In one week in October, miners, refiners, industry groups and non-governmental organisations held two meetings that could start a revolution in the gold industry. One, in Washington, DC fine-tuned rules for preventing gold that has funded conflict from being sold in international markets. The other, in New York, discussed a voluntary code on human rights and protecting the environment. If it all goes according to plan, the gold industry will have gone some way to cleaning up its act. It is about time...A quarter of the world’s mined gold comes from artisanal mines, basic holes in the ground where the miners – often children – climb down into the earth and hack at rock. Some use their bare hands to mix mercury with the ore to separate the gold; 80 per cent of all human mercury poisoning is caused by artisanal gold mining...Most people who work in artisanal mines do so because they have no other source of income, but others are forced to do so by militias. Artisanal mines tend to be located in areas that are remote and hard to police, and there are many tales of rape, kidnap and forced labour...The gold supply chain is complicated and opaque, with plenty of weak points where illegal metal can leak into the system...NGOs also have high hopes for the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance, the voluntary code on human rights and protecting the environment. [refers to HSBC, Metalor, Barrick Gold, Cambior]