Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining Partnership Area Meeting

The Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) Partnership area held a virtual meeting on 4 February 2020.

The meeting featured a special focus on the GEF-funded planetGOLD programme, a 45-million USD collaborative effort which started its work in 2019 to develop innovative models in Burkina Faso, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Indonesia, Kenya, Mongolia, the Philippines and Peru to support artisanal and small-scale gold miners improve their livelihoods while reducing mercury use.

The meeting was also an opportunity to review the outcome of the third meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP3) to the Minamata Convention (November 2019, Geneva). Participants discussed COP3 decision on mercury waste thresholds, which, amongst others, calls for cooperation between the Convention Secretariat and the ASGM Partnership area in relation to the review of the guidance on the preparation of national action plans for ASGM with respect to the management of tailings.

Participants were provided with an overview of key outcomes from the tenth meeting of the Partnership Advisory Group, convened back to back with COP3.

Finally, partners shared updates on their activities and exchanged views on possible areas for future work and information-sharing opportunities within the Partnership area, including ASGM tailings, health issues or the use of cyanide in the sector.