Fairtrade and Fairmined gold standards launched

Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) and the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) launches the first ever third party independent certification for gold, opening up market opportunities for millions of impoverished artisanal small-scale miners and their families. The new Fairtrade and Fairmined gold standards will mean that interested licensees can apply for certification of gold products such as jewellery, commemorative coins, ingots, medals, trophies and religious artefacts. An industry market survey of 96 companies across 11 countries identified consumer products such as wedding rings, dress rings, necklaces, earrings and bracelets as potential products. Globally, over 100 million people who depend directly or indirectly on artisanal and small-scale gold mining are characterised by high levels of poverty and are trapped in unfair supply chains, and struggle to get a fair price for the gold they mine.
 

The democratic organisation of miners, combined with added premium and increased access to markets, will allow miners’ organisations to improve the technology and working conditions at their mines, and also to develop community projects in education, health, environmental restoration and other forms of income. The standard was piloted by ARM with nine legally established mining organisations in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru and will now be open to applications for all small-scale and artisanal gold mining organizations in Latin America. As from 2010, ARM will establish a network of pilot projects in Africa, and later in Asia. Fairtrade and Fairmined gold will be initially launched in the UK and then rolled out to other countries with a long term vision of capturing 5 % of the gold jewellery market over a 15-year period, totalling 15 tonnes of Fairtrade and Fairmined gold annually. Fairtrade and Fairmined gold will be co-labelled, bearing both the Fairtrade Mark and the Fairmined Mark in order to present to the consumer the strength of the partnership between the two organisations.

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