©ARM
February 5th, 2016
After great achievements as a Fairmined certified mining organization, including national and international recognition for the gold in the first Nobel Peace Prize in Fairmined Gold, the Colombian Cooperative from Íquira has renewed its certification.
The cooperative recently passed the independent audit by the certification entity IMOSwiss AG meeting the progressive requirements of the Fairmined Standard. To renew the certification the first time, the Standard mainly calls for continued compliance with entry requirements and advanced requirements in terms of working conditions, environmental management and management of the premium that is received from the Fairmined Gold sales. Joining the news, is the fact that a new mercury free processing plant is now also part of the Fairmined System of production of the cooperative.
By recertifying the cooperative yet again shows that it is possible, beneficial and profitable to continue on the path of Fairmined Certification and meet the progressive requirements for the benefit of the company and the community.
“We decided to renew our certification because we are committed to the environment and the community and to showing that responsible mining can be done,” said José Ignacio Perez, the legal representative of the cooperative. “Thanks to the Fairmined Certification we have exported under fair conditions and we have gained international recognition for being certified. We want to keep improving to remain part of the process to achieve just and responsible mining. “
The cooperative has received many benefits from the certification process. According to José Ignacio Perez, the most important benefits have been training in responsible mining practices, the new applied technologies for increased production and environmental protection, the fair price and premium they have invested in improving security matters and their economy as a whole and thus contributed to the development of the cooperative, the community and better planning to achieve their goals as a sustainable organization. Also, four miners who were not part of the cooperative have been motivated to want to join the formalization process and start their mining activities with the final goal of becoming Fairmined certified.
Before the recertifying, the Íquira cooperative received a pre-audit conducted by ARM in which the recertification requirements were reviewed one by one to help the cooperative identify gaps in their compliance.
The cooperative was certified for the first time in 2014 as part of ARM´s project with the Interamerican Development Bank and the Multilateral Investment Fund (IDB-MIF), which began in 2013.
Download full press release here.