Crushing and mercury processing of gold in a small roadside hut.

In this region of Ituri I am talking directly to small-scale gold miners who are ex-combatants, who want to use gold mining as a means of building peace, not punishment. Their idea cannot be any worse than the top-down proscriptive process the OECD has recently run in the region regarding conflict minerals. From the very beginning of the OECD process I could never understand how their rules for governing the export of designated conflict minerals (Tin, Tantalum, Tungsten and Gold), that they refer to as ‘due diligences in supply chain management’ was going to lead to a reduction in the use of gold as a conflict mineral. Ostensibly because their process does not address the root causes of what, according to CRC is an ethnic conflict in which gold can easily be used to fund the violence. As if to prove this point Henri tells me that the previous evening he had received a call from a local militia leader in the bush who had ten children with two guns that he wanted to demobilise and have rehabilitated back to their families. Why this sudden act of clemency had taken place I never learned, but this is typical of the kind of work that Henri and CRC undertake all the time. Henri explains that the children will be placed with specially trained families for the first few months, while their families are contacted and prepared for their return to village life. Their weapons are then decommissioned at the UN HQ in Bunia. To take the guns to the FARDC (Congolese Army) would mean they would just be recycled back into the conflict as many soldiers sell the guns to get extra cash. Henri is very clear, children end up in the militia because they and their families are poor. Therefore they make easy targets for militia leaders looking for new recruits for a simple USD payment to the family.

None of the miners have ever heard of the OECD, or transparency or supply chain management. Never mind have the ability to read a complex UN styled report written by University graduates. All they know is that they currently sell their gold to traders and its final destination is Bunia.

The OECD conflict gold process is the politically correct tragedy that is unfolding before us. If through our sense of moral outrage at the appalling conflict that has to date claimed 5.5 million lives we remove the population’s ability to earn a living in an honest fashion, then these same people are forced by necessity to militia activity or illegal smuggling to earn a daily crust. As another mining leader in North Kivu once wrote to say in response to the Enough Projects call to boycott eastern DRC minerals ‘We will die by the bullet or die of starvation’. The OECD conflict minerals process deals with the fruit, not the root of the problem. It is the band aid on the festering wound and sold to the market a cure. The root of the problem is poverty and it has created a set of recommended procedures that only corporate mining companies can afford to follow, rather than address the majority employed by the gold trade, namely the small-scale miners and their poor communities.

It is little wonder then that the vast mineral wealth of the DRC will not benefit the DRC people through this process. A UN Security Council report dated 21/6/12 highlighted that since the introduction of the measures by the OECD to stem the flow of conflict metals being smuggled into the global supply chain, the report states ‘In the eastern DRC official export figures seem to have been falling rather than increasing’. Clearly, however well intentioned the OECD Due Diligences on conflict minerals may be, at this stage smuggling is on the increase which in turn will only lead to more insecurity and violence. It is not the idea of conflict free gold that is the problem. Everyone wants that’s, none more so than the exploited miners. It is the way that corporately influenced OECD top-down guidelines have framed the solution that seems to be adding to the already highly complex problem rather than making it better. The same UN report talks about the estimated 3 tonnes of gold sold to the international market in 2010 illicitly. Uganda being the principle destination for this gold, that ends up in the Dubai refineries and eventually onto India and China. China is the world’s biggest jewellery manufacturer with several of the UK’s leading high street jewellery brands manufacturing their collections there. There is no doubt in my mind given the lack of enforceable traceability in the gold supply chain that smuggled gold that currently funds conflicts is making its way onto the high streets of the UK, EU and USA in the form of gold jewellery.

It remains to be seen if the OECD due diligences on conflict minerals will work, but what is clear at the moment is they have given the World Gold Council, London Bullion Market Association and the Responsible Jewellery Council’s corporate members another CSR badge to add to their collection.

Members of the newly formed Initiative of Artisanal small-scale miners for peace and sustainable development

The sufferings of Job that have been meted out on the people and land of the DRC remains a festering wound on the conscious of humanity. But as Job rightly said, ‘The light is very near the darkness’, and it is this light of hope that burns brightly in the aspirations of the people I have met on my trip that gives me such huge encouragement. People like Henri of CRC and the Hima and Lendu ex-combatants who agreed to form a new Association of Responsible Small scale miners for peace and justice, that demonstrates despite the huge obstacles they will face, they are not burdened down with cynicism about their future, but they are like the countless nameless and faceless majority in the DRC who want nothing more than peace and non-violence to triumph in their country. But this is the DRC and the metaphorical mountain that this fledgling Association of small miners must climb will be bigger than the literal mountain that their large–scale mining cousins blow up and crush to satisfy the greed of the so called moral stock markets and bank vaults.I for one will follow with great interest as they attempt to build their future using gold as the means to build peace not conflict.

