Why Source from Fairever

Child Labor is a Real Problem

An estimated 1 million children work in small-scale mining and quarrying worldwide — the reference figure from the International Labour Organization, dating to 2005 and still the most-cited global estimate in the absence of a more recent count. Independent investigations since then have documented hazardous child labor in gold mining specifically across more than a dozen countries, from Ghana and Mali to the Philippines and Tanzania.

The underlying cause isn't a mystery: pay for artisanal gold mining is often too low to feed a family or cover school costs, which pushes households toward child labor as an economic necessity rather than a choice.

Why this matters for sourcing: 

Fairtrade and Fairmined certification require audited compliance with ILO Conventions 138 and 182 on child labor and its worst forms — verified independently, on a fixed schedule, not a one-time supplier questionnaire.

When you buy Fairtrade Gold, Fairmined Gold, or Fairmined Ecological Gold through Fairever, that audit trail is what backs the claim — verified by an independent certification body, not just claimed by us.

Not Knowing Is Not Neutral

Between 15 and 20 million people work directly in small-scale gold mining, and over 100 million more depend on it indirectly. Small-scale mining accounts for roughly 9 in 10 people employed in gold mining worldwide.

Small-scale mining has real, well-documented problems: child labor, exploited workers, unsafe conditions, and environmental destruction like illegal mining in the Amazon rainforest. 

Buying gold without knowing its source doesn't avoid these problems — it just makes it impossible to rule them out. Any unverified gram could come from a mine doing real harm, and there's no way to tell, which means buying it indirectly supports that harm too. Sourcing from small-scale mining that's independently audited and traceable to a named mine is how you actually support the mines getting it right, instead of gold from anywhere, including the mines that aren't.

Why this matters for sourcing: 

This is why Fairtrade Gold, Fairmined Gold, and Fairmined Ecological Gold — Fairever's core impact line — are built around small-scale mining that's independently audited and traceable to a named mine, not simply taken on trust. 

Every gram carries a guaranteed minimum price of at least 95% of the LBMA gold fixing (Fairever pays 96–99% in practice) plus a premium the mining community itself decides how to spend: $2,000/kg for Fairtrade, $4,000/kg for Fairmined, $6,000/kg for Fairmined Ecological.

Recycled Gold Is No Alternative on Its Own

Recycled gold is a useful supplement to the world's gold supply — but it isn't a substitute for responsible mining. Recycling currently covers roughly 28% of global gold demand, with mined gold still supplying the remaining 72%. Demand keeps growing faster than the recycled supply can follow, which means mining remains the primary source of gold — and the only source of income for the tens of millions of people described above.

Two myths make this easy to miss: 

• "Recycling reduces mining" — it doesn't: gold has always been almost fully recycled, and mining still supplies about three-quarters of demand regardless. 
• "Recycled gold has barely any carbon footprint" — the low figures usually quoted come from an accounting method that simply zeroes mining's emissions off the books, not from an actual reduction.

We offer it anyway, because reusing gold already in circulation is simply pragmatic — nobody throws this metal away. That's also why we think of it as reprocessing rather than recycling. But "recycled" doesn't always mean genuinely old: some industry definitions include material that never reached an end user and could in fact be freshly mined gold from an unknown source. That's why we only ever offer post-consumer recycled gold — material from products that completed a full life cycle, like old jewelry or dental gold — never pre-consumer scrap.

Why this matters for sourcing: 

Fairever does offer post-consumer recycled gold and AgAIN Silver for buyers who specifically want recycled material — but we're upfront that these lines carry no mine-level traceability and no funded impact. 

If supporting mining communities is part of why you're sourcing responsibly, Fairtrade, Fairmined, or Single Mine Origin gold are what deliver that; recycled material is the pragmatic option, not the impact one.

Want both? Add Fairmined Credits to a recycled-gold order: a separate, verified premium paid directly to certified small-scale mining organizations — real impact, kept honestly separate from the metal itself.

People and Nature Are at Risk

Small-scale miners routinely work without protective equipment, handling chemicals like mercury and cyanide with little training in how to contain them. Artisanal gold mining is the world's largest source of mercury pollution, releasing an estimated 1,400 tons of mercury into the environment every year. The toxic substances don't only endanger the workers who handle them: improperly disposed chemicals contaminate the waterways nearby communities depend on for drinking water and fish.

Why this matters for sourcing: 

Fairmined Ecological Gold eliminates mercury and cyanide entirely — gold is separated using gravity and water alone, and the land is restored afterward. 

Regular Fairmined and Fairtrade Gold don't eliminate these chemicals outright, but they cap and control their use, with mercury phased out under Fairmined on a fixed, audited timeline rather than left to each mine's discretion. 

Single Mine Origin gold, for the large-scale mines in our portfolio, is checked against externally audited standards — RGMP, IRMA, or ICMM — with results published annually, not just claimed.

Fair Gold Is Trustworthy
→ Because It's Checked, Not Just Claimed

Buying certified gold from responsible small-scale mining ensures people work under dignified and safer conditions, while protecting the environment and addressing social inequality at its source. What makes this more than a claim is the mechanism behind it: the physical segregation and chain-of-custody documentation that Fairmined and Fairtrade require, combined with regular audits by independent certification bodies, are what prevent gold from conflict regions or illegal mines from being falsely declared Fairmined or Fairtrade.

Why source from Fairever specifically: 

This is the difference between a supplier who can name a standard and one who can produce the paperwork behind it. 

Every certified product we sell is physically segregated and traceable to a named mine, verified by an independent body — FLOCERT for Fairtrade, SCS Global Services for Fairmined — not self-declared. 

For large-scale gold, Single Mine Origin adds an externally audited chain of custody back to a named mine. 

And where a fully documented origin isn't the right fit for a specific order, we say so plainly rather than dressing up recycled material as something it isn't.