MOU Signed Between The Alliance For Responsible Mining (ARM) And Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC)
Organizations agree to collaborate in support of social, environmental, business and labor practices in the small scale mining sector.
The Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) and the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) will work cooperatively on advancing shared objectives to improve social, environmental and labor practices in artisanal and small-scale mining. The groups signed a memorandum of understanding to facilitate constructive dialogue and where appropriate, collaboration between large and artisanal mining operations to create sustainable and fair local opportunities for communities in mineral rich regions, and increasing market access for jewelry raw materials produced by artisanal communities.
The memorandum will formalize ARM and RJC’s collaboration on:
–Standards cross-recognition: ARM and RJC will collaborate to ensure the standards and modalities of their respective certification systems are mutually supportive. To that end, RJC will provide input through membership of ARM’s technical committee and ARM will provide input through membership of RJC’s consultative panel, and subsequently through the RJC standards committee beginning in 2012.
–Supporting artisanal mining: ARM and RJC will collaborate to develop projects to improve social, environmental and labor practices, good governance and the implementation of environmental practices in artisanal and small-scale mining. To this end ARM and RJC will work together to recruit private, governmental and intergovernmental sponsors.
–Industry outreach: ARM and RJC will collaborate to increase market awareness and support for jewelry raw materials sourced from well-managed artisanal and small-scale mining operations.
ARM believes that strengthening its relationship with the RJC is a key step in building strong collaboration with the industry to jointly embrace the developmental opportunities of artisanal and small-scale mining. “We hope to see more and more artisanal mining communities realize their potential of becoming profitable, socially and environmentally responsible enterprises that participate in global markets and contribute to local development,” said Lina Villa, ARM’s acting executive director.
