Editor’s Note
This article highlights the accelerating global demand for ethically sourced minerals and metals, driven by a collective push for sustainability and transparency across industries. As sourcing practices come under greater scrutiny, traceability is becoming a critical requirement for suppliers worldwide.
In 2025, the global demand for fairmined gold, the Fair Cobalt Alliance, and ethically sourced minerals continues to surge. This transformation is driven by consumers, industries, and governments prioritizing sustainability, transparency, and social responsibility. Across industries as diverse as agriculture, forestry, energy, and infrastructure, suppliers must provide traceability and assurance on sourcing practices. This not only addresses growing regulatory requirements but also meets the values of a new generation of buyers and stakeholders.
Fairmined Gold and the Fair Cobalt Alliance (FCA) are two prominent initiatives that have gained considerable traction in this context. Their components focus on transforming both large-scale and artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) towards equitable, responsible, and sustainable practices—with profound implications across agriculture, forestry, infrastructure, and community development.
The Fairmined Gold certification, managed by the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM), is an internationally recognized standard that ensures gold is extracted under responsible social, environmental, and economic conditions. This initiative primarily focuses on artisanal and small-scale gold miners, who constitute a significant share of global gold production but often operate in unsafe, exploitative, or environmentally damaging conditions.
As demand for ethically sourced gold continues to grow in 2025, Fairmined Gold’s importance has become more pronounced than ever. The certification guarantees:
• Fair wages and safe working conditions for miners
• Support for community development projects—often including investments in local agriculture, education, and healthcare
• Environmentally sound mining practices, such as reducing mercury use, protecting biodiversity, and restoring degraded lands
• Independent, traceable supply chains aligning with sustainability goals
ASM operations constitute a significant share of overall gold production, especially in regions rich in mineral wealth but lacking robust regulatory oversight. In Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia, these regions are often at the crossroads of mining and agriculture, meaning the activities coexist and can directly affect agricultural productivity, soil health, and water quality.
By mandating sound environmental management and supporting restoration of degraded lands, Fairmined Gold helps protect biodiversity, ensure safe working conditions, and reduce the negative externalities traditionally associated with gold extraction. It funds community projects such as soil restoration, water management, and local agricultural development—essential in adjacent areas where mining influences farming and forestry.
• Economic Diversification: Certified mines invest in agroforestry and reforestation projects, reducing the socioeconomic reliance on mining and fostering sustainable growth.
• Community Empowerment: Revenues from Fairmined premiums support local women’s groups, schools, healthcare initiatives, and climate resilience efforts, sustaining community development beyond the mine’s life.
The Fairmined standard mandates extensive environmental stewardship:
• Reducing mercury use—enforcing best practices that both protect workers’ health and reduce emissions into water and soil systems
• Restoring (remediating) degraded lands—returning former mining sites to agricultural or natural use, supporting biodiversity
• Supporting local water management and watershed protection
These initiatives directly benefit the agricultural and forestry sectors in adjacent regions, creating a foundation for long-term sustainability.
Gold-based funding also supports environmental education for miners and local youth—developing future stewards for both natural and business resources.
