Blog
The Link between Fairmined Certification and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals
Since 1992, the issues of development and the environment have been topics of discussion, starting with the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, also known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro that same year. Afterwards the United Nations...
Four lessons on communicating good practices in artisanal and small-scale mining
(c) Photographies: Lise Remon, ARM and Eduardo Martino. The artisanal and small-scale mining sector (ASM) faces a lot of problems and many times positive experiences are not spread. Gabriela Flores analizes how efective communications can help mining communities to...
Child Labor in Mining – From Regulations to Field Experiences
Child labor prevents children and adolescents from exercising their right to education, and it infringes upon their right to health. It hinders their right to leisure and recreation, thus robbing them of their childhood. It constitutes a serious violation of the...
Achievements and challenges in the Fairmined Certification System
The Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) developed the Fairmined Standard to create opportunities for artisanal and small-scale mining organizations (ASMO), helping them to transform into responsible organizations regarding their economic, technological and...
New Year’s resolution: Information for formalization
ASM formalization is a challenge to all gold producing countries. Results vary greatly, but in general, ASM continue to be predominantly informal. One, but most definitely not the only cause for this, is the lack of accurate and timely information for miners, for...
Artisanal gold miners are the new ‘COPitalists’
As a Parisian, last month was a real example of life with its mixed feelings, bumps, fights and victories. Thirty days ago our lives were hit by the dramatic Bataclan shootings. Violence was next door as almost every Parisian knew somebody who was in the attacked...
Between legality and legitimacy: which is more important?
For those of us who have been immersed in the world of small-scale mining for years, it is common to ask this question while trying to understand the historical, economic, ethnic, environmental and social contexts that affect the idiosyncrasies of our people and...
Take significant action for development: switch to new wedding rings!
When you have a closer look at the environmental cost of gold extraction and balance it with its usefulness, you conclude that you would rather leave it in the earth’s crust and use recycled gold or an alternative metal when possible. Mining is essential to our lives....
Governance and corruption in the management of natural resources. What does The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) propose?
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative–EITI–, is an international agreement whose state members voluntarily commit to regularly report information about the payments received from the oil, mining and other extractive companies operating in their...
How the Fairmined Standard fits within the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility
In the general field of national and international press as well as public policy, the issue of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is considered mainly a concern of large firms, and particularly in the case of the mining sector, it usually aims at large-scale...
An intercultural approach on ASM formalization
Mining is part of the culture and way of life of many Afro-Colombian communities. Chapter V of Law 70/1993[1]of the National Constitution establishes that the Community Councils, as administrative bodies of the collective Afro-Colombian territories, have stewardship...
The Stone Age did not end for lack of stone… Where’s the Mining Sector heading?
In September this year the UN member states will subscribe the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Product of a robust participatory process, the SDGs will frame international development priorities for the next fifteen years. How to make SDGs an opportunity for the...
Ebola, Diamonds and the Survival of the Kono People
Repost from www.estellelevin.com written by Babar Turay The artisanal mining pits are generally empty, and the miners are tuned to the BBC for European football match results. In the face of Ebola, some youths in the Kono District of Sierra Leone have braved the...