Empowering Women

Daniela Colaiacovo, Makal’s Co-Founder, made a commitment to empowering women when she first founded the MAKAL brand, and this core value is upheld in two main ways:

By empowering women in artisanal mining communities to use more sustainable mining methods for a healthier and safer environment;
By empowering our customers with the knowledge that each time you purchase a MAKAL piece, you’re making a genuine investment in a world we want to leave to our children and grandchildren, a future we can all believe in.

Women in Mining

Women play a crucial role in artisanal mining communities across the globe but are often excluded to lower-paid, manual extraction tasks such as crushing, sluicing, washing, panning, sieving, sorting, transporting and mercury-gold amalgamation – placing them at an increased risk of respiratory illnesses and mercury poisoning.

Mercury poisoning is especially harmful to foetuses and young infants as it affects the brain and nervous system development and is even more acute in local mining communities who present the single largest demand for mercury in the world.

Women in mining gravitate towards mercury use as they not only lack the financial capacity to invest in alternative gold processing equipment but also lack the training and awareness to facilitate a smooth transition into better equipment use.

Mercury Reduction Programme in partnership with The Impact Facility

In 2020, MAKAL invested in mercury reduction efforts targeting the female work force at eight Artisanal Small Scale Mining groups in Kenya through our partnership with the Impact Facility for Sustainable Mining Communities.

This charity is dedicated to connecting jewellers with mining communities, to channel grants and social loans for improving rural businesses in Africa and South America. This will in turn help to drive the global supply of responsibly-produced minerals and gemstones.

The programme aims to provide women miners who are processing gold using mercury with equipment that will significantly reduce toxic mercury exposure and emissions during the gold amalgamation process. The grant finances the equipment provided, and a three-month training programme to teach women how to use the equipment safely.

The programme also educates miners about the dangers of mercury to people and the environment. It is part of MAKAL’s wider effort to improve mine site operations through capacity building and investment in safer, more productive equipment. Learn more about the programme.

Mentoring Women in Mining

In early 2021, MAKAL announced a new project to support women in mining in northern Kenya. We welcome Candice, a young mining engineer into our team, working with The Impact Facility to learn more about the industry and develop research into how to mine in a responsible way.

MAKAL will be mentoring Candice’s progress as she contributes to a sustainability initiative to reduce the impact of mercury exposure in Kenyan small-scale gold mining.

Learn more about Candice’s mentoring journey on the MAKAL blog.

Learn More