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Article

3 Sep 2012

Author:
Nina Roehrbein, Investments & Pensions Europe

Extracting the true cost of gold

...[The] majority of key environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues in the gold supply chain occur at the mining stage...One of the main issues...is its huge water consumption...Another problem is water and soil pollution...And in some cases, human rights, indigenous rights and occupational health issues are not properly taken care of...The WGC [World Gold Council] and the International Council on Mining and Metals have...developed a sustainable development framework for gold. “However, these are mainly transparency guidelines, not performance standards,” says [Ivo Knoepfel, managing director at onValues]...Knoepfel highlights the Responsible Jewellery Council’s (RJC) code of practice and chain-of-custody (CoC) standard as the best solution to be endorsed by institutional investors...The WGC is working to eradicate gold that triggers or fuels conflict from the supply chain through the introduction of its Conflict-Free Gold Standard. [refers to Barrick Gold, Goldcorp, Newmont, Tiffany, Walmart, Richemont, Rio Tinto]