Clean campaign gathers traction

By Claire Adler
Published: November 8 2008 02:00

In 2004, a report by Earthworks, the US mining watch group, and Oxfam America, entitled Dirty Metals, laid out the endemic dangers of gold mining. It makes for disturbing reading. It revealed that arsenic emissions, cyanide and mercury poisoning, excess water and energy consumption, child labour, the spread of HIV and environmental damage were rife in the gold mining process.
In open-cast mining, cyanide is poured on to the land, drawing out not just gold but toxic substances such as arsenic. In one accident, a toxic leak at a Romanian mine led to 2,000 tonnes of fish being killed.
In countries as diverse as Ghana, Indonesia, the US and Peru, gold mining operations have displaced people from their land. Gold mining affects communities on every continent except Antarctica. The average 18 carat gold wedding ring leaves in its wake 20 tons of mine waste. "Two-thirds of jewellery manufacturing today takes place in developing countries. In India alone, there are 700,000 people employed by the diamond industry, with an average of 10 dependants each," says Michael Allchin, chief executive at the Birmingham Assay Office.
Gold's complex supply system means it is almost impossible to label where it has come from. "Gold's supply chain consists of five unconnected industries - mining, refining, manufacturing, wholesale and retailing - four of which are not consumer-facing and therefore far less motivated to prove their ethical standards," said Gordon Hamme, editor of The Goldsmith magazine, presenting his research at a debate at September's international jewellery trade show in London. "The ultimate proof came in June when miners Anglo American defied international pressure and invested £200m in Zimbabwe - one of the most vicious, nasty and murderous regimes in the world."
The Dirty Metals report kick-started a broad industry response. In 2004, Tiffany was the first big jeweller to take a stance, calling for reform by opposing a silver mine which threatened local wildlife in an open letter advertisement in the Washington Post. In recent years. Tiffany has bought most of its gold and silver from an American Rio Tinto mine on the basis that Rio Tinto can account for its provenance. Tiffany, Piaget, Van Cleef & Arpels, Zale, Cartier and the Signet Group, among others, also abide by "the golden rules" set forth by the No Dirty Gold campaign established by Earthworks and Oxfam America. The rules prioritise human rights, safe working conditions and the protection of local communities and ecosystems. The campaign also urges the general public to sign up to an online petition. The No Dirty Gold website estimates that, in South Africa, one worker dies and 12 others are injured for every ton of gold produced.
In 2005, Cartier, Tiffany, Rio Tinto, Signet Group, CIBJO - the world jewellery confederation - BHP Billiton and the Diamond Trading Company were among 15 co-founders of the Council for Responsible Jewellery Practices. The organisation now has almost 100 members, all committed to tackling business ethics, human rights, labour standards and environmental performance.
There is now a widely held belief that the market is ripe for ethical products. Many feel that consumers are willing to pay a premium for them. Stephen d'Esposito, Earthworks president, recently toured the Canadian Mammoth Tusk Gold mine - a gold mine operating economically and environmentally sustainable processes. He observed that demand for responsibly sourced gold exceeds supply and predicts this disparity will grow.
Meanwhile, Fabergé is planning a comeback in the form of an ethical luxury jewellery brand. London-listed Gemfield Resources will use the Fabergé name to adorn precious coloured stones, available from next year, which will be individually numbered to provide a guarantee of ethical sourcing. Earlier this year, Walmart, the US supermarket chain, introduced a sell-out line of Love Earth jewellery, which is responsibly sourced from Rio Tinto mines. Walmart now plans an ethically sourced diamond collection and claims 10 per cent of all jewellery it sells will come from a traceable source by 2010.
A handful of independent retailers and designers such as Cred Jewellery, Pippa Small and Green Karat are going against the tide, attempting to produce jewellery using an ethically responsible supply chain.
The issues surrounding ethical gold are nothing new to Chichester jeweller Greg Valerio, who in the mid-1990s founded Cred Jewellery. His first attempts to sell fair trade accessories were a miserable failure, except for one item - a gold wedding ring. Today, he specialises in wedding jewellery, working with the Green Gold co-operative in Colombia to ensure that the metal and gem mining for his jewellery involves restoring and reforesting mined land, avoids toxic chemicals that pollute rivers or cause brain damage, and rejects child labour.
Working towards Fair Trade accreditation, Mr Valerio has set up the Cred Foundation which funds international humanitarian projects. He is also a founder of ARM (the Association for Responsible Mining) which works to make clean gold a real consumer option.
"Social and environmental justice are integral parts of our shared humanity and should therefore be central to all company policy," he says.
Still, leading British gold- and silversmith Martin Pugh, whose cutlery can be found in the private collection at 10 Downing Street, recently bemoaned the difficulty of acquiring ethical gold in small quantities.
He is not alone. Other small-scale users of gold such as Bristol-based designer and retailer Diana Porter believe heavyweights such as Wal-Mart should share their knowledge.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008