OUR PLANET DESERVES RESPONSIBLE MINING.

In an ideal world, we would never draw on non-renewable resources. In the real world, we commit to minimizing environmental impact while maximizing social good wherever gold is mined.

Heart of Mine is dedicated to transforming lives and restoring ecosystems in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM). We confront the "silent killer" — mercury — by advancing practical, mercury-free mining solutions, starting in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa.

GoldFinX is complying with UN's SDGs See how

Our Mission

Heart of Mine

We have witnessed firsthand the harsh realities of artisanal mining—where women and children work under conditions exposed to mercury, a deadly poison that poisons both communities and ecosystems.

Heart of Mine exists to replace mercury with safer, innovative, and commercially viable mining practices while restoring lands and waterways damaged by decades of contamination.

Our Four Objectives

01

Demonstrate

Prove that artisanal and small-scale gold mining can be both efficient and safe without using mercury.

02

Educate

Train miners in mercury-free techniques that protect their health and increase their income.

03

Restore

Rehabilitate contaminated mining sites and waterways to support thriving ecosystems.

04

Scale

Expand proven solutions across West Africa and beyond, creating lasting change for mining communities worldwide.

Programs & Services

Heart of Mine
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We collaborate with permit holders, cooperatives, NGOs, and government agencies to deliver practical, results-driven support across the artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) landscape.

Our Key Initiatives

Landscape Audits

Assess research permits and industrial sites, delivering actionable management recommendations (active program).

Process & "Gold-Room" Audits

Evaluate operations from extraction to doré production, building a mercury-free profitability roadmap.

Gold-Room Design & Training

Develop fixed or mobile mercury-free processing facilities for cooperatives and small mines.

Customized Equipment Solutions

Provide mercury-free tools and machinery, coupled with hands-on operator training.

Formalization & HSE Programs

Guide miners toward legal compliance and safer, sustainable workplace practices.

GIS & Resource Mapping

Apply geospatial analysis and fieldwork to optimize small-mine resource modeling and process flows.

Women-Focused Training

Empower women and single mothers with safer, income-generating alternatives.

Phytoremediation Programs

Restore contaminated soils and waterways through targeted plant-based remediation initiatives.

Bio-Digestion & Advanced Remediation Pilots

Test innovative biological solutions to neutralize mercury in legacy tailings.

Every action taken by the Foundation contributes to one overarching goal: reducing mercury's footprint in our environment and food chain.

Partners

Heart of Mine (HoM), self-funded through its founding company, GoldFinX, has been active in Côte d'Ivoire since 2019. Born from GoldFinX's commitment to responsible mining, HoM extends that mission beyond gold production—into restoring ecosystems and empowering the communities that depend on them.

We amplify our impact through partnerships with like-minded organizations that share our vision for sustainable, inclusive development.

ProKids — Empowering young single mothers through vocational training and the creation of safer, sustainable income opportunities beyond mercury-exposed work.

Prokids NGO
Heart of Mine

Heart of Mine shares planetGOLD’s vision to make small-scale gold mining safer, cleaner, and more profitable. The two entities are exploring a lasting partnership with other specialty NGOs to provide a commercially sustainable solution. HoM was recently invited by planetGOLD to present its Mercury Eradication program, highlighting its efforts to comply with the SDG objectives outlined by the United Nations.

“ASGM should not be viewed as a problem to be stamped out. Rather, efforts should focus on bringing miners into the formal economy and encouraging practices that do not use mercury and minimize negative environmental and social impacts.”

Our Mission

GoldFinX provides alternative financing to Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mines (ASGM).

The GoldFinX team has witnessed first-hand the damage mercury has on the mining operations which consistently employ women and children to work in inhumane working conditions. Furthermore, the use of mercury poses a huge systemic threat to the world through its wide use and contamination.

This is why we knew a change was needed and have proudly initiated The Heart of Mine Foundation, an entity dedicated to improving the lives and the land of mining communities worldwide and all the extending ecosystems affected.

