The Curse of Gold Our World

gold in east Congo. It explores how will it finds its way onto the

international market. Everything we use in our daily

lives has an origin. Do we know where that is? Do we care? This is

gold. Issues are complex and there is work in progress. In the eastern

Congo, profits from gold and other minerals pay for war. It has been

There is a swathe of central Africa that should be rich from the mining

and minerals, but is not. This gold mine is in the southern area of

eastern Congo. Technically, it is illegal. Children were care when

they should be at school. Next in the muddy water, they hope to trap

fragments of gold. Soldiers slipped away when we arrived. They taxi

miners, forcing them to give a full They know of no other way. These

miners and now at the centre of an ambitious global experiment that

stretches from the mountain side to the power of the US Congress. And

the long-term impact that may change the face of the developing

world. With gold, there is always the thrill of the big find. This

man is 38 and has four children. He These men had down the mine. It is

not a modern world. With no safety equipment and all the battery

lights, the most basic of tools, a spike and a hammer. They hack into

the mountain face. What comes from here is classified as a conflict

mineral. From the mountain, they take the rocks down to the river,

where they are broken up and crashed. -- crashed. Then the pen

for the precious metals. The jokes Then, everyone focuses. Some has

been found in the crease to the shovel. -- of the shovel. Almost

all the gold from Conqueror is illegal, and there is plenty to pay

for the small-scale war. About $1 billion a year - and have to buy

millions of assault rifles. It took months to negotiate access here.

These are the middle man, waiting with their scales, money and phones

to by the gold directly off the miners. They don't want any change

to the way things work. The people here are caught in a battle of

wills. Warlords who want to keep this well-tested operation the way

it is. And the modern, more transparent world which finds it

unpalatable. America is prompting change with a new law, the impact

Colt and this old container could never comply with the US

legislation, which is seen as putting all their jobs at risk.

From here, called begins its journey around the world, where it

underwrites the wealth of Nations and is a symbol for prosperity and

success. Very little of that is reflected in this village, whose

people live at the very bottom of the supply chain. This is cold.

Gold is a resilient conductor of electricity. But cops, phones, Wi-

Fi equipment. Companies are now being challenged to say exactly

where their raw materials come from. The miners, they can't afford the

education of their children. They can't afford medical care. They

can't afford good housing. They can't afford almost everything. We

A familiar story of workers from the developing world involved in

producing our consumer goods. being tackled by the muscle of the

law. In the US company that might be using conflict minerals will

have to reveal itself to the government. Their hand forced

because self-regulation did not work. Do you think it is necessary

to have legislation in order to claim up these minerals? I think

evidence shows us that without legislation, companies are

reluctant to act. There are some who will always trying to do the

right thing, but the majority are reluctant to reform without

legislation making them do so. Guinea name some of the good

We head off again along dreadful roads. This time, to a tin mine.

Also, a key commodity for household appliances. This mining town is in

the front line. A Congolese army keeps a fragile peace here, but the

spectre of violence is always close. -- the Congolese army. Already,

afraid of the Congo's minerals did not, some of big foreign companies

have stopped buying from here, impacting the whole community. The

miners tell me they have worked hard to get rid of armed militia

and child labour and make their mind legal. Business will pick up

again. Even without fuelling conflict, are these working

conditions really acceptable? Every day, they have to go deeper into

the mountain. Heads bent, dripping water, the roofs held up only by

timber struts. -- the roof. There is hope that if foreign companies,

the government and consumers keep up pressure, there could be

reformed and the minerals here The mine itself has been checked by

the government and given illegal status. It is officially certified

that there is a -- it is a Green mind - the best around to buy

minerals from. Actually, it is incredibly dangerous inside. It

just means there are no militia control limit and no children

working here. -- controlling it. These are the new problems they

face. The US law has forced a de facto embargo. Conger minerals are

tainted by war and international business no longer wants them.

