Artisanal and small-scale mining involves millions of men and women worldwide, working on an individual basis, in family groups or cooperatives, using relatively simple methods of exploration, extraction and processing.
Responsibly extracted gold from artisanal and small-scale mines is essential to our sourcing strategy, as it allows us to have full traceability from mine to market, while contributing to a positive socio-economic and environmental impact.
The artisanal and small-scale gold we purchase is exclusively sourced from mines located in Peru and Colombia, all participating either in the Swiss Better Gold Association (SBGA) system or in Fairmined and Fairtrade certification schemes.
The Fairmined Standard requires the miners to demonstrate that strict requirements for working conditions (including the prohibition of child labour) social development criteria and environmental protection are maintained during the mining process. We were directly responsible for a number of small scale mines achieving Fairmined certification, provided training, new processing plants and social and environmental support to help mines achieve the certification.
The SBGA, Swiss not-for-profit organisation created by Swiss players in the gold supply chain, from refiners to retailers, aims at creating a simple market-driven mechanism that enables formalized gold miners to adopt more socially inclusive and better environmental practices. Ahead of our commitment to achieving 100% Ethical gold, our Maison joined the SBGA as early as 2017.