What is responsible gold sourcing?
TL;DR
Responsible gold sourcing is the process of verifying a gold bar's origin and confirming it was produced without financing conflict, laundering, or human-rights abuse. It rests on three public pillars: the OECD Due Diligence Guidance (the risk framework), the LBMA Good Delivery and Responsible Sourcing standards (refiner accreditation), and a documented chain of custody from mine to refined bar.
On this page
The short answer
Gold is fungible — one refined ounce is chemically identical to any other — which is exactly why provenance is hard and why it matters. Without a paper trail, gold from an illegal or conflict-linked mine is indistinguishable from gold mined responsibly once it is melted and refined.
Responsible sourcing is the set of standards that rebuild that trail. It answers two questions for every bar: where did this come from, and can we show it did not fund conflict, laundering, or abuse along the way. The answers live in audited documentation, not in the metal itself.
The three pillars
The framework is built from public, citable standards:
- OECD Due Diligence Guidance — the internationally recognized five-step risk framework for minerals from conflict-affected and high-risk areas. It defines what "checking your supply chain" actually requires.
- LBMA Good Delivery + Responsible Sourcing — the London Bullion Market Association accredits refiners and requires them to run an audited responsible-sourcing program. A "Good Delivery" bar comes from an accredited refiner.
- Chain of custody — the documented, unbroken record of who held the gold at each step from mine to refined bar, so provenance can be reconstructed and audited.
Why artisanal mining is the hard case
Large industrial mines are relatively easy to audit. The difficult segment is artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) — millions of informal miners who produce a meaningful share of the world's gold. ASGM is where the sharpest sourcing risks concentrate: informal supply chains, and the widespread use of mercury to extract gold from ore, which is both an environmental hazard and a regulated substance.
Responsible-sourcing programs do not simply exclude ASGM — that can push it further underground. The harder goal is formalizing it: bringing artisanal output into documented, mercury-reduced supply chains.
How gold is priced (for reference)
Refined gold references the LBMA Gold Price, set by a twice-daily electronic auction in London, alongside COMEX futures. Those are the public benchmarks the market quotes against.
We don't publish or forecast the gold price here — this page is about provenance and due diligence, not the market. The sourcing standards above are what determine whether a given bar can enter a compliant supply chain at all, independent of its price.
Frequently asked questions
What makes gold "responsibly sourced"?
A documented, audited chain of custody from mine to bar, produced under the OECD Due Diligence Guidance and refined by a refiner accredited to a recognized responsible-sourcing standard such as LBMA Good Delivery. It is the paper trail and the audit — not a property of the metal — that make gold responsibly sourced.
What is LBMA Good Delivery?
It is the London Bullion Market Association standard that accredits gold and silver refiners and specifies bar quality. Accredited refiners must also run an audited responsible-sourcing program, so "Good Delivery" signals both a quality bar and a vetted supply chain.
Why does mercury come up in gold sourcing?
Artisanal and small-scale miners often use mercury to bind gold from crushed ore. That makes mercury both an environmental and health hazard and a regulated substance under the Minamata Convention, so mercury use is one of the flags responsible-sourcing due diligence looks for.
Related
How is mercury regulated and traded globally?
Mercury is governed by a dedicated global treaty — the Minamata Convention on Mercury (adopted 2013, in force 2017) — layered with regional export bans in the EU (2011) and US (effective 2013). Together they restrict where mercury is produced, phase out its uses, and control cross-border movement. This is a regulation explainer, not a sourcing guide: the defining fact about mercury is how constrained its trade is.
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