Artisanal and small-scale gold mining

One of the main areas of OECD's work in the responsible sourcing of minerals is to ensure that international standards do not further marginalise workers of the informal sector. This implies working on the formalisation of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining (ASM).

ASM is a major source of mineral resources production in the world. It is largely informal, and is associated with low levels of safety measures, health care or environmental protection. In this context, the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for responsible mineral supplly chains includes an appendix calling on stakeholders to engage in the legalisation and formalisation of artisanal mining communities.

The objective is twofold:

To build secure, transparent and verifiable supply chains
To ensure that legitimate artisanal mining communities can benefit from ongoing trade in conflict-affected and high-risk areas and to support their development

The OECD also seeks to cooperate with initiatives such as the Global Mercury Partnership to work on the reduction of mercury use for gold production.

Tools that help to advance this agenda include:

The ASM Hub which convenes host and donor governments from OECD and non-OECD countries, the private sector, civil society and other stakeholders, to learn about ASM issues and explore ways to:

support formalisation efforts
enable responsible sourcing of artisanally-mined gold
implement the Gold Supplement to the OECD Due Diligence Guidance

Sourcing Gold from Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining - Frequently Asked Questions

This booklet provides practical guidance and answers frequently asked questions relating to sourcing gold from artisanal and small-scale mining globally.

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