The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) says it is recognizing a small-scale mining benchmark as a responsible mining standard under its chain of custody (CoC) certification.
The move looks to provide incentive for artisanal producers to become certified under Part A of the Fairtrade and Fairmined Standard. The concern is they may be pushed further into informal or illegal supply chains, as more focus downstream in the supply chain is put on conflict-free metals.
“The review of the producer requirements in the Fairtrade and Fairmined standard has found it to be comparable to the RJC Code of Practices standard in its positive impact on artisanal and small-scale miners,” said RJC chief executive officer (CEO) Michael Rae.
“Alliance for Responsible Mining’s (ARM’s ) and Fairtrade Labelling Organizations’ (FLO’s) standard contributes to the formalization and professionalization of the artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASM) sector, and RJC is pleased the CoC standard can help further promote certification of ASM producers.”
About 15 million artisanal and small-scale miners around the world—including women and children—produce 200 to 300 tonnes of gold each year. This accounts for 90 per cent of the work force in mining gold and 10 per cent of the metal’s global supply. The miners are at the bottom of the pyramid and represent one of the worst forms of child labour, although in many cases, the children are working with their families.
