In July 2026, I was invited to give a talk at The Goldsmiths’Centre. With the set topic being ethics, and whether recycled gold or mined gold is better.
My aim is to question the language we use, because I believe our use terminology is oversimplified and, in some cases, misleading. For the foundations of my talk, looking at my timeline, specifically from my move back to Belgium. becoming Fairtrade registered, and a couple of years later choosing to be a Fairmined licensed brand.
This is where my heart lies. I am an advocate for Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) projects. Also, I am a supporter of Diamonds for Peace and other similar projects supporting ASM.
It is because of my journey of discovery, leading me to being a Fairmined licensed brand, which makes me think deeply about the topic given to me by The Goldsmiths Centre. and deciding that talking about ethics can’t be done unless we look at each subject matter separately; mining and recycling. Deciding not to make it about which is better. Both have an important role to play, even if my values lie with ASM. My aim here is to question the language we use. I believe the terminology has become oversimplified and in some cases misleading.
What choices do we have when buying gold?
“When I first started thinking seriously about sustainability in jewellery, I believed what many of us believed: that recycled gold was the most ethical choice. It seemes obvious. Avoiding new mining, it made use of existing resources, and it was widely promoted as the environmentally responsible option.
But the more I learned, the more questions I had. What did ‘recycle’ actually mean? Where had that gold originally come from? Could we still call it traceable? And if we all stopped buying newly mined gold, what would that mean for the millions of people whose livelihoods depend on artisanal mining?
Those questions eventually took me beyond books and reports. They took me to Peru, Colombia and Liberia, where I met the miners who mine my gold. I met their families and the communities whose lives are shaped by gold. Those experiences didn’t make me reject recycled gold. They simply made me realise that the conversation is far more nuanced than the industry often suggests.”
What do we actually mean by "recycled"?
Recycled gold is a term we hear all the time. Consumers hear it. Jewellers use it. Retailers promote it. But what does it actually mean?
When we hear the word “recycled” many of us instinctively think about household recycling. Plastic bottles, glass, paper, aluminium cans. These are all material that have been used, discarded, collected, processed and transformed into something new.
But gold isn’t plastic. Gold is fundamentally different.
What makes gold different?
We don’t through it away, very littles gold ever ends up in landfill. Gold is wealth. It is investment. Inherited. It changes hands and it even changes form. We melt it down, remodel it and refine it. It is because of all that, I believe comparing gold to plastic (which I think many consumers do, due to lack of knowledge and insight) it is actually quite misleading. Plastic is manufactured to be consumed, whereas gold is manufactured to endure.
In fact, one to the reasons gold has remained valuable throughout human history, is precisely because it can be reused indefinitely.
However, recycled gold only tells us how the gold was processed. It tells us nothing about where it originally came from. Although, recycled gold does have an important role to play. Recovering existing precious metals is sensible, and I support making use of materials already in circulation. My question is a different one. Is recycled gold, on its own, the ethical solution? And does choosing recycled gold actually reduce the need for new mining? When we begin asking those questions, the answer becomes much more complex.
I ask myself this question for my platinum and palladium. These are both bought directly from refineries from recycled resources. But I don’t label it as such. The reason for this is because recycling is not traceable. Also, there may be newly mined metals in the recycled, there could also be platinum coins, platinum manufactured waste. Therefore, I don’t know the provenance of the metal.
In my opinion, recycled gold and precious metals only tells us how it was processed. It tells us nothing about where it originally came from. So, let’s break it down and look at the many different “types” of recycled precious metals do we have?
Breakdown into types of gold waste
Manufacturing scrap
Obsolete jewellery
Dental gold
Investment bullion
Unsold jewellery
Electronic waste
Should all of those really sit under one umbrella term? What are we distinguishing and separating?
For me, recycled precious metals means this:
- Obsolete components which are end consumer products at their end of life and recuperated from discarded objects: which can come from the IT industry, mobile phones, computers, etc… but also broken jewellery and even old gold teeth.
Also, I believe the rest is newly bought gold which is in its first cycle of life. These can be sold to the refineries and recycled and sold back into the industry, so for me, it is not recycled gold.
- Manufacturing scrap
- Investment bullion
- Unsold jewellery
I take my sweepings and filings to the refiners, so they can refine it, but most of this comes from newly bought precious metals, directly from the bullion dealers or wholesalers, and we don’t know the origin of these, as once it’s melted down, history is erased.
recycling versus remodelling
Differentiating between recycling and remodelling is also important in my view. In my case, what I communicate to consumer, is that I remodel old gold jewellery and gold teeth, which belong to the clients. I don’t associate these with the recycling process.