The small towns of Iga Barrieré and Kobu is where I start my discovery. The road that takes us there snakes north of Bunia, past the new Chinese Gold mining concession and eventually to the highly controversial Anglo Gold Ashanti mine near Mongbwalu. But I am not here to investigate the predictably secretive and un-transparent member of The World Gold Council and Responsible Jewellery Council. I am here to review and understand the very activity of peace building in the war torn DRC. CRC have identified that a key to reducing or deflating the conflict is finding employment for the ex-combatants that inhabit every town and village across the eastern DRC. I admire their boldness as they have chosen to take a pro-active stance towards the issue of conflict minerals. I confess as a veteran campaigner in the jewellery profession for more ethical and fair trade practices, I have arrived with a certain level of unspoken scepticism, but with an open mind.

It is hard to describe to someone who has never stood in the artisanal gold fields of Africa what the experience is like. To say it is chaotic is to understate the reality of its cousin horror. It is like stepping into a circle of hell that Dante forgot to write about. Small-scale mining is the second biggest employer on the planet, with a global workforce and dependency in excess of 100 million. They like Dante’s omission are forgotten. The forgotten millions who for the politics of daily bread pound their bodies in the scorching heat in search of the madness that is gold.

Korean Dave’s Gold processing machine lying on its side in The Nizi River

In Iga Barrieré, on one level everyone is a millionaire and the vast riches of the gold deposits are a living testimony to the resource curse. One story I heard and verified is that in a one-month period the local miners worked with a Korean called ‘Mr Dave’. And they produced 40 kilos of gold using Dave’s mechanised processing unit. Dave of course disappeared back to Korea with the 40 kilo’s without paying, leaving behind a group of defrauded miners and his processing machine. The affected miners showed me the site of Dave’s processing machine, now lying on its side in the middle of the fast flowing Nizi river. A small vignette of how opportunities dissipate through the locals’ finger tips like water through a sieve.

The first thing you notice about any small-scale mine site is a constant white noise of mechanised humming of the water pumps and generators. It is a universal sound associated with ASM, but it is soon drowned out by the endless chatter of the trivial pursuits of the countless workers, as they dig and haul pans of soil up though the chain gangs to the top of slopes where the content is panned and washed of its muddy content, leaving only fine sands and alluvial gold particles. All this is backbreaking, dirty, noisy, insecure and dangerous work carried out on the promise of payment plus a daily meal till the gold is delivered. It is mind-boggling how the sheer muscle of humanity, driven on by the primeval urge to survive can move tonnes of earth every hour and in doing so carve vast ravines out hillsides, re-direct river courses, and sculpt entirely new landscapes as they pursue the gold veins wherever they may lead. But to truly understand the ASM sector you need to look beneath the obvious of environmental mismanagement, systemic mercury usage and the child labour issues and understand the hidden driver of money and survival.

Small-scale mining next to the Nizi River.

During my journey I talked to lots of miners in the towns I visited, on the mine sites I frequented and to the traders I encountered. They all told the same basic story best illustrated by this one miner I spoke to in Kobu. He borrows money from a local trader which will allow him t open up a small pit which requires he employs a group of local diggers, maybe as many as forty a pit. These diggers will move the soil until they hit the gold bearing rock or start to wash the gold from the river sands. If he is digging rock he will also be loaned some mercury that he will use to amalgam the gold from the rock dust. Mercury and gold particles really do like each other. Once he has extracted his gold, he will have to pay back the trader in gold plus the interest he owes which can be as much as between 30 to 50%. He is then obliged by the terms of the original loan to then sell the remaining gold to the same trader at discounted rates on the international fix. This price is determined by weight and purity of gold sold.

The gold traders table in the local gold market

The trader will determine purity through a process called ‘acid burning’ where the gold is heated and melted to liquid and burned with acid to remove any material that is not gold. After selling the remaining gold he then pays the Government Mining group Kilomoto 30% of his income as they have licensed him to work on their concession in the first place. He then pays his workers for their sweat and muscle. Throughout the time that he opens the pit to the time he finally closes the deal on the gold sale, he has to manage a myriad of different quasi-official interests that are taken in any new mine site. He makes payments to; the Police, the Congolese Security service, soldiers, local government office, local chiefs, the environmental office as well as the hydro carbon tax (he actually offsets his carbon omissions) and anyone else who may have the power to stop him from mining, if he and his partners are left with as much as $3000 between them from a $50,000 transaction for 1 kilo of gold he will feel himself fortunate. When you ask him why he does it he simply replies, ‘It is all I know how to do, and I earn just enough per month to feed my family’.

