Several AGA members shared their research and projects with an audience of jewelers, designers, gemstone dealers, refiners, business coaches, sustainability consultants, organizational executive directors, and others from Oct. 23 -24 in Chicago, IL (US). The annual CRJC is organized by Susan Wheeler, AGA member, Amazon Aid Board President, and founder of the Responsible Jewelry Transformative.

AGA presenters / panelists included:

● Luis Fernandez – CINCIA and Wake Forest Univ.

● Vera Cittadino – Alliance for Responsible Mining

● Andrés Castellanos – FairAlloy

● Allison Aldous – The Nature Conservancy

● Christina Miller – Network Director, Amazon Gold Alliance

● Brad Brooks-Rubin – Partner, Arkturos (not pictured)

● Sara Yood – Jewelers Vigilance Committee (not pictured)

Amazon Aid founder, Sarah duPont, was also in attendance. Many conference attendees referenced the film River of Gold, which Sarah screened for the conference in 2018. Returning attendees recalled being moved to discover more about the origins of their gold following that film.

“Seeing River of Gold pushed me into action,” says Will Alderfer, head jeweler and co-founder, W.R. Metalarts “I needed to know where my gold was coming from and have since made a shift to known origin gold.”

For her presentation, Allison Aldous – TNC, connected the dots between gold mining, mercury use, and fish. She covered many topics including how mercury bioaccumulates at the highest levels in large carnivorous fish and what this means for the ecosystem and the people that rely on it. The TNC recently published Amazon Forgotten Fishes.

Holding the audience’s attention with a mission-impossible tale of red-eye flights, $50,000 mercury detection equipment, and a sliver of time to test a shipping container for mercury, Luis Fernandez explained that between 2019 and 2025 over 200 tons of mercury were shipped illegally from mercury mines in Mexico. Much of this mercury makes its way into gold mining operations in the Amazon and throughout S. American mining regions.

Sara Yood and Brad Brooks-Rubin spoke with some of the leading voices on atrocity prevention, legal accountability, and responsible mineral supply chains to examine how conflict minerals, especially gold, are fueling violence in Sudan and the Great Lakes region. They also discussed the legislation that would help to cut these gold flows and address conflict gold. While this session was focused on Sudan and the DRC, many of the issues mirror the situation in the Amazon.

The panel Beyond Recycled Gold Why & How, brought together Vera Cittadino of the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) and Andrés Castellanos of FairAlloy, both AGA members, along with Greg Valerio of PeaceGold. Christina Miller, Network Director of the AGA at Amazon Aid, moderated. The group took on recycled gold, which remains a persistent blind spot in responsible sourcing despite years of reporting and public attention.

The panelists took a value chain approach, using Colombia as an example to follow gold from its first legal purchase, the moment it gets its legal identity, all the way to the jeweler’s counter. They explained why “recycled” gold isn’t a low-risk choice: most standards stop at the refiner, so illegally mined and traded gold can be laundered easily through smuggling routes. Looking at the whole system also showed how economics shapes the choices. Legal and illegal buyers alike can pay one price, while gold from mines that improve working conditions and eliminate mercury usually costs more. That price gap can discourage buyers from sourcing gold of known origin.

The panel then turned to solutions. Vera shared how ARM offers two pathways to formal, mercury-free gold: the CRAFT Code, which helps miners move from informality to formality, and Fairmined certification for more advanced mines. Greg explained how PeaceGold brings peacebuilding into the formalization of gold mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo at a price that competes with recycled gold. Andrés described how he shows his customers the measurable social benefits of Fairmined gold in Colombia. The session closed with a call for jewelers, who have moved the market before, to move it again.