A key challenge to scaling or making responsible sourcing initiatives in the artisanal gold mining sector sustainable is competition from the informal gold trade, largely driven by complex networks of small and large traders. The lack of incentives or an enabling environment to use formal sales channels has led most responsible sourcing initiatives to cut traders out of the supply chain and enforce a closed-pipe, single source model. These present limited opportunities for scaling responsible sourcing in the ASM sector more broadly, and often leads to traders playing a ‘spoiler’ role to responsible sourcing efforts. This project will work directly with traders as a pathway for scaling responsible practices in the ASM gold sector in Côte d’Ivoire. We aim to learn more about the motivations of the traders, and the miners they source from, to sell into a legal, traceable supply chain and to use incentives to encourage legal trade.