Solidarities at a distance: extending Fairtrade gold to East Africa

This article examines how Fairtrade is transforming artisanal and small-scale gold mining. Focusing on the “Extending Fairtrade Gold to Africa” project in East Africa, it demonstrates how Fairtrade is becoming embedded within local formalization contexts and organizational dynamics. The Project is at an early stage; therefore, findings consider emerging issues. By probing what solidarities at a distance imply for gold mining, the article elaborates on how artisanal and small-scale miner organisations are developing to produce gold for Fairtrade markets. Whilst recognising that Fairtrade is not targeting the most marginalised, unlicensed miners, those groups incorporated into Fairtrade are heterogeneous and have significant development needs. With the ‘unfinished business’ of certification and supply of Fairtrade gold to international markets only starting to be realised, time is needed to tell whether an equitable distribution of benefits from Fairtrade will be realised amongst miners and within mining communities