Merchants have not been paid for It is a 50 mile drive to the next

stage of the supply chain. Here, traders stuck the minerals on the

global journey. But not so much nowadays. -- start. People lie idle

and things are barely ticking over. They say their regular customers

suddenly abandoned them. Even before the US legislation became

law, the Americans and Europeans stopped buying from this company,

throwing it into debt. Now, it has found a new client with these drums

of tin stockpiles are going. To China. It is the main global place

for electronics and consumer goods but does not share the human rights

values Western democracies do. Question - how does an environment

from another age evolve into the global values of modern times? How

to ensure that some people's measure of success and passion is

not created on the suffering of others. And that the production of

a precious metal, used to underpin economic stability, does not cause

poverty and violence elsewhere. Gold is about to be given an

international standard of production. The ultimate goal is to

make sure that everybody can have confidence that the gold they are

buying is conflict free, absolutely. Will there be a stamp or logo?

the moment, in terms of our standard, there will be a statement

of conformance that goes with the gold from the mind to the refinery.

Then as we are talking about refinery and further down the

supply chain, there may be certain initiatives that looked provide a

standard. If that it is not certain yet? No. And you have to remember

the supply chain is very complex. This is how the big players do it.

Two miles underground. Huge machinery cards up a mountain. --

cards. A far cry from the loan miner with his hammer and spike.

This is a mine in South Africa, run by the company Gold Fields. Just

one ounce of gold means they have to escalate more than six tons of

rock. -- excavate. They have the safety gear. 250,000 ounces a year.

That is worth $400 million, depending on the price. They might

need and willed it down. For what is produced, everybody knows how it

is made and where it comes from. There is an important role for

responsible, corporate citizens to demonstrate that they are doing

things and away where they can be trusted and operating

responsibility of. Like financial reporting. The standard is a way of

providing that the level of confidence. But even that is not

enough for some. You want more? We want more disclosure, we want to

be able to say, here is the product, here is the stamp. But more

importantly, disclosing the information. These are the steps we

took along our supply chain so I can see as an consumer or investor

that this product was not funding At the moment they cannot. The

journey between the mind and the high street store can get very

murky. In a strange twist, the more Al-Ghad its developer, the more

everybody gets connected. -- the more our gadgets. And the greater

our demands for parity. But we are not there yet. Everywhere we look

there is a connection to the raw products of the Neal Street. One of

the biggest electronic makers told me that we cannot guarantee where

our minerals come from. -- minerals trade. No company can at least we

are open and honest about that. The pressure of globalisation. Uganda -

the booming African economy trading with her whether it wants to do

business with. It is next door to Congo and its conflict minerals.

Even a small legitimate jeweller does not know where his gold comes

from. We do not have problems getting cold. Whatever we need.

Even in the Congo or Tanzania. gold could come from anywhere?

You don't know where it comes from? Yes. To make his rings, he uses

gold from Auld computer parts and melts it down. Gold is the most

difficult metal to track. You can melt it, change it, reshape it and,

in an economic crisis, it is the metal everybody wants. Public

demand. I want to be safe. Gold is money. Whenever you want, you can

go and make it cash. These are the Kampala slums for those who have

fled Congo's violence over the years. With them comes the

organised crimes smuggling rings. BC, -- busy, murky and corrupt. The

gold trade has proved its worth. The value has risen five -- five

times in the last ten years. Each year, an estimated 15% of all gold

produced may be untraceable. That is what a massive $20 billion. UN

investigators have spent years uncovering the criminal networks

and methods. What they found on conflict gold in Uganda was

chilling. Only a fraction of the gold that travels through here is

actually recorded. The UN estimates just 15%. Meaning, 85% of it is

exported illegally to join the international black market. The

first stop is usually the Middle East and Asia. How much of that is

illegal? Almost all of it is illegal. Almost all of it. Most of

this is gold that his undeclared, smuggled. These are familiar images

of central Africa. Warlords in it for themselves. This one is now

under arrest. And massacres. 6 million dead in Congo in the past

15 years. The minerals should be a source of wealth, of well-being. It

is chaos. A source of death in this country. That is why anybody who is

human should say, no. We can make this business more valuable, more

human. Here, the human lives of the illegal gold mine. Men supporting

families, born into a life from which it is difficult to escape.

Vincent, their leader, has been And here at the legal mind, they

just want to be able to sell their Fidel's family dressed up for our

cameras in front of their wooden hut that his home. They are hoping

that not begging on change the boys expect to go down the mines. How

much can a law from a faraway land really change the culture that has

been so deeply embedded for so long? Is it a pipe dream? Who could

actually make it work? There is some real potential if this is done

properly. If companies take responsibility, act in the right

way. If people down the supply chain are doing their duty of --