There needs to be a difference, because terminology is very important, and not just for recycled precious metals, but we also need to differentiate between large scale mining (LSM) and artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), as there is a vast difference between the two. But I’ll come back to this later.
Does "recycled" tell us anything about provenance?
No, it tells us only what happened recently. So, this means that “recycled” only describes the last process the metal has undergone, not its origin.
What it does not tell us:
- where it came from
- when it was mined
- who mined it
- under what conditions
and let’s not forget that recycled precious metals were all mined at the beginning of their life cycles. But this leads us to the topic of blockchain, transparency and provenance, which I may delve into in another article
Does recycled automatically mean environmentally better?
Not necessarily. We all know mining has obvious impacts.
But refining also has impacts.
Both consume:
- energy
- emissions
- require industrial processes.
The question isn’t which has zero impact.
The question should be:
“What impacts are we measuring?”
Carbon? Biodiversity? Communities? Water? Employment? Traceability?
Mining is scope 3 emissions and recycling precious metals is scope 2 emissions
Refining gold is energy intensive and uses chemicals. Meaning the industrial process of removing impurities and other metals to make gold up to 99.99% pure. Depending on the process, refiners use acids such as nitric acid and hydrochloric acid (often together as aqua regia), chlorine processes, electrolysis and other industrial techniques to separate precious metals.
Modern refiners operate closed-loop systems and recover many of these chemicals, but refining is certainly not an impact-free process. Once gold has been refined, its provenance is lost. Gold refined today may contain material mined decades or even centuries ago from countless unknown sources. Refining creates purity, but not traceability. (I have a slide image showing how refining works and how traceability is lost during this process. The slide was provided by Andres Castellanos, FairAlloy, on LinkedIN)
Also, there is no proof that by recycling gold, it reduces mining and in the current climate, people worldwide are investing in gold, which in turn is boosting the gold prices and increasing the demand. Informal (or illegal mining, is also gaining momentum because of the increase in demand).
Sometimes recycled gold is presented as though it’s a new innovation. But jewellers have been melting, repairing, remodelling and reusing precious metals for thousands of years. There’s nothing new about reusing gold. In fact, one of the reasons gold has remained valuable throughout history is precisely because it can be reused indefinitely.
A prime example is The British Crown Jewels
This shows that the regalia has been continually altered, rebuilt and remade over centuries. New monarchs commissioned new crowns; existing crowns were modified to fit different sovereigns. Gemstones were removed and reset.
Even the famous Imperial State Crown has been remade several times. After the execution of Charles I in 1649, Parliament ordered the medieval Crown Jewels to be broken up and melted down. Following the Restoration, King Charles II commissioned entirely new regalia in 1661. Since then, crowns have continued to be altered and remade for successive monarchs.
Differentiating between remodelling and recycling
Remodelled |
Identity retained |
Provenance retained |
Story continues |
Usually same owner/family |
Recycled |
Identity lost |
Provenance lost |
Story erased |
Returns to commodity market |
I would also like to add the following aspect. When a client has gold, but does not want to remodel it into something nes, but they would like to sell it. The moment a jeweller buys is and melts it down and makes it into new jewellery, this process is recycling. It is a fine line. In this case it is the process of buying the old gold jewellery and transforming it into new jewellery to sell it in your shop or at a show, it is recycling. Whereas, if the client brought their old gold jewellery and wanted it transformed into new jewellery, then we talk about remodelling.
If mining continues then what kind of mining should we support?
To understand what it is I’m talking about, I want to break it down again and differentiate, as there are many types of mining. Again, we can’t just talk about mining under one umbrella.
We have large scale mining, medium scale mining and artisanal small-scale mining, and single Mine Origin (SMO). There is also deep-sea mining (which, much to my relief, is not yet happing, as they have not approved commercial exploitation projects… yet)
Large-scale mining
LSM refers to industrial mining operations carried out by multinational or large national companies. These operations are highly mechanised, relying on heavy machinery and advanced technology rather than manual labour. They’re managed by corporate entities that bring in their own teams of engineers, geologists, and specialised workers, often from outside the local area.
