LONDON – The illicit trade in gold from artisanal mining is feeding conflicts from Ukraine to Sudan, funding terrorism, fuelling organised crime and subjecting the world’s poorest people to horrendous violence. This is the picture painted by the World Gold Council (WGC) in a report urging concerted international action to clean up the booming sector.
The artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) industry now produces an estimated 20% of the world’s gold, up from 4% in the 1990s, and possibly accounts for 80% of the global gold mining workforce, said the ‘Silence is Golden’ report.
Millions of people across more than 80 gold-producing countries – most in Africa, Latin America and Asia – rely on ASGM to survive, but criminal gangs, armed groups and corrupt officials have increasingly muscled in. The report’s author, former British deputy prime minister Dominic Raab, said the proliferation of these illicit networks now presents a serious threat to international security.
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