Resources

The paper includes a case study of an informal ASM-affected community located in the Western Region of Ghana. A two-phase mixed-method approach consisting of literature reviews, questionnaires, interviews, and water quality assessments was employed.

This work provides an environmental analysis of policy enforcement that includes long-term monitoring of mining activity and recovery, with findings relevant to policymakers in Amazonian countries and around the world experiencing increases in alluvial gold mining.

Training material consists of 6 topics with a total duration of 12 hours. Training topics include:

• Change your mindset!
• You are an entrepreneur!
• Legal liability and insurance
• Income and cost accounting
• Developing your partnership and business planning
• Mutual savings group

This handbook documents the technologies that the planetGOLD Kenya project proposes to demonstrate in their six gold processing training sites in Kakamega, Vihiga, Migori, and Narok counties.

In this study, the authors estimate the impact of the Fairmined certification scheme on the well-being of participating artisanal and small-scale gold miners in Colombia and Peru. The results indicate that, on average, Fairmined certified miners enjoy higher well-being scores than those who do not belong to a certified mining organization.

A growing number of governments and donors are promoting the formalization of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). They believe that doing so puts them in a better position to govern the sector, and manage the social and environmental impacts of its activities. This paper reflects critically on attempts made to formalize ASM in Madre de Dios in Peruvian Amazonia. 

This document has been prepared by the Artisanal Gold Council to provide basic practical guidance for the environmentally sound storage, handling, and transport of liquid mercury and mercury wastes in Peru, particularly wastes consisting of used elemental mercury and mercury contaminated materials.

This study discusses a method to detect inconsistencies in data on global mercury trade, and calculated the gap between the demand and supply of mercury to the artisanal and small-scale gold mining sector (i.e., the largest source of Hg emissions globally) in 39 countries across four regions. 

This paper shows for the first time that an intact forest canopy near artisanal gold mining intercepts large amounts of particulate and gaseous mercury, at a rate proportional with total leaf area. The study documents substantial mercury accumulation in soils, biomass, and resident songbirds in some of the Amazon’s most protected and biodiverse areas, raising important questions about how mercury pollution may constrain modern and future conservation efforts in these tropical ecosystems.

This is the final thematic report of James Anaya, the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, to the Human Rights Council. Building upon previous reports, it addresses the human rights concerns of indigenous peoples relating to extractive industries.