News

New Grant Awarded to the Alliance for Responsible Mining & Mercury Free Mining for Goldrop® Program FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Carlsbad, Calif., February 15, 2024 – The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has awarded a $93,000 grant to deploy the Goldrop®, an innovative technology that eliminates the need for mercury use by artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM), in three Colombian … Read More

Merging Sustainable Gold Mining and Community Empowerment Mayata, Sierra Leone 2023-2024 Mercury Free Mining (MFM) has been working toward the eradication of mercury pollution in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) since 2017 and recognized as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit since 2019. We have been educating and engaging the jewelry industry in taking action to reduce and eliminate mercury use among … Read More

I’m delighted to share that Mickey Brookshire and I have been in Sierra Leone West Africa for a week now, taking an unprecedented step towards implementing alternatives to mercury use in gold mining, a research mission to bring the Goldrop technology to artisanal and small-scale miners throughout Sierra Leone’s gold mining regions. As you may know, research funded by the … Read More

Rachael: You’ve been campaigning to eradicate mercury from gold mining via your organization, Mercury Free Mining, since 2017. With so many ethical concerns to consider in the supply chain, what is it about mercury in particular that led you to take up this cause? Toby: Mercury is ubiquitous in the environment now, and artisanal gold miners are the largest source of anthropogenic … Read More

  Mercury Free Mining’s Quarterly Progress Report Welcome! Mercury Free Mining is proud to announce our quarterly progress report which will highlight our organization’s impact, share opportunities, and provide insight into the gold supply chain. Three Projects Worth Sharing 1. Mercury Free Mining’s First Annual Impact Report Attention MFM community! Learn how MFM is making a positive difference across the … Read More

Mercury Free Mining is proud to announce our first annual impact report! After several years of perseverance and growth, our team found it critical we communicate the impact of Mercury Free Mining in a transparent and objective way, hence this report. We ought to be honest and clear about where there is room to improve and where we are steering … Read More

Get ready: Gen Z will ask questions about materials sourcing, the environment and human rights. Originally in Instore Magazine by Eileen McClelland WHEN JEWELRY DESIGNER Jennifer Dawes first began talking about responsible sourcing in 2005, she didn’t find a receptive audience in industry circles. “A lot of people were looking at me like I had two heads,” she recalls. Since … Read More

SCS 007 Sustainable Jewelry Standard to Include Artisanal Gold Mines Announced by SCS Global Services and the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) Opportunity to Bring Certified Sustainability-Rated, Climate Neutral Gold Jewelry to Market EMERYVILLE, Calif., (March 15, 2022) – SCS Global Services (SCS), a global leader in third-party environmental and sustainability certification, auditing, testing and standards development, and the Alliance … Read More

Background: In 2021 GIA (Gemological Institute of America) granted MFM and ARM (Alliance for Responsible Mining) $50,000 to work with gold miners from the Ananea District of Peru to eliminate mercury from their ore processing. At February’s Tucson AGTA Gem Fair, MFM was honored to present GIA CEO Susan Jacques with a hand-carved traditional wooden batea (gold mining pan) used … Read More