While LSM can generate significant profits and export revenues, the communities living near these vast mining sites rarely see tangible benefits. Jobs for locals are limited, and the promised infrastructure or social investment often fails to materialise. The scale of extraction is enormous — machines dig deep into the earth, carve open-pit mines, or even flatten entire mountains to access mineral-rich seams beneath the surface. Impacting the environment is equally as large, with deforestation, loss of biodiversity, water pollution, and land degradation becoming ongoing concerns.
Single mine origin and Artisanal and small-scale mining
SMO is a certification standard ensuring metal, predominantly gold, is traced back to a single, specifically identified mine. Instead of being mixed into anonymous bulk streams, the material is kept segregated and audited, guaranteeing it avoids conflict zones and meets strict environmental and ethical standards. Rather than operating as a single corporation, SMO is a supply-chain initiative that partners with progressive commercial mining operations. These programs are often spearheaded by refining organizations like the SMO Gold standard or the The Betts Group. But I know very little about SMO’s.
ASM this is where my heart lies, is a world apart from large-scale industrial operations. Human, hands-on, and deeply interwoven with local livelihoods. These miners, often families or small groups, use rudimentary tools, guided by knowledge passed down through generations. Physical, labour-intensive work, and frequently perilous. Yet it’s also a source of pride, resilience, and survival in many regions. This is also where we find Fairmined, and worldwide, there are currently 11 active, Fairmined-certified artisanal mining organizations. These small-scale mines are located across just three Latin American countries: 7 in Peru, 3 in Colombia, and 1 in Ecuador.
Why Artisanal and small-scale mining
Despite producing only around 20% of the world’s newly mined gold, ASM supports far more people than industrial mining ever does. An estimated 40 to 50 million people work directly in ASM worldwide, with over 150 million more depending on it indirectly. Through trade, transport, food supply, or other services linked to mining communities.
However, there’s a harder side to this story too, and ASM is not without challenges. This is also where informal mining falls under, and there are no actual figures on how many informal mines are in operation around the world. Without proper support or regulation, ASM can cause serious harm. In many regions, using mercury to extract gold from ore is the main ingredient. Inevitably contaminating soil, rivers, and the health of entire communities. Cyanide, too, is sometimes misused. Furthermore, because many ASM sites are in remote, conflict-prone, or lawless areas, miners may face exploitation. Caught in cycles of debt, controlled by criminal groups or local militias, or subjected to unsafe and inhumane working conditions. The most renown informal mining town in the world is La Rinconada. Located at approximately 5300 meters above sea-level in the Andes mountains, in the South of Peru. This city is known locally as “Hell on Earth”. It is a lawless town run by the mafia, gun crime, miners and prostitution. Even the police won’t entre this town.
What does informal mining look like?
When I was in Peru on the Fairmined trip in 2022, there were fellow jewellers, a German couple who are Fairmined Advocates and renowned in Germany as being trailblazers, who tried visiting La Rinconada together with a journalist, but even with all the money they offered private security firms, no-one wanted to take them into the city, as it is too dangerous.
However, I am very fortunate to have a Peruvian friend who did her PhD on informal mining and as visited informal mines around the world, including La Rinconada. I was at her PhD defense last year. She wants to make change, and better the lives of the miners, but even here, there is resistance, not just from the governments (as in, they ignore or just leave it to their peril, but also from the miners themselves. They believe it is the better way of life… but that is a whole different story and not mine to tell. The closest I ever came to La Rinconada is visiting CECOMIP, a Fairmined certified gold mine (at the complete opposite end of the mining spectrum and worlds apart), at approximately 4800 above sea-level and I have a photo of the CECOMIP mine with in the background the Mountain range with a large dark spot, which is La Rinconada.
Sadly, informal mining is worldwide, and this is why initiatives like Fairmined (South America), Fairtrade (South America), Peace Gold (Africa), and Mercury Free Mining (Africa) exist. These initiatives support ASM communities, to mine safely and sustainably, to help create a better life.
Deep sea mining
Another form of mining, which large corporate companies are lobbying for is deep sea mining.
One of the reasons I personally oppose deep-sea mining is that we simply don’t know enough about these ecosystems. We know from coral reef science that marine ecosystems can take decades to recover from major disturbances. In the deep ocean, where biological processes are often far slower than in shallow tropical waters, scientists believe recovery could take many decades, centuries, or in some cases may never fully occur. I believe there is enough gold already extracted and in circulation, to ban deep-sea mining completely.
