Certification

Mammoth Gold offers an independent third party certification.

Our certification criteria were inspired, in part, by the “No Dirty Gold” campaign and by leading edge certification concepts resulting from the work of the mining and jewellery industries, governments and non-governmental organizations. This includes the work of EARTHWORKS, the Madison Dialogue, the Kimberly Process, and others.

Our certification principles and standards incorporate current Yukon legislation and regulations as well as industry best practices, which are presented within the context of the “Golden Rules”.

Key to our certification criteria is the requirement for independent third party inspections, assessment and reviews. Independent third party involvement provides the necessary transparency and accountability that our purchasers are seeking. Ernst & Young is an important part of this team ensuring an independent review of all reports and documents is completed.

Mine compliance with the certification program is determined by comparing the mine’s operating practices against a set of Performance Standards.

The Ethical Gold Certification assessment is evidence based.

In designing the Ethical Gold Certification program, we have paid particular attention to ensuring that sufficient relevant evidence is provided to support the certification decision. A number of performance Indicators have been identified for each of the Standards we require are met. These Indicators provide overlapping and corroborating evidence of the mining operation’s compliance with the Standards. The evidence used in the certification process has been classified into four categories:

Documentary Evidence: consists of documents that originated from an independent third party that demonstrate compliance with one or more Performance Standards. Examples of Documentary Evidence include permits, licenses, policies, etc.

Inspections: are carried out by a qualified inspector to critically examine the applicant mine to ensure that they comply with the Performance Standards.

External Confirmation: is often anchored in Yukon and Canadian legislations. As such, various government agencies routinely conduct compliance inspections and reviews of the mining operations. Certification letters are obtained from these government agencies confirming that the mining operation is complying with the relevant Acts and Regulations.

Owners and Managers Statutory Declaration: consists of sworn statements made by the owners and managers of the mine regarding their compliance with the various Performance Standards.

Each Performance Standard that is met has been confirmed using at least two sources of evidence and has been confirmed both by Mammoth Tusk Gold and our independent review body, Ernst & Young.

Evidentiary documents and reports are sent independently to the third party assessor. Mammoth Tusk Gold has retained the services of Ernst & Young to undertake the certification assessment. Ernst & Young reviews the evidence they receive for completeness and against the set standard. Mining operations that do not meet our standards will not be certified as Ethical Gold Producers.

For more detailed information on the certification process, or if you are a Yukon placer miner looking for more information, please click here.