14.10.2021 6th Workshop “Responsible Gold in Germany”

The Sector Programme “Extractives and Development” of the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), facilitates the exchange of information and best practices as well as the networking between different actors on the topic of responsible gold. To this end, the Sector Programme organises the biannual workshop series “Responsible Gold in Germany”. On 06 October 2021, the BGR hosted the workshop on responsible gold virtually for the sixth time with participants from businesses, civil society, academia and development cooperation.

The core topic of this workshop was gold recycling. Three presentations shed light on the issue from different experiences. The first presentation focused on due diligence in the supply chains of recycled gold. While recycled gold has a much lower environmental impact than primary gold, due diligence violations can nonetheless occur with recycled gold, e.g. when primary gold is falsely labelled as recycled gold and finds its way onto the international market without undergoing a due diligence assessment. A jewellery company then reported on its work on urban mining. The company uses 50% gold from e-waste for its jewellery production. E-waste has great potential as an urban resource, but so far, only 17.4 per cent of the world's scrap is recycled. Finally a gold refinery reported on their due diligence management system. They elaborated on how they ensure that the gold they procure does not originate from sources where due diligence requirements are not met.

The interest of the participants in continuing the format and further deepening the cooperation remains high, so that further biannual events are planned for the future. The next meeting will probably take place in April/May 2022. Participation is free of charge and open to all interested parties.

For further information, please contact Thomas Grupp (External link).