Thousands of guests gather in London for the Resourcing Tomorrow mining event, focusing on critical minerals. Pan American Silver’s Brent Bergeron raises concerns about artisanal mining’s responsible production and buying issues. The artisanal market’s rapid growth necessitates stakeholder collaboration for formalisation of this largely unregulated sector.

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) has become a significant part of the global mining industry, employing 315 million workers worldwide. ASM now produces 20% of the world’s gold and supplies 25% of tantalum and tin. The sector’s growth presents an opportunity to integrate ASM into the global economy, especially with the rising demand for critical minerals.

Despite its contributions, the artisanal sector’s unregulated status poses social and environmental risks. Bergeron highlights Peru’s artisanal gold market, worth $8bn annually. Pan American Silver is working to ensure transparency in the supply chain and improve standards for artisanal miners through initiatives like formalisation processes and stakeholder collaboration.

Projects like the World Gold Council’s initiatives with central banks in countries like Ecuador, Colombia, and potentially Peru, aim to provide artisanal miners with transparent selling processes and pricing. By selling to legitimate institutions, artisanal miners can benefit from selling to official buyers and help grow their reserve assets without sacrificing other hard currency reserves.

Read more at Yahoo Finance: stakeholder collaboration key to artisanal sector formalisation