Fairtrade gold in demand

There is a growing demand for ethical products and this stretches to gold with more than one in four people stating that they would pay more for fairtrade gold, according to a poll conducted by YouGov.

Alongside the figure of 28 per cent of respondents who expressed a desire to purchase fairtrade gold, a further 35 per cent said they would make a conscious decision to shop in stores that put the focus on the way in which gold was produced.

Emphasis was also placed on corporate responsibility with the poll highlighting that a majority of people (65 per cent) believed the gold mining companies were responsible for reducing the effects that their operations have on the environment.

Sonya Maldar, extractives analyst at Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (Cafod), stated: "The poll results send a clear message to jewellery retailers that they can't afford to ignore their customers' wishes for clean gold."

"It's now up to the retailers to work within the industry to ensure that the gold they sell is produced without harming people and devastating the environment," she continued.

Cafod's Unearth Justice campaign is designed to promote clean gold and urges mining companies to enforce worker's rights, to avoid displacing communities during operations and to disclose information relating to the social and environmental effects of their work.