Despite rising gold prices, many Tanzanian artisanal and small-scale gold miners still rely on outdated, mercury-based methods that harm health, the environment, and gold yields. In response, The Impact Facility piloted a High Banker Sluice with direct smelting—designed by Mkemia Mineral Services and fabricated locally—to improve gold recovery and eliminate mercury use.

Field-tested at Nsangano Gold Mine, the High Banker Sluice achieved a 63.18% gold recovery rate—significantly outperforming traditional sluices—and enabled direct smelting with 96.55% efficiency, producing cleaner gold without mercury. The report outlines the equipment design, test results, and recommendations for scaling this mercury-free technology to benefit ASGM communities.

This case study gives an overview of a lease-to-purchase blended finance program developed by The Impact Facility for Sustainable Mining Communities (TIF) to provide equipment and foster sustainable mining practices in the ASGM sector of Western Kenya. This case study is part of a larger body of work documenting financial access interventions for the ASGM sector around the world, documented by The Impact Facility team on behalf of planetGOLD, with the support of the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM), over the course of the first half of 2024. Click on the download button at the bottom of this page to get the full report of The Impact Facility’s work in Kenya.

When artisanal and small-scale miners produce gold observing relevant environmental, social and governance standards, practical barriers to accessing international markets typically still remain. This report aims to inform the funders, leaders, and managers of existing and planned ASGM market initiatives, to highlight the impediments such initiatives face in establishing a flow of formal responsible ASM gold into international markets.

As part of our Lake Victoria Gold Programme, we developed a handbook guiding the continuous improvement of ASMO’s along what we call the Impact Escalator.

Our Impact Monitoring & Guidance structures our efforts to quantify the positive impact of our interventions. Please note, we plan to update this tool in early 2021.

Under The Lake Victoria Gold Programme, The Impact Facility has established an equipment lease-to-ownership business solution for artisanal mineral gold producers of East Africa. Tailored towards the needs of the ASM community, we believe that the professionalisation of the sector should go hand-in-hand with the formalisation of artisanal and small-scale mining. This document outlines the rationale behind our lease offering and its potential to transform the gold value chain, starting with the communities that supply the commodity.

TIF started working on issues around ASM cobalt in 2018. Our team travelled to the DRC with a multi-disiplinary team of experts to take stock of the issues around two mmine sites specifically: Kasulu and Kamilombe. This effort evolved into what ias today the Fair Cobalt Alliance. The report offers reflections on challanges around the mines as well as in regards to child labour in the local communities.