Partnership Africa Canada

Published purpose

This project seeks to ensure that high-value minerals such as gold, tin and tantalum (widely used in cell phones and other electronics) contribute to sustainable economic development and poverty reduction in the Great Lakes region of Africa. The project ensures that these high-value minerals do not contribute to conflict and human rights abuses in the region. The project increases the technical ability of governments and artisanal and small-scale miners to implement and comply with regional and global standards for conflict-prone minerals. These standards help guarantee that minerals are extracted, transported and processed in a responsible and transparent manner, ensuring the export of “conflict-free” minerals into the international marketplace. The standards also help stop financing to armed groups and address issues such as child labour, sexual and gender-based violence, environmental degradation, and health risks to surrounding communities, which are all linked to industrial and artisanal mining sites. The project provides training, technical assistance and research to: (1) increase the technical capacity of governments and artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM) to implement and comply with regional and global certification and due diligence mechanisms for conflict-prone minerals; (2) increase the capacity of local civil society organizations to promote and monitor responsible mineral supply chains from mine site, to smelter, to manufacturer; (3) increase support for the empowerment and security of women and children in artisanal mining communities; and (4) increase access to and support for legal sales channels for artisanal and small-scale gold producers. The project benefits government institutions, such as natural resources ministries, local private sector and civil society actors, and artisanal mining communities.