Editor’s Note
As demand for ethical sourcing grows across industries, the gold sector is undergoing its own transformation toward transparency and sustainability. This article explores the emerging standards for “clean” gold and the efforts to reform artisanal mining practices.
After responsible fashion, fair-trade cuisine, and sustainable finance, the gold market is also turning towards “clean” practices, aiming to polish its not-always-pure image and eradicate the poor practices of some small-scale operations. Today, genuine standards and certifications exist to guarantee this shift.
Monaco Hebdo discusses this with Selim Fendi, co-director of Aurum Monaco, who has bet on producing responsible gold.
After being tarnished by a number of scandals, such as mercury pollution, child labor in mines, and other armed conflicts around illegal gold panning, the gold industry is now, overall, making a turn towards clean gold, referred to as “responsible” or “ethical.” According to this concept, it involves producing gold first and foremost without the use of mercury. Indeed, to extract gold, major industry players use the cyanidation technique, which is regulated for environmental reasons. But small-scale artisanal operations, termed “small scales” in gold jargon, tend to use the leaching technique, which involves extracting gold using a solvent, most often mercury, leading to disastrous environmental consequences. Clean, ethical, and responsible gold would thus guarantee environmentally respectful extraction methods, as well as better respect for labor rights in operations, such as guaranteeing decent wages, even in small artisanal mines, and the prohibition of child labor. All this is thanks to better traceability efforts, ensured by industry professionals. But should we believe it, when the “responsible” argument is brandished in turn by other industries: “responsible fashion,” “fair-trade cuisine,” “sustainable finance”? All industries, or nearly all, seem to be jumping on the bandwagon, with more or less convincing results and partially binding commitments. Is clean gold, in turn, following the current eco-responsible marketing trend, or is this label genuinely followed by tangible effects on the global market?
Selim Fendi. Co-director of Aurum Monaco
In Monaco, the principality’s sole refinery, launched by Aurum Monaco in 2019, is also dedicated to clean gold. And on the question of the credibility of the clean and responsible nature of the gold market, the company’s director, Selim Fendi, does not sidestep the issue:
Before co-founding Aurum Monaco, which has a production capacity of 75 kg of gold per day in the principality, this boss indeed gained his experience in the gold market, notably in Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates, two key hubs in the sector. In the seven years that Selim Fendi has been interested in clean gold, he has seen all the difficulties facing professionals before turning to responsible production:
Another obstacle to the full development of clean gold would also come from the market itself. Fear would indeed be gripping sector professionals who, by wanting to produce responsible gold, would turn away from small-scale miners, who are more likely to extract the precious metal less cleanly than large-scale ones:
This fear, accompanied by slowness, is also shared by Monaco’s banking sector, including the Monegasque authorities themselves according to Selim Fendi:
Indeed, in the principality, Aurum Monaco is dedicated solely to refining.