News & Voices

Clean technology strategy and technical assistance

The planetGOLD Mongolia project launched a pilot of Artisanal Miners Gender Committee and held a workshop on September 15th, 2022, in Mandal Soum, Selenge Province. The committee will serve as platform for conducting open dialogues on issues and challenges related gender equality and human rights among female and male artisanal miners in the project target area.

After nearly three years of waiting, new artisanal and small-scale mining regulations have been approved by the Government of Mongolia. In September 2019 the Government had suspended key clauses of the ASM regulations until they was revised, leading to a freeze on issuing new ASM land permits and discontinuation of existing mining contracts. The planetGOLD Mongolia project was included in a taskforce led by the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry for revising and developing the new ASM regulations.

To highlight artisanal and small-scale miners' journey to mercury-free, planetGOLD is launching Dispatches From The Field, a short video series featuring some of the unique stories coming out of the countries where we work. Each month over the coming year, we’ll dive into some of the obstacles and barriers that miners have faced, while spotlighting champions that are breaking through these challenges to advance responsible mining and make meaningful change on the ground.

The Republic of the Congo has taken an important step towards a sustainable mining sector, with the launch of a $10.5-million project to reduce the use of mercury by the nation’s artisanal miners. Led by UNEP with the support of the Centre Africaine pour la Santé et l’Environnement (CASE), the new planetGOLD project in Congo will encourage the uptake of mercury-free refining technologies in the artisanal and small-scale mining sector, while improving access to markets and finance for miners and reducing the industry’s environmental impact through sustainable landscape management practices.

Within the framework of PERUMIN 35 and at the invitation of the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MINEM) of Peru, the planetGOLD Peru project installed a gravimetric plant for processing gold without mercury in the stand of the General Directorate of Mining Formalization (DGFM). Likewise, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) shared the results of the study “Women and men of gold” in the first Summit on Diversity and Inclusion.

En el marco del PERUMIN 35, el proyecto planetGOLD Perú, por invitación del Ministerio de Energía y Minas (MINEM), tomó parte en el stand de la Dirección General de Formalización Minera (DGFM) mediante la instalación de una planta gravimétrica para el procesamiento de oro sin mercurio. Asimismo, durante la participación del Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD) en la primera Cumbre de Diversidad e Inclusión, se compartió resultados del estudio “Mujeres y hombres de oro”.

Comunidades mineras, sector privado, academia y entidades gubernamentales comparten opiniones sobre las oportunidades en materia de inclusión financiera en la pequeña minería y minería de subsistencia.

El programa de capacitación integral dura 7 meses y es impulsado por la alianza de planetGOLD Perú, Solidaridad y la Iniciativa Suiza Oro Responsable. Se espera beneficiar a 150 mujeres que forman parte de las 6 asociaciones de seleccionadoras manuales de oro de la base Rinconada en Puno.

Con la participación de 32 mujeres mineras de 13 nodos territoriales de Antioquia, Cauca y Sur de Bolívar, se realizó el 'I Encuentro Red de Mujeres Mineras' en alianza con CFA Cooperativa Financiera y planetGOLD Colombia.

With the aim of reducing environmental pollution caused by the mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in Peru, the planetGOLD Peru and GIRH-TDPS projects, GEF initiatives implemented by the Ministry of Environment (MINAM) with the technical assistance of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), delivered 4 gravimetry pilot plants to reduce the ASGM mercury use in Puno region, located in the south of the country.

Con el objetivo de reducir la contaminación ambiental a causa del uso del mercurio en la actividad de pequeña minería y minería artesanal (MAPE) en Perú, los proyectos planetGOLD Perú y GIRH-TDPS, iniciativas GEF implementadas por el Ministerio del Ambiente (MINAM) con apoyo del Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo (PNUD), inauguraron 4 plantas piloto de gravimetría para reducir el uso del mercurio en la MAPE de la región Puno.