Closed-door meetings

Combating Illegal Mining and Illicit Flows: Building a Coalition for a Sustainable Mineral Sector

As global demand for minerals rises amid geopolitical instability and the digital and energy transitions, illegal mining has expanded, contributing to environmental degradation, social conflict, and human rights violations, while also fueling organized crime. Artisanal and small-scale gold mining is particularly under threat, as it is targeted by criminal gangs and corruption which poses risks to international security. Urgent action is needed at multilateral level to tackle these pervasive issues.

Considering the relevance of this discussion for Brazil, as an important player in multilateral forums such as G20, the BRICS and COP30, which is also particularly affected by this issue, CEBRI, the World Gold Council and ApcoWorldwide are promoting a high-level closed-door meeting in Rio de Janeiro, at the margins of the BRICS summit, to discuss these issues.

The initiative will present key findings from the World Gold Council’s Silence is Golden report and explore initiatives to curb the expansion of illicit mining and promote more sustainable practices.

The meeting will gather executives from public sector agencies, civil society organizations and private sector representatives from BRICS+ countries to discuss the development of the "international coalition of the willing” alongside international strategies to further collaboration on gold traceability, human rights protection, formalisation of artisanal and small-sale gold mining and the fight against illegal flows. The discussion will be a stepping stone towards a further in-depth workshop in Brasilia in the second semester of 2025, which will focus on artisanal and small-scale gold mining within Brazil, positive programs already underway and initiatives for the future.

Partnership: APCO, IBRAM, and World Gold Council (WGC)

Time:

10:00 am to 12:00 pm (BRT)

Language:

English and Portuguese

Share

As global demand for minerals rises amid geopolitical instability and the digital and energy transitions, illegal mining has expanded, contributing to environmental degradation, social conflict, and human rights violations, while also fueling organized crime. Artisanal and small-scale gold mining is particularly under threat, as it is targeted by criminal gangs and corruption which poses risks to international security. Urgent action is needed at multilateral level to tackle these pervasive issues.

Considering the relevance of this discussion for Brazil, as an important player in multilateral forums such as G20, the BRICS and COP30, which is also particularly affected by this issue, CEBRI, the World Gold Council and ApcoWorldwide are promoting a high-level closed-door meeting in Rio de Janeiro, at the margins of the BRICS summit, to discuss these issues.

The initiative will present key findings from the World Gold Council’s Silence is Golden report and explore initiatives to curb the expansion of illicit mining and promote more sustainable practices.

The meeting will gather executives from public sector agencies, civil society organizations and private sector representatives from BRICS+ countries to discuss the development of the "international coalition of the willing” alongside international strategies to further collaboration on gold traceability, human rights protection, formalisation of artisanal and small-sale gold mining and the fight against illegal flows. The discussion will be a stepping stone towards a further in-depth workshop in Brasilia in the second semester of 2025, which will focus on artisanal and small-scale gold mining within Brazil, positive programs already underway and initiatives for the future.

Partnership: APCO, IBRAM, and World Gold Council (WGC)

Opening and Moderation

Rafaela Guedes
Senior Fellow

Independent consultant, Fellow at Igarapé, International Advisor at APCO and member of a panel of experts on Energy Transition at the Institute for Climate and Society (iCS)

Luiz Ildefonso Simões Lopes
Vice-President

Vice Chairman of Brookfield Brasil

Participants

Anjoum Noorani
United Kingdom General Consul in Rio de Janeiro

Dominic Raab
Senior Consultant at WGC

Marcelo Della Nina
Chief of the Combating Transnational Crimes Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Melina Risso
Research Director at Igarapé Institute

Raul Jungmann
Trustee

President of IBRAM, Minister of Agrarian Development (1999-2002), Minister of Defense (2016-2018) e Extraordinary Minister of Public Security (2018-2019)

Shaokai Fan
Head of Asia-Pacific (ex-China) & Global Head of Central Banks at World Gold Council (WGC)

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