PlanetGOLD: looking ahead to 2025

Building on a successful first round, the international program is moving to the second phase of deployment, notably with an expansion of its activities to eight new countries. 

It has been three years since PlanetGOLD began mobilizing under the auspices of the United Nations Program for the Environment and Minimata Convention to make artisanal and small-scale gold mines (ASGM) safer, cleaner, and more profitable for artisanal miners.

Despite the health context which has been highly destabilizing for mining communities, the period has been a fruitful opportunity to launch a number of initiatives focusing on four dimensions:

• strengthening the inclusion of AGSM players in the formal economy
• facilitating access to mercury-free technology and best practices
• incorporating artisanal miners into supply chains
• closing the financing gap

Deployed in nine countries across three continents, the program relies on active partnerships with governments, the private sector and ASGM communities.

Thanks to new financing from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), PlanetGOLD is launching the second phase of its deployment this year. The program is thus being broadened to include eight new countries, while also implementing new approaches to support in addition to continuing its earlier actions.

“Broadening the scope of PlanetGOLD’s activity is a further commitment. It spurs our motivation and our sense of responsibility to accelerate improvements to production practices and working conditions for small-scale and artisanal miners,” explains Miranda Werstiuk, Chair of PlanetGOLD’s External Programme Advisory Group and Director of Corporate Development at OCIM in Toronto.