Fair Trade Gold & Platinum
CRED uses gold and platinum from small scale miners, Oro Verde™, in Columbia. It is mined without using any chemicals under stringent social and environmental criteria, independently audited and the miners receive a premium on the price. The premium enables them to live better, send their kids to school, put food on the table and develop their communities.
There is currently no fairtrade mark for gold, however, the standards that the CRED gold and platinum are mined to have formed the basis of the criteria for the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO), and they are currently auditing our partners ready for the launch of the Fairtrade mark on gold in Feb 2011. We are excited to be part of making this happen.
About fair trade gold & platinum from Oro Verde™
The Corporación Oro Verde is a collective of community, sustainability and environmental organisations from the Choco region of Columbia. Together they work with 12 Afro-Columbian communities to support small-scale alluvial mining operations. Oro Verde™ have pioneered an environmentally sustainable, socially responsible form of artisanal mining that seeks to preserve the unique and vital virgin rainforest ecosystems while providing a fair, regular source of income to miners, their families and their communities.
Oro Verde™ created the first Certified Green Gold programme in the world. Mines, miners and metals are independently audited by IIAP. This process ensures that all the Gold and Platinum sourced by Oro Verde™ is independently certified as Fairly Traded. As founder members of the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM), Oro Verde™ and CRED have been working with the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation (FLO) towards the creation of the world’s first “Fairtrade Gold” standard.
We have been working with Oro Verde™ since 2003 and were the first retailer in Europe to sell Oro Verde™ certified Green Gold. Their two-track approach of supporting indigenous mining communities while restoring vital ecosystems is exactly the ethical, responsible focus that we seek in all we do. CRED personally visits Oro Verde™ every year, so we are not relying on third hand reports.
We are proud to say that all our Gold and Platinum is Oro Verde™ certified Fair Trade, and through CRED Sources we help to supply other designers, jewellers and retailers with this ethical eco gold.
If there is not yet a fairtrade mark, why do we call it fair trade gold?
The fairtrade mark launching in 2011 will be a stamp into the gold which certifies that the gold has been mined and produced to agreed standards set by FLO and ARM. Each piece will be fully traceable and come with certification. The fairtrade gold standard has been agreed and set - download the full details
The gold that we source now from Oro Verde™ follows fair trade principles – ensuring premium pay for workers to invest in the lives of small producers, workers, their families and communities. It is independently monitored and meets the FLO and ARM standards on which the new fairtrade mark will be based. However, we want to go beyond this to also incorporate environmental aspects.
Oro Verde™ producers are also paid an ecological premium as their gold is mined without use of chemicals, ensures reforestation and ecological restoration and is therefore produced at a higher cost.
The benefits of small-scale mining
The ratio of societal value in large-scale mining is much lower than in small-scale mining. Small-scale mines employ more people rather than being mechanised, don’t use up deposits as quickly and the revenue stays in the community. Small scale mines tend to be where there are richer deposits, and are more accessible, for example where gold has come to the surface through erosion such as on riverbeds or in mud.
There are an estimated 100 million families and dependants involved in small-scale mining throughout the world. Artisanal and small-scale miners produce just 15% of global gold supplies, but make up 90% of labour in gold extraction. Through Fairtrade and Fairmined certification, miners can improve their economic, social and environmental conditions.