Anyone who travels in Africa must be blessed with patience and an unswerving belief in the inherent goodness of humanity, not something I believe St Augustine (an African himself) the inventor of the doctrine of original sin had in abundance when he came up with that innately negative outlook. This belief was tested upon my arrival at Entebbe Airport where I was transiting to Bunia in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The immigration officer retains my passport and allows me the freedom of this singularly underwhelming airport. I then wait for four hours for what is increasingly looking like a mythical representative of the small airline company who will be flying me to Bunia to issue me with my pre-paid ticket. As I sit in almost solitude I have re-occurring visions of scenes of torture and abuse from the film The Last King of Scotland, grateful those days have long disappeared from Uganda. Eventually a lady arrives from the airline company and asks for my passport. For ten heart-stopping minutes the half-dozen immigration officials, who are all busy chatting, half-heartedly move piles of envelopes and papers from one side of their desks to the other, whilst telling me ‘I need to relax’. In this matter of humanities inherent goodness, I am vindicated as my passport turns up from another room, only to disappear again with the airline lady to be shown to another mythological person in an upstairs room.

The plane that will take me to Bunia.

After another two hours the small twin prop flight to Bunia dances through the clouds and over a scattering of lakes, rocky hills, bush and forest that keeps my aching body entertained. Bush fire smoke drifts across the landscape telling us the wind direction and that the land beneath is inhabited by, if you believe the popular media myths of the west, bandits, militia and smugglers of conflict gold. A narrative I have been guilty of perpetuating in my career as an ethical jeweller and not without a measure of truth attached to it.

Arriving at the Bunia airstrip is a small education in the challenges the DRC faces on a daily basis. After my passport is stamped with a date stamp similar to the ones you can buy in any stationary store, I collect my bag from the nose of the plane and take it to a room full of cardboard boxes and plastic chairs to be inspected by a customs official in a garish blue and yellow shell suit. As he opens my bag he spots my camera and removes it from its box and in an animated French Swahili diatribe, announces this is not permitted in the country. He declares it is a telescopic camera that can link to the Internet via a satellite and can also be used to film the local underwater wildlife which last appeared in this region during the Jurassic period. Others begin to emerge from small rooms off the main cardboard room and join in what rapidly conflates to a game of pass the parcel amongst eight grown men. Eventually the camera, in the mass confusion disappears into a back room and I am told through Henri Ladyi, the co-ordinator of The Centre for Resolution Conflicts (CRC) that they want a $100 tax to import the camera. I refuse to pay.

As I am clearly no longer part of the discussion I decide to adopt a stance of calm self-preservation, as I recognise I  am going to be here for a long time. I sit down, open my Bible and go into a state of Zen-Christian exhaustive Lectio-Divina. Eventually the commotion attracts the attention of the airport police and the situation becomes further magnified when the location of the camera cannot be determined. What had started as an attempt to bribe a visitor has now become a case of theft. Some one has stolen my camera. The volume increases again to a pitch that would rival Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of Wild Thing at The isle of Wight Festival in 1969, as the airport customs boss now realises that he has an incident on his hands that involves the Police. With the head of Airport Police involved the noise hits a new and more frenzied level. The original customs officer in the garish blue suit, has been found to have stashed the camera in his bag. He makes a statement to the Police and after much ‘tooing and froing’ between officials in the airport the offender turns out to have been drinking on the job and is now pleading to keep his job and not be charged by the Police. The noise has by this stage reached the District Head of Customs who has driven down to the airport to take personal control of what seems to have become a diplomatic incident. At the end of three hours, two police statements later and a very contrite and worried corrupt customs official I am given back my camera by the District Customs Officer in a ceremony that includes a photo shoot, a very formal verbal apology and a letter I have to sign, all during a long handshake. There is nothing low key about my arrival.

Meeting Henri and hearing his story is both inspiring as will as very distressing. Distressing because he like so many in this war torn country he has suffered. Having lost his father to a rebel attack, he joined a local militia in order to protect his family from other similar events. Inspirational because his wife persuaded him to turn from being militia to becoming a peacemaker when she threatened to pack up and leave for her parents. The insecurity of living with violence was too much for her to cope with, especially with a young family. In 2003 he and his family found themselves in the Mukulia IDP camp as they fled the ethnic violence that had erupted at the time. Whilst in the camp he started to work across the ethnic divides and to build a local peace movement by facilitating dialogue, interaction and mutual understanding between historic rival groups.

I am to be based in Bunia for the week, one of the main towns in the Ituri district of Oriental Province. Bunia is the home to the recently re-opened United Nations MONUSCO mission. Re-opened, as a few months ago it was attacked by students from the next-door University as an outpouring of anger and frustration at the unsettling and accidental death of a student at the hands of the UN, which forced the UN to move out of Bunia for a short period of time. My first job is to register at the UN and to receive a security briefing. The guards seem slightly confused as I ask them where to go to register myself for security purposes, but eventually, after visiting three separate offices I am introduced to a man, who points to a map and informs me that the road is ‘green all the way to Aru in the north, anywhere south of Bogoro you will need a military escort and do not head west, (he points to a huge space on the map that is effectively empty), as it is full of poachers and militia’. I am instructed to keep my satellite phone with me at all times and stay in radio contact. I am told as I leave that the current security situation is ‘Calm but Volatile’. I confess to being slightly nervous now as I do not have a satellite phone and I am rather reliant on a mobile phone signal and the wisdom of Henri and team who know how to navigate this region with aplomb. Next we visit the Congolese security service office, where after a hour of French chit chat, we are issued our travel stamp on the requisite document, I am given a lecture by the Chief of Security in why I should not be doing this, and we are sent on our way. My next stop is one of the artisanal mining sites that is part of the peace building process.

