatives have joined forces under the umbrella organization. These include San Juan de Dios di Pam, Halcon de Oro, Municipal de Ananea, and the Minera Santiago de Ananea.
Women do not usually work directly in the tunnels because, according to tradition, this could bring bad luck to the mine.
In the south of Peru lies the district of Ananea in the province of Puno, about
4,700 meters above sea level. The area is characterized by cold and
snowy weather with temperatures between -10 °C to + 10 °C.
The SOTRAMI mining cooperative is located in Santa Filomena, a small village in the Atacama desert in southern Peru. In the 1980s, as a result of an economic crisis, the region was increasingly populated by miners who tried their luck prospecting for gold in abandoned mine shafts.
