Certified fair trade gold has been available since 2011 and has grown in popularity as jewellers have got behind the scheme and customers have become more aware and conscious, helping many small scale miners along the way.

The fairtrade foundation - the UK arm of the Fairtrade movement - was established in 1992 and it is probably better known for products like tea, coffee, bananas and chocolate, however many of the issues that affect small scale farmers in developing nations also affect small scale miners, of which there an estimated 100million worldwide.

Gold mines that have been certified by fairtrade follow standards for working practices, health and safety, women’s rights, transparency, traceability, child labour and get a guaranteed minimum price of 95% LBMA, plus a $2000 per kilogram to invest in community or business development project.

As the standards for certification are rigorous, the fairtrade foundation also works with mines to improve conditions and practises in order to attain certification.

Mines in South America were the first to come on board with Fairtrade and In 2017 gold mines in Africa became certified as gold from these mines entered the supply chain under the fairtrade label.

Fairtrade gold jewellery

There are two ways for jewellers in the UK to begin using Fairtrade gold in their work.  Jewellers who choose to become full fairtrade gold licensees can purchase gold and use the fairtrade gold hallmark.

The registered goldsmith scheme was introduced to allow individual jewellers and goldsmiths to use fairtrade gold and purchase metal from metals casters and bullion dealers.  Jewelles who are registered fairtrade goldsmiths cannot use the Fairtrade hallmark and are limited in the amount of metal they buy.

Fairtrade gold is not just used in jewellery, Fairphone, a dutch smartphone company have used fairtrade gold in all of their smartphone models to date.