Below is an unedited note from Niels Madsen, one of the founders of the 16 August Union, highlighting the terrible plight of the local arctic people who are faced with a worsening situation in regards to mineral policy. As you will see the threat of new laws allowing the immigration of thousands of Chinese workers is on the table. The Bureau for Mineral and petroleum have been selling off mineral licenses to the highest bidders for what appears to be no royalty payments.

The apartheid over gemstones continues as Jorn Skov Nielsen and his technocrats continue to marginalise the local people from being able to make a living out of the gemstones they walk over.

Although the information is still  unclear, the behaviour of marginalisation, discrimination and economic injustice is consistent with the policies I have witnessed first hand on historic trips to Greenland. Therefore to bring the situation totally up to date FJA intends to send a post-graduate researcher to Greenland next April to document in detail the injustices and bring them to the attention of the worlds media and authorities. Please stand ready to help, Many thanks and lets raise our voices Greg and Marc.

The development up here is going VERY fast and as you know, our politicians are not aware of anything but a few job’s.
 
We have a new LSM bill rushed through, again, again. This time with a number of other laws. LSM, SSM and some adjustment’s in the rest of the system, for the thousands of mainly Chinese workers. It’s up for debate (?) in the parliament, on the 22nd, and they will vote on it, already on the 27nd. We can hope they will demand more time, but it doesn’t seem that way. We’ll have a better sense of the situation after the 22nd.
 
And for us local’s, Jorn Skov Nielsen once again, won’t to give us the right to trade for 100.000 DKK (10.000£ 20.000$), but only for LOW-value rocks. No Diamond, Ruby, Sapphire, bla bla, you know the drill, pretty much everything over hardness 7. But they have included our National stone Tugtopite, under those minerals we can under no circumstance’s collect or sell, not even get a SSM license on. And they write that they might include other “valuable” mineral’s along the way.

The best of the best Ruby (True North Gem’s) is valued from under $3 a gram and down. How much more valuable is Gold? Silver?
 
I hate being the bringer of bad new’s, but this one I can’t help myself for bringing up. Below is a link to a story on the condition’s the soapstone and bone carver’s in Nuuk. I can’t help wondering how far we would have been without these troubles TNG and other’s have brought us. I would have been learning to cut Diamond’s already in ’09, after a couple of year’s of cutting Ruby. And with your help many other’s after me. Now it look’s like this:
http://sermitsiaq.ag/node/140405
They don’t even have electricity, or anything for the dust than the draught.

The dark side however is still emerging, unlike their more prestigious cousins gold and diamonds, gemstones have  not received the kind of ethical attention that they should have. The characteristics of the source of the gemstone supply chain are very different from those of other jewellery materials. The coloured gemstones industry is dominated  by the artisanal small-scale miners with over 70% of the material used by jewellers coming from this source. As we have rehearsed many times over the years in this ethical jeweller column, the small-scale miner is driven by the politics of daily bread (poverty) to earn their living and as such are the most vulnerable to exploitation, human rights abuses, violence and corruption. Also the complexity of the supply chain means it is almost impossible to trace stones back to the mine or community of origin.

Researching the dominant issues in the gemstone industry one turns up a list of the most unsavoury practices and issues.

• child and indentured (slave) labour
• enforced removals of indigenous peoples from ancestral lands
• disreputable traders
• deforestation and desertification
• water pollution
• conflicts with agriculturalists
• extra judicial killings
• land grabs
• health and safety of mine shafts
• political corruption
• lack of transparency and traceability in the supply chain

Many of these issues I have witnessed first hand over the last 15 years.

Yet silently under the radar some of the most dynamic and entrepreneurial activity has begun to deliver a solution to some of the above issues.

Natures Geometry (http://naturesgeometry.com/home/) has been demonstrating that the mining of Brazilian Golden Rutile Quartz can not only deliver stunning gemstone, it can also provide safe employment, an increased agricultural yield, reforestation and other associated businesses.

Ruby Fair ( http://www.rubyfair.com/) has worked in Tanzania for over five years, with their integrated approach to community relations, environmental management, water management and fair prices, Ruby Fair has demonstrated that you can successfully work as a business, alongside local communities and create a virtuous circle of well-being. They offer Ruby, Tanzanite, Spinel and Sapphire.

Columbia Gemhouse (http://www.columbiagemhouse.com/) based in the USA has been pioneering direct relationships with gemstone miners since 1977. Offering a wide variety of gemstones to the market, including specials cuts. They have a fully audited cutting and polishing house and have been tireless in the commitment to championing the improvements needed with small-scale gem miners.

