Modern Mining May 2025

The adoption of the RGMPs has raised the standards of responsible mining in the gold industry.

A large portion of gold is now produced under the RGMP principles.

(Source: World Gold Council) and ASM (Source: Open Institute Extractives Program, Migori County, Kenya).

recently established the Gold Principles Group, which brings together 14 global associations across the gold value chain, including three of the world’s leading jewellery associations, refiners, exchanges and national industry bodies, such as the China Gold Association. Together, they strive to advance a set of sustainable and responsible business practices across the supply chain and across the world – from mine to market. Encouraging artisanal miners to adopt responsible gold principles Apart from gold procured from the formal sector, gold is also sourced “outside of that chain of custody”, namely from artisanal/ informal gold producers. The question then arises, how effective are artisanal miners in aligning with responsible gold mining principles? According to Mulligan, for many people, particularly those outside the gold market, the gold sector is not only judged by the actions of the wider mining sector, but also by the activities of the informal gold industry – that is, the artisanal miners.

“As an industry, we must engage with the informal gold segment and encourage alignment with the basic principles of responsible gold mining. A panel discussion on this very topic is being deliberated at Mining Indaba.” The soaring gold price continues to attract hordes of artisanal miners to the gold mining space, which poses a potential risk, “as it accelerates the size of the informal sector, especially the entry of players that do not practice responsible mining. “Informal gold mining, often associated with illegal mining, does in some cases involve elements of wider criminal activity. Over the past few years, there has been an increase in the number of illegal miners entering the fray. However, we need to recognise that these challenges – the drivers of an expanding artisanal sector - are well beyond a particular mine and the gold mining industry, and are often reflections of limited alternative livelihoods, extreme poverty and lack of government capacity to enforce the rule of law. While this talks to large structural issues,

The soaring gold price continues to attract hordes of artisanal miners to the gold mining space.

MAY 2025 | www.modernminingmagazine.co.za  MODERN MINING  11