Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) Publishes Its New Fairmined Standard
Introduction: This document was sent to ARM stakeholders, but I’m passing it along as many people involved in the ethical sourcing of gold are interested in ARM’s Fairmined Standards. Congratulations to ARM for completing this long and difficult work! Marc Choyt– FJA USA
Today we have the pleasure of announcing the launch of the version 2.0 RC of the FAIRMINED Standard for Gold from Artisanal and Small-scale Mining, including associated precious metals.
We have developed the FAIRMINED Standard for Gold and Associated Precious Metals to support sustainable development of Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM) communities. The standard includes requirements for Artisanal and Small-scale Mining Organizations (ASMOs) to perform responsible mining: formal and legal mining operations, environmental protection, labor conditions, traceability of FAIRMINED minerals, and socio-economic development through FAIRMINED Premium.
Version 2.0 of the standard has a new structure to make the document cleaner and more user friendly. It includes:
- The FAIRMINED Standard (Scope: ASMO’s, first authorized buyer, and down to the point in the supply chain where the FAIRMINED Gold is refined to its pure form)
- A Market Annex (Scope: FAIRMINED operators and licensees)
- A Glossary of terms
This version 2.0 RC, published as “Release Candidate” (RC) version, precedes the final version 2.0, scheduled for release on 01 February 2014. Publishing this version as “RC”, a procedure widely used for launching new software versions, allows us to offer an additional, third and short consultation period of 3 weeks, until January 20th, to receive requests for clarification. The final version 2.0 may then differ slightly from 2.0 RC by minor editorial fixes and additional explanatory notes for clarification where requested, but without more major changes.
We consider Version 2.0 RC to fully reflect the outcome of our two-year revision process and therefore ready for public release and immediate implementation.
Main changes to the standard:
The new Standard remains faithful to its mission of promoting sustainable development through a just FAIRMINED Premium. However, it also gives flexibility for piloting alternative negotiated Premium models for purchases of larger volumes of FAIRMINED certified gold.
This new version of the Standard is applicable from January 1st, 2014. The transition period for already certified ASMOs and operators is of 1 year, starting from the above date. During this period the ASMO or operator may choose between audits according to version 1.1 or 2.0 of the STANDARD.
Find out more about the FAIRMINED Standard at http://communitymining.org/en//our-work/standard-setting