The Fairgems Process (http://www.fairgemsprocess.com/) is a recent initiative coming from France. they like all actors in our industry who espouse ethical concerns have developed a traceability system that gives mine to market transparency. The Fair Gems Process is currently being implemented in Sri Lanka and certifies the quality of coloured gemstones as well as the assurance that production meets sustainable development standards.

Erongo Gems (http://erongo.50megs.com/) is a project based in the Erongo region of Namibia. Working with community based small scale miners they are not only delivering good quality Beryl, Aquamarine, Tourmaline and Topaz rough to the market, they are investing training into teaching grading, cutting and polishing of local people to create a legacy for the people of Namibia.

These are just five businesses or projects that tick a number of crucial boxes when it comes to seeking out ethical supply chains for our jewellery. What is important about them all is that they offer transparency and traceability in their supply chains. Equally they all give a balance between the need for social transformation and environmental management. the beauty of these projects is they are also very relational, something that is very difficult to achieve with big companies. Small can be beautiful when it comes to gemstone mining if you blend the right ingredients together.

So for jewellers looking to improve their ethical performance, here are five initiatives worth exploring and building a relationship with. And do let us know how you get on. As we seek to develop quantitative ethical improvements in our industry sharing information and stories of good practice help us all. The ethics working group of the NAG and BJA want to hear from any jeweller who is taking steps in developing supply chains that are mine to market traceable in gemstones. We need to understand the challenges faced in traceable gemstones and also build up a picture of how these challenges can be over come.

Fair Jewellery Action and Ethical Metalsmiths wants to thank ARM and FLO for listening to the views of our supporters and also to our network of supporters for taking the time to care about this. Its an important issue. Letter, signatures and comments are below. To date we have 140 signatures.

You can review the proposal on pages 86 to 88 via this link.

An Open Letter to The Alliance For Responsible Mining and Fairtrade Labeling Organisation

Dear Alliance For Responsible Mining and Fairtrade Labeling Organisation,

As jewelers and other members of civil society, we strongly oppose one aspect of the current proposed standards, which changes the product composition component to allow mass balancing or dilution to take place. These proposed changes to the standard are described in Section 6, put forth July 2012, in the Fairtrade and Fairmined Standard for Artisanal and Small Scale Mining Document.

The proposed standard to mix Fairtrade and Fairmined gold with other gold will severely damage the FT&FM gold brand and create confusion in the marketplace.  It will also undermine the confidence in the product.   We are also concerned with how the mass balancing might negatively impact the FT&FM brand as it develops not only with gold, but with other mined products emerging into the market.  As jewelers, who deal with customers every day of the week, we understand the market better than anyone else.  At this juncture, we urge in the strongest possible terms that Fairtrade gold be kept pure.

We urge ARM and FLO to direct more efforts toward supporting jewelers and strengthening a consumer campaign to build on the great success in the existing market.  The certified FT&FM Sotrami miners in Peru received £75,000 ($120,00 USD) of premium from gold purchases by jewelers in 2011 alone.  Our greatest continued success will only be achieved if we all work united, in a concerted effort to support FT&FM small scale miners to bring pure, traceable Fairtrade and Fairmined gold to a vibrant market.

1 Name: Harriet Kelsall
Company: Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design Ltd.
Country: United Kingdom

2 Name: Alice Rochester
Company: Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design
Country: United Kingdom

3 Name: Alan Frampton
Company: Cred Jewellery
Country: United Kingdom

4 Name: Victoria Woollen-Danner
Company: VWD Jewelry
Country: United States

5 Name: Ian Doyle
Company: Associate, Lifeworth Consulting (artisanal mining expert)
Country: France, DRC

6 Name: Susan Crow
Company: Susan Crow inc./DBA East Fourth Street Jewelry
Country: United States

7 Name: Elaine Nazzaro
Company: Artisan Industries Inc.
Country: United States

8 Name Gary Roberts
Company: Rubyfair.com Ltd
Country: United Kingdom and Tanzania

9 Name: Gina D’Onofrio
Company: Jewelry Appraisal Services
Country: United States

10 Name: Jeffrey Herman, Founder & Executive Director
Company / Org: Society of American Silversmiths
Country: United States

11 Name: Nanna Gronborg
Company: Nanna Gronborg
Country: Germany

12 Name: Karen Feder
Company: Moonlight Beadery
Country: United States

13 Name: Andrea Bonelli
Company: Andrea Bonelli Jewelry
Country: United States

14 Name: Tracy Munn
Company: Animated Metals
Country: United States

15 Name: Anna Moltke-Huitfeldt
Company: Anna Moltke-Huitfeldt
Country: Denmark

16 Name: Robin Halpin
Company: Rx Rox Jewelry
Country: United States
I strongly support 100% fair trade / fair mined gold. Transparency is needed to allow customers to choose sourced gold they can wear with integrity and pride instead of wondering about the mines used to create the gold.  It is time the small artisanal mines with safe practices become viable alternatives to open pit mining.

