Unearth Justice Update – Gold Mining
Many of you may have seen the recent Channel 4 Dispatches programme, ‘The Real Price of Gold’, and so we wanted to update you on our work in relation to mining and how you can help.
In the UK
CAFOD supporters can be rightly proud that they were the first campaigners to raise the issue of dirty gold with jewellers in the UK. Signing onto the Golden Rules was always a first step in getting the UK jewellery industry to become aware of the problems and start to put pressure on mining companies for higher standards within their supply chains. That is why CAFOD has been consistently pushing ‘traceability’ as a requirement for industry standards since 2006. With full traceability, the customer will have reliable information as to where their gold is from.
CAFOD has also provided support for development of Fairtrade gold, which has shown that traceability is possible. We have given technical input into the development of the Fairtrade and Fairmined gold standard. Find out more about Fairtrade gold in our online Q&As.
CAFOD has continued to keep an eye on the work that is being done by the Responsible Jewellery Council on the industry standards. Many of the jewellers who signed up as a result of CAFOD campaigning are members of this industry body. We have pushed them to do much more to deliver traceability in their response to the problems highlighted in the Golden Rules. Although clearly there is still much further to go, they now recognise the need to develop an approach to ‘chain of custody’. This is a proposed system that would allow a jeweller to show the origin of their gold product. Our input into chain of custody discussion can be found on our website.
Ultimately we must remember that codes are voluntary approaches. This means that we have to balance the time that we spend on industry codes against the time that we spend on working towards changes in the law or helping partner organisations in their discussions with mining companies. The absolute priority for our work is to get big mining companies to improve their practices on the ground.
Honduras update
As part of the Unearth Justice campaign, many supporters will remember how we highlighted the issues that communities in Honduras were facing as a result of the closure of the San Martin mine, in the Siria Valley. We continue to work alongside our partners to influence Canadian company Goldcorp to clean up the San Martin mine site. See our blog for more information.
Experts such as Professor Paul Younger of Newcastle University have played a crucial role in uncovering the evidence of pollution due to acid mine drainage. Thanks to this evidence our partners can refute the claims made by Goldcorp on the quality of the water discharged from the mine in the Dispatches programme.
As yet, we have no absolute certainty that all risk for water pollution by metals released through acid mine drainage has been contained, and so we are monitoring the measures Goldcorp claims to be taking.
We also continue to support many of our partner organisations in other countries, such as Peru and the Democratic Republic of Congo to make sure mining doesn’t just do no harm, but actually contributes to the well-being of poor communities.
What about this idea of recycled gold?
Gold recycling, is important, as it avoids a lot of the negative social, economic and environmental impacts of freshly mined gold. While we would encourage CAFOD supporters in this, we acknowledge that it is only a partial solution, and needs to be done hand in hand with calling on the large scale mining sector to adopt transparent and responsible practices. This is vital because the demand is so high, the drive to mine new gold will continue.
What can I do to support communities affected by mining?
Find out more about the work of the Fairtrade Foundation on Fairmined gold, and visit the Fairtrade website for more information. Use our unique prayer and worship resources on trade and Fairtrade to use individually or with your parish or community.
