Bay Area jewelers push for fairtrade, fairmined gold standards

Ethical Metalsmiths promotes a gold monitoring system that ensures miners are paid a fair price for their work and that avoids environmental problems often associated with gold mining. Large-scale mining is primarily practiced by companies in the U.S., Canada and Australia and involves blasting whole mountainsides and transporting the crushed ore to plants where the gold is leached from the dirt using cyanide. Small-scale artisanal mining, which is primarily practiced in African countries, involves a process called mercury amalgamation where miners isolate gold from ore by mixing it with mercury and burning the slurry in a process that creates air pollution. Small-scale miners abroad often don’t receive a fair price for their gold, speakers at the gallery said.
https://oaklandnorth.net/2012/11/29/bay-area-artists-push-for-fairtrade-fairmined-gold-certifications/