Page 15 - Bullion World Volume 5 Issue 07 July 2025

Bullion World | Volume 5 | Issue 07 | July 2025
Investing in

Integrity: The

Rise of Ethically

Sourced Gold

with Fairever

Ms Desirée Binternagel
(CEO, Fairever- Artisanal Gold)

Desirée Binternagel
As managing director of the gold trading company Fairever,
Desirée Binternagel is committed to improving the living
conditions of miners and the sustainable development
of mining regions. Fairever is certified by Fairtrade and
Fairmined as a supplier of fair gold and silver, a member of
the German initiative Forum for Responsible Gold and the
European Partnership for Responsible Minerals (EPRM),
as well as winner of the German Sustainability Award 2024.

Ms Desirée Binternagel

1. Why should ethical sourcing in the 3. How does Fairever ensure
gold industry matter to consumers transparency and accountability
and investors today? from mine to market?

“Every bar of gold carries two price tags: the spot price “We work only with Fairmined- or Fairtrade-certified
you see on a trading screen and the hidden social- cooperatives, segregate their ore by single batch
environmental cost paid by mining communities. When refining, and log every purchase and sale on the
consumers or investors choose ethically sourced gold, appropriate platforms by Fairmined and Fairtrade.
they are protecting human rights, reducing mercury Independent audits ensure that each transaction
pollution, and insulating portfolios from the growing follows the standards set by the non-profit
regulatory and reputational risks around irresponsible organisations.”
extraction. In other words, buying clean gold isn’t
charity—it’s sound risk management and a vote for a 4. How are jewellers and investors
fairer supply chain.”
responding to certified ethical gold?
Are you seeing a rise in demand?
2. What role does Fairmined and “Absolutely. European and North-American jewellers

Fairtrade certification play in are shifting more wedding-ring and bespoke
ensuring traceability and social collections to certified gold, even at a small premium,
impact? because their customers ask for it in store. On the
“Both labels give an end-to-end chain of custody that capital-markets side we see ESG-focused funds
is independently audited. They also attach a social insisting on OECD-aligned provenance for any physical
premium that flows straight back to the cooperative, bullion they hold. Demand is now running ahead of
funding everything from safety equipment to certified supply, which is why it is so urgent to look into
schoolbooks. In practice, that means I can show you responsible sourcing options from ASM mining.”
exactly which hillside your gold came from and how
every extra dollar you paid was invested by the miners
themselves.”

15