Swiss commit to clean up Peruvian gold
Swiss commit to cleaning up Peruvian gold
NOVEMBER 27, 2013 BY 0 COMMENTS
Guacamayu, illegal gold mining, 2012
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / EDITOR’S NOTEPAD – Congratulations go to Paula Dupraz-Dobias, a contributor to GenevaLunch.com, for her lengthy article in the Peruvian Times, “Responsible Gold Plan Promoted in Peru by Major Swiss Refiners“, which looks at the Better Gold Initiative and the role the Swiss are playing in cleaning up Peru’s gold mining industry. The initiative is an optimistic and imperfect starting point, with an estimated 20 percent of the Peru’s gold mined illegally – but it is a starting point.
The initiative, she writes, is
“based on an alliance between the Swiss Economics Secretariat (SECO) and the Swiss Better Gold Association, a group of Swiss businesses, is limited to formalized miners, in five provinces: Ayacucho, Ica, Arequipa, Piura and Apurimac. Its intent is to bring miners closer to the market’s demandin Switzerland by skipping intermediaries, and guaranteeing more favorable prices.
The initiative also promises to offer access to funds from the SBGA for miners’ sustainable development projects and to other financing following the legalization and formalization of mining operations.”
Switzerland’s role in pushing for a cleanup is crucial, given with illegal gold exports in 2011 were worth more than drug trafficking, according to an advisor at the Environment Ministry. Dupraz-Dobias writes that”gold represents 99 percent of Peruvian exports to Switzerland. Altogether some 70 percent of all gold worldwide transits though Switzerland.”
