NGOs lambast LBMA’s gold sourcing program – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – March 9, 2021)

https://www.mining.com/

Advocacy group Global Witness along with four other advocacy groups said on Tuesday that the London Bullion Market Association’s (LBMA) responsible sourcing program has failed to ensure that only responsibly-sourced gold, conflict-free and untainted by human rights abuses is traded worldwide.

The five organizations also called on the European Union (EU) not to endorse the LBMA, the world’s most influential gold market authority, which would make imports into country members troublesome.

“We had hoped that September’s release of the LBMA’s first annual Responsible Sourcing Report 2020 would address these concerns. We welcome the report, which provides more detail than previous publications,” they organization wrote in an open letter to the LBMA.

“However, we are concerned that the report does not go far enough in providing information on where gold was actually mined [and] sheds little light on the incident review process and the cases of refiners considered during the reporting period,” they wrote.

In the past years, Global Witness along with other non-profit organizations have raised concerns about specific cases, which they claim remain unsolved.

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