Healthy coral reefs can recover after major disturbances, but recovery is slow. Scientists estimate that full recovery of a damaged reef may take 10 to 20 years, provided there are no further major disturbances. Today, however, bleaching events are occurring so frequently that many reefs are being hit again before they have had time to recover.
Deep-sea mining creates vast sediment plumes. These plumes can smother marine life, disrupt filter-feeding organisms, transport heavy metals through the water column, generate underwater noise and light pollution, and potentially damage ecosystems that scientists still know very little about. The greatest concern is that these ecosystems recover extremely slowly, if at all.
A brief comparison
Which brings me to the subject of emissions. But you can’t compare apples and pears. What I know is this; an ASM mine is much less of an emitter of CO2 compared with a large-scale mine. It also depends a lot on the electricity solution you have at a mine site. For example, the same mine in the middle of the Peruvian desert with a 20-year-old generator does not emit the same CO2 as the same mine under an electric grid supplied by hydropower in Colombia. And Fairmined certified gold mines will also have lower CO2 emissions than standard artisanal and small-scale mines. An then we are not including the informal mines, as it is unknown how many there are.
The same goes for LSM. A 4000 meter-deep mine in South Africa powered be coal electricity does not emit per kilogram of gold the same CO2 as an large-scale mine in Nevada powered by the hydroelectric grid.
The importance of supporting responsible ASM
As I mentioned previously, ASM supports around 45 million miners worldwide, with an estimated 150 million people depending on the sector indirectly through families and local economies. What would these mining communities do if we only promoted recycled gold as as option? These communities often live in very remote areas.
Initiatives such as Fairmined, and mercury reduction programs don’t exist to encourage more mining. They exist because mining already happens, and they seek to improve how it happens.
Environmental Protection
Biodiversity is part of responsible mining, reclaiming used land and protecting nature areas from damage. Both Fairmined and Diamonds for Peace are practicing reforestation. I also contributed to this by donating orange trees to Diamonds for Peace.
Using clean energy, lowering carbon pollution by using solar or wind power at work sites.
Water stewardship: Conserving clean water supplies and stops toxic runoff into local streams. This I have witnessed personally at the Fairmined mining sites in Oro Puno, CECOMIP and Cruz Pata in Peru. At Cruz Pata, the water reservoir has trout; This is a popular fish on the Peruvian menu. Trout are also very fragile fish and the slightest contamination to the water will destroy the fish. I can say with lots of confidence, there is a lot of fish in the lake at Cruz Pata.
Social and Economic Growth
Ensuring Good jobs. The miners work in safe conditions, with fair pay. Investing in the communities by teaching useful skills to local people.
At CECOMIP They helped a group of women miners set up a jewellery workshop and help them sell their jewellery in nearby towns. The women call themselves “Las Divinas”
Through the Fairmined premium, the Fairmined gold mining communities are able to invest in better towns. Paying for new roads, schools, and health centers in remote areas.
Fair trade: Respecting human rights and works honestly with nearby towns. Investing in the local communities and empowering the miners.
At Oro Puno in Peru I say how the Fairmined miners also analyse an informal mine on their site. They clear it of any toxic waste and left behind tools, to then refill the mine and turn it into a green zone. Even if there is any gold left, they will not excavate, knowing that its an informal mine.
A Call for Informed Choices
Giving consumers in-depth information is important for them to make valid choses.
The customer deserves to make informed decisions. To know where their gold comes from. And knowing whether it supports real people, real communities — or just hides the past.
Slow Mining
When talking about sustainability in fashion, we talk about slow fashion. I believe adding slow mining as a concept is paramount to sustainability in the jewellery industry too.
Subsequently, for a more sustainable world, capping/limiting LSM production (which I realise is utopic) is vital. LSM are huge money-grabbing corporations and purely based on high profit margins.
These are operations which usually take place far away from where they are based, blast a gigantic whole deep into the Earth with high-tech equipment, mostly computerised and operated by their own engineers. The local communities living and working around these large mining operations don’t reap any of the benefits, not through employment and not through support. And after (5 to 20 years – that is how long a mine gives gold). They leave, with the only thing to show for is a massive whole or a mountain without its peak.
I believe that focusing on ASM for longevity in a sustainable world is the key to a better and more harmonious future. Working with small mining communities to create a better environment for living and work for future generations is what I believe we need to aspire to. And from talking to the Fairmined certified gold miners and the Diamonds for Peace miners, all say how proud they are to be part of the change.
