CUMBRE DEL SAJAMA

Pilot Project for the Implementation of a Fair Trade Certification for Gold in Bolivia

Cumbre de Sajama

Start: 1997

Field of action: Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador

Members: 180 people grouped in 6 co-operatives

Created in 1997, Cumbre del Sajama is an interdisciplinary group of professionals working in the mining sector. It provides support for mining through training programmes. It gives particular importance to the integration of women and also promotes sustainable development and corporate social responsibility of mining companies and co-operatives.

Context

Mining is increasingly subject to the influence of the opinion that requires production that has greater respect for Human Rights and the environment.

According to the ILO, between 80 and 100 million people were partly dependent on small-scale mining. The current structure of the market in precious metals and stones does not allow them to achieve a proper standard of living in most cases: the current organization of the market almost always involves the same actors handling the marketing and the refinement of the gold. Very often, small operators do not earn enough money to invest in their activity and can improve neither their production nor their techniques: they frequently use methods that pollute (based on mercury and cyanide, in particular) and in most cases work in dangerous conditions.

Pilot project for a fair trade certification for gold

Cumbre del Sajama is carrying out this project in collaboration with the Association for Responsible Mining (ARM). The objective of this association, created in 2004, is to encourage viable social and environmental practices for small mining structures, to find new outlets for the production and to raise public awareness of small-scale mining.

Currently, there is no fair trade certification for gold. FLO (Fairtrade Labelling Organisations – International) has drawn up specifications that will be tested in the context of the project to see if fair trade certification for gold is possible and feasible. These specifications provide for respect of good environmental practices to preserve the natural environment. They should also allow for improvement of the living and working conditions of the operators in the area. The price for fair trade gold will be based on London’s stock exchange (the London Fix) and on the quality of the gold.

Certification for gold was tested in four Latin American countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador) to test and verify the validity of the certification in the areas of climate, geography and different mining practices. The Fair Trade Centre is financing the implementation of the certification in Bolivia.

In Bolivia, the specifications have been tested in the region of Cotapata, situated in the national park of the same name, which is a large natural national reserve that accommodates most of the operators.

If the entire project concludes, an FLO certification could be adopted, which would open the doors to certification for other precious metals and stones.

The project should also allow increasing public knowledge of small-scale mining and raising public awareness of these topics.