PRESS RELEASE WORKSHOP “GOLD FOR GROWTH” – Empowering Communities, Creating Global Value
- Edoardo Ghirelli
- Nov 5
- 3 min read
📍 Jalingo, Taraba State – Nigeria | 16–17 October 2025
There are moments when the words “development”, “growth” and “shared responsibility” stop being concepts and become faces, hands, stories.
The “Gold for Growth” workshop, organized by the Government of Taraba State and the Bureau for Solid Minerals, in collaboration with Legacy River International and Green Mining Italia, marked a historic moment. The event brought together government authorities, international experts and local mining communities, laying the foundations for the formalization of artisanal mining (ASM) communities and the creation of a transparent, regulated and responsible gold supply chain.
During the workshop, government representatives reaffirmed the centrality of technical training and legality in the formalization process, highlighting how the initiative fits fully within the institutional vision: sustainable management of natural resources, creation of employment, social responsibility and conscious mining practices.
👉 Legality is the first step toward prosperity, because only through a transparent supply chain can mineral wealth return to villages, schools and families.
🟢 The contribution of Green Mining Italia
The contribution of Green Mining Italia embraced a multidisciplinary approach, combining technical, environmental and social aspects. Particular attention was dedicated to training on the use of simple, effective and eco-friendly technologies, and to the final valorization of the local product.
Through practical examples, locally applicable solutions and technical demonstrations, it was shown how safe, efficient and scientifically validated extraction and refining methods can generate a concrete and measurable impact on the territory.
In this model, technology is not an end, but a tool of economic and social emancipation, capable of restoring centrality to mining work and reconnecting extraction to its original purpose: serving the community and the land from which it draws value.
A formalized mine is not a gear that simply executes: it is a community that participates.It becomes a place of stability, innovation and progress, capable of generating qualified employment, social inclusion and trust in international markets.
🤝 Listening as a starting point
🌍 We know that around 20% of the gold placed on the global market comes from artisanal and small-scale mining. And yet, the hands that extract it are often excluded from the very markets they feed, and from the knowledge that could strengthen them.
Recognizing the value of ASM work means acknowledging that a part of the future of the global economy also passes through their hands.
Valuing their knowledge and experience means recognizing that the time dedicated to listening is an integral part of the technical process, voices that too often remain invisible to scientific radars.
It was moving to witness a collective sense of belonging emerge: the awareness that change does not come from above, but grows from the territory, from people, when they find listening and trust. Many miners told us that they felt part of something greater, and this is perhaps the most meaningful result: turning a moment of dialogue into a moment of shared and authentic growth.
🪢 Each community received an Official Certificate of Participation: a document that goes beyond symbolic value and represents the beginning of a path of recognition, responsibility and structured collaboration.
Each certificate testifies to a shared commitment to a mining initiative that does not explore simply to extract goods, but to extract meaning. A meaning in which institutions, technicians and miners share benefits, knowledge and responsibility, strengthening the bond between equity, productivity and human development.
📄 Full press release available in attachment 👇
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