In line with its Journey to Sustainable Luxury, Chopard has partnered with the Swiss Better Gold Association (SBGA) on a ground-breaking project to source gold from Colombian artisanal miners.

Chopard has been supporting artisanal mining through its Journey to Sustainable Luxury since 2013 when, alongside Eco-Age, it forged a philanthropic relationship with influential South American mining NGO, the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM). The world’s first watch and luxury jewellery Maison to directly support mining communities by providing training, social welfare, and environmental support, in 2018 Chopard announced that it had created a 100% ethical gold supply chain for all its watch and jewellery creations.

Having achieved a 100% ethical gold supply chain since 2018, Chopard has announced another scheme as part of its ‘Journey to Sustainable Luxury’. In conjunction with the Swiss Better Gold Association (SBGA), this will see the luxury watch and jewellery Maison sourcing gold from the Barequeros in El Chocó, Colombia.

The “Barequeros”

El Chocó is Colombia’s second-largest gold producing region but also one of the country’s poorest. The Barequeros are artisanal gold miners of whom 46 percent are women. They use local traditional alluvial mining techniques with hand equipment such as sluices and panning. Their methods use no mercury, thus protecting the region’s biodiversity which is among the most unique in the world. To be legally registered, the Barequeros need to obtain a special permit that allows them to produce manually and sell up 420 grams of gold per year.

As part of this programme, the Barequeros will now supply gold as part of a fully traceable and responsible international supply chain. This value chain is part of a broader program supported by the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the SBGA to foster responsible and small-scale gold miners.

The programme ensures that the Barequeros receive not only a competitive price but also a special SBGA Better Gold Incentive of 0.70 USD per gram for them to reinvest into improving their living and working conditions. In addition, this value chain allows them to know the exact destination of their gold. To date, five hundred Barequeros have received support from this initiative.