Why the change of heart? During the past six weeks I’ve had the opportunity to work with the Fairtrade Foundation and find out about jewellery made with Fairtrade Gold is a symbol of love the world-over and never more so than on Valentine’s Day. But look behind the glitz and the reality is not so glamorous. Ninety per cent of the labour force involved in gold mining is made up of small-scale miners. An estimated 100 million people worldwide rely on small-scale mining for their livelihoods and yet it remains one of the most dangerous and precarious jobs in the world, with miners among the most unfairly treated.
And, as most mining laws are geared towards large-scale industrial mining, small-scale mining is on the whole conducted informally. That means poor or no regulation and little support for miners who want to mine responsibly. Many of these miners earn less than $1 a day and work in extremely poor conditions (including mishandling of hazardous materials such as mercury and cyanide) that can compromise both their health and the environment. But there’s a light at the end of the mining tunnel...
No comments:
Post a Comment