Oro Verde - Green Gold

The Oro Verde® program was established to support artisanal and small-scale alluvial mining activities by Afro-Colombian communities in the Chocó bioregion, Colombia.  The miners use ancestral techniques without toxic chemicals, restoring the natural landscape and vegetation of mining areas after the gold has been extracted.  Through the marketing of certified metals using the Oro Verde® brand, the program has created a demand for ecological and fair trade jewellery and provides an economic incentive for miners to continue using environmentally and socially responsible methods.

Afro-Colombian communities throughout the Pacific region of Colombia are represented by Community Councils, civil institutions that govern collective lands within the different municipalities.  The Oro Verde® program was created in the year 2000 as collaboration between the Community Councils of Tadó and Condoto (ASOCASÁN and COCOMACOIRO respectively) and two support organisations, Fundación Las Mojarras (FUNDAMOJARRAS) and Fundación Amigos del Chocó (AMICHOCÓ).  Oro Verde® inspired the creation of the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) in 2004.

It has since worked with over 1,300 artisanal miners, having brought together 194 separate family production units.  Currently, 112 family units participate in the program and are represented by two producer groups, which sit within the administrative structure of the Community Councils.  This arrangement enables both individuals and communities to take an active role in decision-making processes, offering formal opportunities to debate and vote on key issues.

All mining is alluvial and current producer groups are capable of generating 14.9kg of gold with 85% purity and 4.2kg of platinum with 84% purity per year.  With appropriate research and support, these estimates could be considerably higher.  With ongoing support from the Community Councils, the communities work without mercury or cyanide and use a variety of traditional techniques inherited from their African ancestors from colonial times, which include underground extraction, panning in rivers and streams and diving for sediment.  After a particular area has been mined, the vegetation is replaced so that the terrain can recover and the forest can return to its rich biodiversity.

The Oro Verde® metals are then sold through the program, with certified miners receiving a direct premium of 2% and 1% over the official prices of gold and platinum respectively.  The premium provides an incentive to remain in the program and continue operating socially- and environmental-friendly practices, offering miners a financial alternative to renting their land for illegal and uncontrolled large-scale mining, which causes irreversible devastation to the local ecosystem. 

The program receives an additional premium on the sale of certified metals, which was increased to 15% in April 2008.  Until recently, this surplus has been used as working capital in a rotating fund to buy metals, however, it is now being reinvested in social projects through a democratic and transparent process, which encourages miners to become key players in their own community’s development.   The additional income also brings complementary benefits through capacity building strategies, workshops and training for producer groups, and opportunities for further collaboration with the Community Councils and support partners.  A recent example is the environmental initiative with AMICHOCÓ for the education of children on responsible and sustainable land management.

To ensure traceability, certified metals are always kept and transported separately from other minerals.  For this purpose, the program has established a strategic alliance with a refiner who processes the metals, depending on the customer’s requirements.  The Oro Verde® program has consequently been able to create green and fair trade demand for its metals, offering alternative market access to artisanal miners and establishing a strong position among jewellers in Colombia, Europe and the United States who are willing to pay the additional premium for jewellery from environmentally and socially responsible sources.  The brand applied to certified Oro Verde® metals is itself protected through various registered trade marks, which are jointly owned by the Community Councils, AMICHOCÓ and FUNDAMOJARRAS.

Although the program has been running for nearly a decade, it faces significant ongoing challenges.  The mineral rights of artisanal miners in Colombia are a complex and unclear issue as the national mining code fails to address artisanal activities and leaves important questions unanswered.  Afro-Colombian communities have collective preferential rights over their ancestral territories and miners within the Oro Verde® program operate with the consent and authorisation of the local government.  However, their legal position is constantly threatened by third party petitions to explore the region and extract its minerals.  The communities can only protect their entitlement by obtaining relevant mining titles for the Community Councils, which has significant procedural and cost implications.

Another major hurdle involves bringing more miners into the scheme to produce the necessary volumes, cover producer group costs and assure long-term sustainability.  One strategy to address this entails expanding the program to other communities within the Chocó bioregion and AMICHOCÓ is currently seeking funding to start work with artisanal miners in the municipality of La Llanada, in the state of Nariño.  Further obstacles include enhancing mineral recovery and output through using appropriate technologies and implementing a gender policy to improve the working conditions and employment opportunities of women.  Finally, the program needs to provide basic training on health and safety in mining, handling emergency situations and the importance of using personal protection equipment.

In spite of these challenges, the Oro Verde® program continues to make significant progress.  It helps to protect the Chocó bioregion, one of the most culturally rich and biologically diverse ecosystems in the world, and through the branding of socially and environmentally responsible metals, it provides Afro-Colombian communities with additional income to support their families and the opportunity to drive their own social progress.

COCOMACOIRO, the Community Council of Condoto and Iró River, is the first miners´ organisation to certify their gold as Fairtrade and Fairmined Ecological Gold in February 2011, while ASOCASÁN, the Community Council of Tadó, obtained their Ecological Gold certification in January 2012.