17 Name: Kate Bauman Mess
Company: Kate Mess Jewelry
Country: United States

18 Name: Josh Humbert
Company: Kamoka Pearl
Country: United States

19 Name: Andrea Antonucci
Company: Andrea Antonucci – Adelstenar
Country: Sweden

20 Name: Christine Lawrence
Company: Caratess
Country: United Kingdom

21 Name: Kari Rinn
Company / Organization: Haywood Community College
Country: United States

22 Name: Jan Webber
Company: Jan Webber Contemporary Jewelry
Country: United States

23 Name: Bobi Wilson
Company: Star Rabbit Productions
Country: United States

24 Name: Ana M. Lopez
Company: Independent Jewelry Artist
Country: United States

25 Name: Tim McCreight
Company: Brynmorgen Press (publisher of how-to- jewelry books)
Country: United States

26 Name: Anna Bario
Company: Bario-Neal
Country: United States

27 Name: Magdalena Goudie
Company: Private Citizen
Country: United States

28 Name: Helen Chantler
Company: Reflective Images Inc.
Country: United States

29 Name: Amanda M. Thon
Company: Independent Jeweler
Country: United States

30 Name: Jörg Eggimann
Company: Jorg Eggimann Goldschmiedmeister
Country: Switzerland

31 Name: Erin S. Daily
Company: Brooklyn Metal Works
Country: United States

32 Name: Bryan Park
Company/ Org: Benedictine College
Country: United States

33 Name: Martha WD Bushnell, Ph.D.
Company: Private Citizen
Country: United States

34 Name: Renee Zettle-Sterling – Associate Professor of Art and Design
Company / Org: Grand Valley State University
Country: United States

