The ASM Progress App digital platform, created by the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM), was awarded a US$ 50,000 prize after being selected as one of the winning innovations of the “Artisanal Mining Grand Challenge: The Amazon,” organized by Conservation X Labs.
The awards ceremony took place on December 6 and 7, 2022 in Lima, Peru. With this prize, ARM will continue to work towards the positive transformation of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM) and leverage this innovation for the conversion of ASM, including gold mining, into an environmentally sound and socially fair activity.
“For ARM, taking part in the Conservation X Labs challenge and being a finalist was of great importance. Indeed, this allowed us to consolidate an instrument that we had already started to build: the ASM Progress application, a tool that allows gold buyers to know the progress of mining organizations.
For us, the ASM ProgressApp corresponds to the digitization of our work and of the expertise ARM has developed over the past 18 years. We have been able to integrate information about the progress and needs of the mines in Latin America and Africa into this platform, and the market can access this information.”
Víctor Pachas, ARM’s manager for Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador
ASM Progress App
The ASM ProgressApp, developed in partnership with BetterChain, offers the stakeholders in the sector transparent and reliable information, particularly with regard to their real impact on the conservation of ecosystems and the protection of human rights in mining communities. All this, in accordance with the OECD due diligence criteria and other international standards related to the sector, as well as with the ASM ESG criteria (organizational, environmental, social and governance indicators).
This way, the Alliance for Responsible Mining promotes responsible supply chains at the same time as the positive transformation of ASM through the adoption of more sustainable practices.
Stakeholders interested in using the ASM ProgressApp can contact the Alliance for Responsible Mining team here.
About the Artisanal Mining Grand Challenge: The Amazon
The first round of the Artisanal Mining Grand Challenge took place between 2019 and 2020, and awarded solutions that could be applied to any metal or mineral, anywhere in the world. Prize winners received a total of $750,000 USD in funding, and six teams were selected to develop and test their innovations with partners in the Amazon region through the Amazon CoLab.
Open to a global community of innovators, “The Artisanal Mining Grand Challenge: The Amazon” launched in 2021 and solicited solutions to safeguard ecosystems, protect human health, optimize responsible supply chains, and promote the formalization of miners to achieve social and environmental safeguards. “The Artisanal Mining Grand Challenge: The Amazon” is implemented by Conservation X Labs in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Microsoft, and Esri.