One gold miner in Mali’s northern Kidal region agreed to respond to written questions from the BBC on condition of anonymity, for fear of his safety.
He estimated that, on a “good day”, he earns 10,000 to 20,000 CFA francs, or approximately $18 to $36 (£13 to £26).
The amount he is paid has not increased alongside global gold prices, he said.
“Prices went up, but the extra profit goes to mine owners… It’s risky and uncertain, but for many of us, it’s the only option,” he added.
Dr Vines, who formerly worked as a blood diamond investigator for the UN, is concerned that gold has become Africa’s new main conflict commodity.
He noted that gold has not received the same international attention as diamonds, which fuelled bloodshed in several African states throughout the 20th Century, especially during the 1990s.
Intervention by human rights groups and the UN led to the establishment of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme in 2003, which did much to end the sale of so-called “blood diamonds” on the open market.
But attempts to crack down on “blood gold” have been less successful.
This is partly due to a lack of unified ethical standards. The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), a major authority in the gold market, requires refiners to comply with standards based on guidelines set by a global body, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OED).
The UAE’s enforcement of these regulations has historically been patchy.
In 2021, the country announced its own standards for ethical gold mining – however, the framework remains voluntary. The issue of enforcement has caused tensions in the past between the Gulf state and the LBMA.
Tracing technology represents another hurdle.
“There is no ‘DNA testing’ for gold. With a lot of effort, you can trace diamonds before they get polished and cut… But I haven’t seen ways of tracing the origins of a gold nugget,” Dr Vines said.
Gold is smelted early on in the value chain, making it nearly impossible to trace and connect to potential conflict zones, he explained.
Dr Vines believes that it is likely that some blood gold from the Sahel ends up in UK markets.
“[Gold] gets smelted in [the] UAE, then goes onto the jewellery manufacturing industry, or into dentistry, or bullion. Some of it clearly comes into the UK. And once it is here, there is no way of testing what it is.”
Another reason that it will be difficult to repeat the successes of the Kimberley process, according to Dr Vines, is because the certification system was not designed to deal with state governments.
“Kimberley was designed to deal with armed non-state actors in places like Sierra Leone and Liberia,” he said.
For now, gold’s importance for Sahel governments and the patchy enforcement of ethical gold standards mean that the commodity is likely to continue changing hands, regardless of its origin.
Unfortunately for some communities in the Sahel, that may mean paying for the trade in blood.
