LONDON: Human rights organizations stated on Monday that the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), which establishes guidelines for the most well-known gold market in the world, must take further steps to keep gold associated with crimes or violations of human rights out of its supply chain.
In a letter to the LBMA that was seen by Reuters, a group of eight mining analysis organizations headed by Swissaid said that refineries that had been vetted by the LBMA still obtained their gold from dubious suppliers and mines and were not addressing grave abuses of human rights and environmental degradation.
In an email response to inquiries, the LBMA stated that it was excited to talk about several possibilities at a London gathering later this week.
Like other organizations, the LBMA, which controls entry to the biggest bullion market in the world, has launched steps to try and stop problematic gold from making its way past its refiners and into bank vaults.
Among these is the Good Delivery List (GDL) of the LBMA, a list of refiners that the organization deems to be credible suppliers of gold according to the processes of due diligence they have established.
Gold can be freely sold between participants in the gold market once it has been accepted into a vault as Good Delivery.
The NGOs claimed that while there have been some minor advancements in the LBMA systems since 2021, a large number of refiners on the list had recently purchased gold from vendors connected to money laundering, water and land contamination, or violations of human rights.
