Switzerland - a hub in the gold trade: challenges and responsibilities

With 70% of its annual consumption refined in Switzerland, gold is currently under societal and environmental scrutiny in our country, a matter seized by the politicians. Recently, some industries started to use exclusively recycled gold and mined gold coming from areas with high environmental standards. To accommodate those needs, competing initiatives offer to guarantee the origin of gold through standards and audits; however, there is no scientific tool to confirm a claimed origin. Our innovative proposal is to identify an analytical fingerprint characteristic of the mining area (sort of “DNA” of the gold), naturally embedded in the mineral and detectable at all stages from the extraction to the pure gold. This fingerprint, defined by specific isotopic ratios of impurities found in gold, is insensitive to chemical treatments, rendering its falsification almost impossible.

This study is carried out in collaboration with Metalor Technologies SA, the world's largest gold refiner, and supported by Innosuisse, the Swiss Innovation Agency.

Le «Bouillon d'idées» est un séminaire proposé par le groupe de recherche «Développement, Sociétés, Environnements», dans lequel les chercheuses et les chercheurs sont invité·e·s à présenter une recherche en cours.

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