Basel Gold Day II: Recycled Gold – From awareness to collective action on recycled gold and artisanal mining

A short summary of Basel Gold Day II, held at the University of Basel on 27 October 2022. The one-day conference brought together leading voices from across the gold supply chain and civil society. The summary covers:

• Momentum towards responsible gold, in terms of growing awareness of the gold industry’s human and environmental impacts
• Recycled gold is not a golden bullet. The lack of harmonised definition creates loopholes that can be exploited for greenwashing or to launder problematic gold into recycled supply chains. Sharpening definitions and increasing sourcing from e-waste will help.
• Impact of the use of recycled gold on artisanal mining, and how to promote positive change in the artisanal and small-scale mining sector through Collective Action and dialogue between stakeholders.

The event was co-organised by Sabrina Karib of the Precious Metals Impact Forum and Professor Mark Pieth with the support of the Basel Institute on Governance, and kindly sponsored by Argor-Heraeus and Basler Kantonalbank (BKB).