Responsible Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining
For me, Fairmined gold and similar initiatives are the embodiment of slow mining. It’s respectful, thoughtful, and deliberate. Empowering communities. Creating change.
Eradicating the use of mercury (a dangerous neorotoxin) in gold mining is paramount, not just for the miners and their communities, but for the environment and our food supply. Due to the high-water use in mining, mercury gets into the streams, rivers and oceans, into the fish and ultimately onto our plates.
Luckily, the governments in Peru and Colombia have already banned mercury in mining in Colombia since 2018 and in Peru since 2024, but unfortunately, that doesn’t mean its no longer used in these countries. Mercury is the easiest and fasted way to separate gold from sediment. Mercury dissolves everything but the gold.
Informal mining that still uses mercury, often without protection; bare hands and no face mask. These are hard areas to regulate. But they are only a small part of ASM. As we don’t even have exact data on how many informal mining sites there are, we have no way of trying to convert them to a better way of working or ban them from mining. For example; the Chede mine (Fairmined certified) just outside Medellin, purchased a large plot of the Amazone forest, purely for preservation and conservation purposes, and the first thing that happened is informal miners hacked down a port of the forest for their own gain of gold mining and there was nothing the Chede miners could do, but watch helplessly. A lot of these miners (the informal miners) operate under the local guerilla, but this is not my field of expertise.
A Call for Informed Choices
Giving consumers in-depth information is important for them to make valid choses.
The customer deserves to make informed decisions. To know where their gold comes from. And knowing whether it supports real people, real communities — or just hides the past.
Slow mining
When talking about sustainability in fashion, we talk about slow fashion. I believe adding slow mining as a concept is paramount to sustainability too. Subsequently, for a more sustainable world, capping/limiting LSM production (which I realise is utopic) is vital, as LSM are huge money-grabbing corporations. These are operations which usually take place far away from where they are based, blast a gigantic whole deep into the Earth with high-tech equipment, mostly computerised and operated by their own engineers. The local communities living and working around these large mining operations don’t reap any of the benefits, not through employment, not through support, and not for the environment. And after (5 to 20 years – that is how long a mine gives gold). They leave, with the only thing to show for is a massive whole or a mountain without its peak.
I believe that focusing on ASM for longevity in a sustainable world is the key to a better and more harmonious future. Working with small mining communities to create a better environment for living and work for future generations is what I believe we need to aspire to. And from talking to the Fairmined certified gold miners and the Diamonds for Peace miners, all say how proud they are to be part of the change.
For me, Fairmined gold and similar initiatives are the embodiment of slow mining. It’s respectful, thoughtful, and deliberate. Empowering communities. Creating change.
Mercury in informal gold mining
Eradicating the use of mercury in gold mining is paramount, not just for the miners and their communities, but for the environment and our food supply. Due to the high-water use in mining, mercury gets into the streams, rivers and oceans, into the fish and ultimately onto our plates.
Luckily, the governments in Peru and Colombia have already banned mercury in mining in Colombia since 2018 and in Peru since 2024, but unfortunately, that doesn’t mean its no longer used in these countries. Mercury is the easiest and fasted way to separate gold from sediment. Mercury dissolves everything but the gold.
It’s informal mining that still uses it. These are hard areas to regulate. But they are only a small part of ASM. As we don’t even have exact data on how many informal mining sites there are, we have no way of trying to convert them to a better way of working or ban them from mining. For example; the Chede mine (Fairmined certified) just outside Medellin, purchased a large plot of the Amazone forest, purely for preservation and conservation purposes, and the first thing that happened is informal miners hacked down a port of the forest for their own gain of gold mining and there was nothing the Chede miners could do, but watch helplessly. A lot of these miners (the informal miners) operate under the local guerillas.
My Conclusion
Recycled gold certainly has an important place within our industry. I use it myself in the form of remodelling clients’ jewellery. But recycled gold alone cannot answer all of the ethical questions surrounding our materials.
Gold will continue to be mined. The real question is not whether mining should exist, but what kind of mining we choose to support.
As jewellers, every purchasing decision we make sends a signal through the supply chain. We can choose anonymity, or we can choose traceability. We can choose a commodity, or we can choose short supply chains which support communities who are working hard to mine responsibly.
I choose to my materials consciously and which purpose to empower the miners and their communities.