Here are just a few of the many objectives:

  • Creating alternative ways for women to earn a respectable living and want to leave the harsh working conditions of ASGM
  • Getting children out of the mines and starting their education journey in schools
  • Addressing the medical conditions of miners and their families who have been poisoned by mercury and preventing further damage within the communities
  • Helping fix the problems of food insecurity, especially for children in need
  • Restoration of mines to their natural states after the mining process is complete

Our Mission

GoldFinX provides alternative financing to Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mines (ASGM).

The GoldFinX team has witnessed first-hand the damage mercury has on the mining operations which consistently employ women and children to work in inhumane working conditions. Furthermore, the use of mercury poses a huge systemic threat to the world through its wide use and contamination.

This is why we knew a change was needed and have proudly initiated The Heart of Mine Foundation, an entity dedicated to improving the lives and the land of mining communities worldwide and all the extending ecosystems affected.

Here are just a few of the many objectives:

  • Creating alternative ways for women to earn a respectable living and want to leave the harsh working conditions of ASGM
  • Getting children out of the mines and starting their education journey in schools
  • Addressing the medical conditions of miners and their families who have been poisoned by mercury and preventing further damage within the communities
  • Helping fix the problems of food insecurity, especially for children in need
  • Restoration of mines to their natural states after the mining process is complete

News

Follow our current projects and field activities on social media:
Heart of Mine
Heart of Mine

“Mercury is considered as one of the top ten chemicals or groups of chemicals of major public health concern.”

MERCURY'S DEVASTATING EFFECT

Over 2000 tonnes of mercury are released each year into the environment from small gold mines to produce only 600 tonnes of all the gold globally, thus creating the single largest source of man-made mercury emission on Earth.

Mercury intoxication manifests in neurological, kidney, and autoimmune impairment. Systemic absorption of elemental mercury via the lungs causes vomiting, headache, fever, and diarrhea. Even chronic, lower-level exposure to elemental mercury causes tremors and neuropsychiatric symptoms such as fatigue, insomnia, anorexia, depression, and memory problems.

Human exposure occurs mainly through inhalation of elemental mercury vapors during industrial processes and contaminated fish and shellfish consumption. Fish-eating communities often report profound disturbances in motor and mental development from newborns.

High amounts of mercury can lead to long-term and sometimes permanent neurological changes. The dangers are especially notable in young children who are still developing. Adults with mercury poisoning may have permanent brain and kidney damage.

THERE’S NO CURE FOR MERCURY POISONING.

The Sustainable Development Goals List

The United Nations’ goals are ambitious, and here are the ones that Heart of Mine directly impact.

GOOD HEALTH AND WELL-BEING: Providing mobile health care through our Doctors on Wheels initiative to address health issues and support advanced health research on mercury use in gold mining communities.

QUALITY EDUCATION: Ending child labour and empowering a brighter future.

GENDER EQUALITY: Giving the option to women to leave the mining process and creating alternative employment.

RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION: Acquire lab separators to offer on-site separation techniques to anyone for FREE to replace the use of mercury in the gold extraction process.

LIFE BELOW WATER: Removing mercury as a favorite tool for artisanal miners eliminates 40% of all man-made mercury pollution in the world’s oceans.

LIFE ON LAND: Partner with environmental stewards, scientists, and organizations deploying preventative interventions and rehabilitating ecosystems damaged by gold mining communities operations.

PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE GOALS: Heart of Mine is building key business relationships with NGOs throughout the regions they work to produce positive results in areas of need.

The time is now,
let's create change
together!

CONTACT US
info@heartofmine.foundation
www.heartofmine.foundation

© Heart of Mine Foundation 2022
Registered Charity Number in the Charity Commission for England and Wales:1194909

46 Albert Street
Fleckney, Leicester
LE8 8BA, England

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