In this animated video produced by the planetGOLD project in Indonesia, Awam Prakoso, a well-known storyteller in Indonesia, explains to young viewers the dangers of exposure to mercury through a story about two young boys who want to play soccer near a small-scale gold mine. The story tells children to stay away from any potentially polluted areas and articulates the need for small-scale mining to move away from mercury use.
Artisanal mining should not be shunned or left to collapse post COVID-19 because the sector has a direct impact on the livelihoods of many vulnerable urban and peri-urban communities.
Revenue from mining dropped from $2.24 million in April 2019 to just $0.33 million in April 2020 – an 85% decline year on year, according to mines ministry figures seen by Reuters.
In this paper, the AGC announces its three signal interventions for dealing with the crisis in ASGM communities brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic: (i) Supply Chain Reform Project – a project to restart and reform artisanal gold supply chains; (ii) Health In Gold Out – a project to deliver health assistance via this gold stakeholder network; and (iii) Artisanal Gold Prices Database – a project to monitor these interventions via a worldwide database of artisanal gold prices.
By combining their expertise in the areas of preventing child labor, improving working conditions and providing a clear path to market, Fairphone aims to work with ASM in Uganda to establish a sustainable, traceable gold supply chain that creates a better future for miners and their families.
Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) activities have been hit hard by the coronavirus and the ongoing nationwide curfew, as miners and investors contemplate on the future of the sub-sector. Among them is artisanal mining based partnership projects by mining consultancy firm -EcoCentric, which have been postponed.
This guide is an important step to better understanding the conflict dynamics and underlying issues between large-scale and small-scale mining. This guide for action not only points to some of the challenges that both parties need to deal with in order to build a more constructive relationship, but most importantly it sheds more light on some potential interventions for conflict prevention, management, and even transformation.
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