Fair trade gold: a tremendous opportunity for social progress

While in developed countries the supply of fair trade products - so beneficial to the producing countries - has become widespread for some commodities (coffee, bananas, cotton, etc.), the story is quite different with gold.

This is all the more regrettable in that artisanal gold mining is practiced by more than 15 million individuals providing the livelihoods of over 60 million people in more than 50 countries in the poorest regions of the world. Every day, millions of artisanal miners face dangerous working conditions, inadequate and unproductive low-tech solutions, economic exploitation, health hazards, pollution and environmental abuses.

Placing Man back in the center
of the gold economy

Faced with this situation, the introduction of the fair trade economic model in the artisanal mining world presents a tremendous opportunity for the economic and social development of these individuals. By allowing these artisanal miners to organise, giving them access to key markets and global opportunities, fair trade enables them to live with dignity from the fruits of their labour while carrying out their activities in a responsible manner.

Fair trade gold is one way put Man back at the centre of a mining economy in which 90% of all production truly benefits only 10% of the workforce.