35 Name: Michèle Ratté
Company: Michèle Ratté Textiles
Country: United States

36 Name: Kirsten Bak
Company: BAKS
Country: Denmark

37 Name: David Crump
Company: Vipa Designs Ltd
Country: United Kingdom

38 Name: April Doubleday
Company: April Doubleday
Country: United Kingdom

39 Name: Marilene Morency
Company: Joailliere/Silversmith
Country: Canada

40 Name: Todd Pownell
Company: TAP studio INC.
Country: United States

41 Name: Jennifer Trask
Company: Jennifer Trask Jewelry
Country: United States

42 Name: Dianne McFarlane
Company: Schmuck Akademie
Country: Germany

43 Name: Jean Mandeberg
Company: Jean Mandeberg, Metalsmith
Country: United States

44 Name: Lynn White
Company: Lynn White Jewelry
Country: United States

45 Name: Elizabeth H. Porter
Company: Hand Crafted by Betsy Porter
Country: United States

46 Name: Demos Takoulas
Company: Vukani-Ubuntu Community Development Projects
Country: South Africa

47 Name:Thomas Becker
Company:Thomas Becker–Atelier Fuer Schmuck
Country: Germany

48 Name: Ursula Bettmer
Company: bettmer-gold
Country: Germany

49 Name: Judith Lotter
Company: Schmuck-Atelier
Country: Germany

50 Name: Agnes Lauer
Company: Kristall-Die Magie des Schoenen
Country: Germany

51 Name: Dagmar Fleck
Company: Laurins Garten
Country: Germany

52 Name: Herbert Scholpp
Company: Independent Jeweler
Country: Germany

53 Name: Martina Eiselein
Company: Eiselein – Design
Country: Germany

54 Name: Carlo Verda
Company: Alex May studio
Country: United Kingdom

55 Name: Rahel Dotzel
Company: Dotzel Unilatschmuck
Country: Germany

56 Name: Jennifer Gilbert
Company: Jenny GIlbert Jewellery
Country: United Kingdom

57 Name: Kathrin Zara Stein
Company: Independent Jeweler
Country: Switzerland

58 Name: Sass Brown
Company: Eco Fashion
Country: United Kingdom

59 Name: Max Gilgenmann
Company: Consultant
Country: Germany

60 Name: Birgitte Rasmussen
Company: Svinninge Motionscenter
Country: Denmark

61 Name: Allan Scharff
Company: Allan Scharff
Country: Denmark

62 Name: Amanda Li Hope
Company: Amanda Li Hope
Country: United Kingdom

63 Name: M’lou Brubaker
Company: M’lou Brubaker, Jeweler
Country: United States

64 Name: Niels Bjørn-Andersen
Company: Copenhagen Business School
Country: Denmark

65 Name: Camilla Frank
Company: CF 1701 (Private Citizen)
Country: Denmark

66 Name: Jane Kearns
Company: The Crystal’d Lily
Country: United Kingdom

67 Name: Stephanie Petro
Company: Hearts.com
Country: United States

68 Name: Linda Darty
Company / Organization: East Carolina University
Country: United States

69 Name: Helle Ørskov
Company: Missing Ink
Country: Denmark

70 Name: Ulrich Neuhaus
Company: schmuck und skulptur
Country: Germany

71 Name: Birgitte de Neergaard
Company: deNeergaardTheillEriksen
Country: Denmark

72 Name: Nadine Kieft
Company: Nadine Kieft Edelsmeden
Country: Netherlands

73 Name: Tanya Bowd
Company: Candescent
Company: United Kingdom

74 Name: Beth Gerstein
Company: Brilliant Earth
Country: United States

75 Name: Brandon Cata
Company: Independent Jeweler
Country: United States

76 Name: Cheryl Arviso
Company: Independent Jeweler
Country: United States

77 Name: Lori Hesuse
Company: Independent Jeweler
Country: United States

78 Name: Elyse Demaray
Company: Demaray Designs Jewelry
Country: United States
Please do not jeopardize the integrity of FT & FM gold by mixing it with other gold. This is very important to our trade and our own ability to maintain the quality of gold we want to offer our customers.

79 Name: Noel Aronov
Company: Independent Jeweler
Country: United States
Let’s have accountability.

80 Name: Anthony Romero
Company: Private Citizen
Country: United States

81 Name: Anastasia Azure
Company: Azure Designs
Country: United States

82 Name: Fritz Casuse
Company: Independent Jeweler
Country: United States

83 Name: Carol Windsor
Company: Carol Windsor Design
Country: United States

84 Name: Susie Ganch
Company/ Organization: Virginia Commonwealth University
Country: United States
To whom it may concern,
As a jeweler, I want to know where my materials come from in order to make informed choices about the gold I use to make my work. Maintaining 100% traceability back to certified Fairtrade Fairmined sites is the ONLY way to make choices that reflect my values and those of my customers. By creating a “mass balanced” product, and gold that contains only 50% material from certified mines, or offering gold that has “at least” 10% certified fine gold content, ARM and FLO are diluting our goals to create a truly transparent chain of custody while supporting small mining communities. I am joining with others to urge ARM and FLO to reconsider the standards put forth thus far that offer a mixed product.

Sincerely,

Susie Ganch
Director Radical Jewelry Makeover
Associate Professor/Head of Metal Program
Department of Craft/Material Studies
School of the Arts
Virginia Commonwealth University

85 Name: Colleen Baran
Company: Colleen Baran Jewellery
Country: CA

86 Name: Abby Mattison
Company: A silver Girl
Country: United States

87 Name: L. Eugene Nelson
Company: L. Eugene Nelson
Country: United States

88 Name: Wendy Walsh
Company: W Walsh Design
Country: United States

89 Name: Fran Grinels
Company: Grinels Design
Country: United States

90 Name: Dan Morris
Company: Independent Jeweler
Country: United States

91 Rachelle Thiewes
Company: Rachelle Thiewes
Country: United States

92 Name: Kara Aubin
Company: kara | daniel Jewelry
Country: United States

93 Name: Daniel Juzwiak
Company: kara | daniel Jewelry
Country: United States

94 Name: Charlene Modena
Company / Organization: Academy of Art University, San Francisco
Country: United States

95 Name: Jim Bove
Company / Organization: California University of Pennsylvania
Country: United States

96 Name: Naomi Maslon
Company: Naomi Maslon Jewelry
Country: United States

97 Name: Catherine Sutherland
Company: Catherine Sutherland Art And Design
Country: CA

98 Name: Rick & Beth Elkin
Company: Elkin Studio Jewelers
Country: United States

99 Name: Kathleen Browne
Company: Kent State University – Educator and independent artist
Country: United States

100 Name: Shamsa Diwani
Company / Organization: Tanzania Women Miners Association and Gemstyles Company
Country: Tanzania

101: Name: Hattie Rickards
Company: Hattie Rickards Jewellery
Country: United Kingdom

102: Name: Sarabeth Carnat
Company: Sarabeth Carnat
Country: Canada
True accountability is the only real standard. Dilution or balancing minimizes accountability. Workers in our industry have the right to the safest possible methods of extraction. Let us not “pretend” to be accountable. Smoke & mirrors are just that.

