This is an illegal mine in Madagascar. Its gold is banned from the world’s legitimate marketplace. Thousands of children work in these mines, in violation of international law. Yet Madagascar’s gold flowed easily to market. And the world’s gold authority helped cover it up.

In an industry riddled with abuse, the world’s banks and governments rely on one entity to keep gangsters, warlords and human rights violators from selling gold into the mainstream market.

That group, the London Bullion Market Association, is the self-described “global authority for precious metals.” With the power to blacklist companies, the L.B.M.A. is the closest thing the multi-trillion-dollar industry has to an international regulator.

Governments rely on the association’s stamp as a sign that gold has been mined without human rights abuses, environmental devastation, financial sanctions or criminality. In the most literal sense, the L.B.M.A. sets the gold standard.

But a New York Times investigation found that the association has repeatedly allowed gold into the market that has been mined by criminals, cartel members and children. Refiners lie with impunity about the origins of their gold. The rules are pocked with exceptions and vagaries, and the L.B.M.A. has repeatedly decided not to enforce them.

And in the case of Madagascar, the L.B.M.A. helped change and backdate key paperwork that certified gold as free from abuse.

As prices skyrocketed in recent years and evidence emerged that gold was financing armed groups in Sudan and polluters in the Amazon, the industry perpetuated the notion that it kept such dirty gold out of the mainstream marketplace.

The Times investigation shows that the divide between “clean” and “dirty” gold is an industry fiction. There is just gold. And as Wall Street, central banks and investors stockpile and trade the precious metal, they’re profiting off a supply that includes gold from illegal sources.

That matters now more than ever. Two decades ago, when gold sold at about $600 an ounce, it was not profitable to drive mining barges into the deepest parts of the Amazon or use bulldozers to tear up acres of Madagascar rice fields to find gold. The price this year crossed the $5,000 mark. That has made it profitable to mine in inefficient, destructive and politically destabilizing ways.

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See also:

• To Find Criminals and Child Exploitation in Gold Mines, We Just Had to Look • Layers of people certify that gold is free from rights abuses and criminality. Nobody makes them leave their desks. (New York Times)

a good sign or false hope?

I had a Hemorrhagic thalamic stroke in May 2025, I am disabled, with very limited mobility, balance issues and extremely limited stamina. I also have hemiparesis on my right side and the longer I am on my feet the less unstable I become.

lost my family home on April 8th. I spent 3 days living on the street with my dog until my body collapsed. I was sent to the emergency room where I was admitted and a few days later I was sent to a nursing home. Larry was boarded by the other hospital, I was there for 6 months living in pure hell.

A personal injury further ruined my mobility. The footboard of their bed fell off and crushed my left foot. The social worker did literally nothing to help me, there was no real discharge planning. They dumped me at the red roof inn for 30 days without any help accessing housing. That has ran out and I am currently homeless.

My caseworker and I have exhausted every single “social net” net we could and we have still not found anything. On Friday 10/24/2026 I went had my caseworker take me to Southern Ohio medical center in Portsmouth Ohio because I was dizzy, exhausted, weak and disoriented. The emergency department originally refused to help me with more than a CT scan and then wanted me gone to turn over the bed. This was unacceptable to me as all they did was check my blood pressure once (175/109) and refused to treat my symptoms such as the dizziness and then the vomiting.

I finally got them to recheck my blood pressure and it was at 207/11. This eventually convinced them to give me nausea meds and a pill for my blood pressure. After telling them I was homeless the social worker came by and gave me a list of apartments. No further attempts to get me set up with any crisis centers or anything they were just going to push me outside and leave me there.

I eventually fell asleep and woke up to a ground of 6 workers at the door threatening me to leave. I tried to explain to them I wasn't ambulatory and tried to provide them with my disability letter to prove it. They didn't want to hear it.

They called the police and I fully complied with the officers instructions. Both the Police and the workers were extremely aggressive, mocked me, joked and refused to help me transfer to the chair for them to take me out. I nearly fell trying to transfer. The video above is from when we were outside and they were wheeling me down the hill. You can hear them continue to mock and taunt me. I was then quite literally dumped on the curb at the edge of the property with no help or support of any kind.

Source: https://youtu.be/-jItchnE7cg