103: Name: Rebecca Crawford
Company: Spacefruit
Country: United Kingdom

104 Name: Molly Perrin
Company: Molly Perrin
Country: United Kingdom

105 Name: Peta Bush
Company: Medical Jewellery
Country: United Kingdom

106 Name: Viola Bergmann
Company: G, Bergmann Werkstatt 999/- fein GmbH
Country: Germany

107 Name: Jo Taylor
Company: Tootsievalentine® Ethical Contemporary Jewellery
Country: United Kingdom

108 Name: Jan Spille
Company: Jan Spille – Schmuck*Atleier
Country: Germany

109 Name: Caz Guiney
Company: Northcity4
Country: Australia

110 Name: Kim Cridler
Company: Bennie/Cridler Studio
Country: United States

111 Name: Jorge Arrieta
Company: Niccolo Bella, LLC
Country: United States

112 Name: Jamie Cassavoy
Company: Cassavoy & Co.
Country: United States

113 Name: Michael Pollak
Company: Hyde Park Jewelers
Country: United States

114 Name: Linnie McLarty
Company: Linnie McLarty Jewellery
Country: United Kingdom

115 Name: Claire Malet
Company: Independent Metalsmith
Country: United Kingdom

116 Name: Sheena Thomas, Melanie Parks, Marta Jones-Couch
Company: Elements, Ltd.
Country: United States

117 Name: Kris Nations
Company: Kris Nations Jewelry
Country: United States

118 Name: Jessica Magella Worthington
Company: Independent metal artist
Country: United States

119 Name: Matthew Moerman
Company: Baxter Moerman Jewelry
Country: United States

120 Name: Stefanie Knörnschild
Company: Goldschmiede Knörnschild
Country: Germany

121 Name: Molly Dingledine
Company: Molly Dingledine Jewelry
Country: United States

122 Name: Edward H Lay
Company / Org: Head Instructor, Metals Studio, Richmond Art Center
Country: United States

123 Name: Martin Taber
Company: Taber Studios
Country: United States

124 Name: Lindsay Minihan
Company: Metalwerx Inc.
Country: United States
As we are committed to the best education for metalsmithing students at our nonprofit school, we wholeheartedly support ethical practices of bringing fairtraded and fairmined gold to the market.

125 Name: Jennifer Cross Gans
Company/ Org: Independent writer, metalsmith
Country: United States
Complete accountability is particularly important for jewelers who work in gold and their publics.

126 Name: Ana Aguilar
Company: Independent Jeweler
Country: United States

127 Name: Marianne Hunter
Company: Marianne Hunter – Studio art-jeweler/ enamelist
Country: United States

128 Name: Woodrow W. Carpenter
Company: Thompson Enamel, Inc.
Country: United States

129 Name: Christine Dhein
Company: Independent Jeweler
Country: United States

130 Name: Samantha Rose
Company: September Rose Ethical Jewellery
Country: United Kingdom

131 Name: Ebke Bühring
Company: Independent Goldsmith
Country: Germany

132 Name: Jennifer Trude
Company: Trudesign Metalsmithing
Country: United States

133 Name: Eric Finley
Company: The Sovereign Corporation (non-jeweler)
Country: United States

134 Name: Rebecca Klemm
Company: Private citizen with gold jewelry
Country: United States

135 Name: Rachel Lunn
Company: Rachel Helen Designs
Country: United Kingdom

136 Name: Samantha Salmons
Company: Sam Salmons Designs Ltd
Country: United Kingdom

137 Name: Belinda Norrington
Company: Wild Acre Designs
Country: United Kingdom

138: Name:  Sally Rycroft
Company: Good as Gold Ltd
Country: United Kingdom

139 Name: Tania Kowalski
Company: ORIA JEWELLERY LTD
Country: United Kingdom

140 Name: Stephen Jones
Company: Kaanaanmaa
Country: United Kingdom

Regarding current trends in the gold industry, there is a general move towards traceability in the supply chain. This has been precipitated by the Dodd Frank bill passed in the USA requiring certain raw materials including gold, to be fully declared conflict free through a traceability declaration on the materials origin of denomination. This has created the establishment of the OECD due diligence’s on conflict minerals. Following this, the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA), World Gold Council (WGC), and Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) have all in recent months issued protocols to their members on how to comply with the OECD due diligence’s for conflict free supply chains.

What is interesting about this is that these protocols all cover the same type of companies. RJC, WGC and LBMA companies are all big corporations and many of them hold membership with more than one of the above bodies such as Metalor, Rio Tinto, Anglo Gold Ashanti for example. All these groups in real terms employ very few people on the ground and the way the OECD has constructed the due diligence framework it has been shaped to protect the financial integrity of the big companies, not the welfare of the communities on the ground. This it would appear is a reflection of the consultation process that was held. Without a corporate CSR budget or supporters money via campaigning NGO’s, being heard by the law makers was virtually impossible. It appears that the OECD principle outcome will be the protecting of the vested interest of corporate companies.

Communities in central Africa bear the real brunt of any violence that may emerge. These communities should be the real beneficiaries of the mineral wealth in their land. Instead due to their poverty they are exploited by big companies, who promise much by way of up front CSR promises and local employment, yet in case after case do not deliver. If they are not being exploited by corporate mining companies then they are subject to militia, violence and the resource curse. The real reputational risk we face as jewellers from conflict material is not being addressed by OECD as those that are vulnerable to exploitation are only going to be unduly penalised by OECD, which will lead to more smuggling and illegal activity than before. People need to eat, regardless of what the UN says. As a Congolese miner friend of mine once said in regards to the Dodd Frank legislation, ‘We can die by the bullet or die by the starvation’.

It would now appear that platinum can be added to the list of controversial metals with the growing violence surrounding the Anglo American owned Lonmin mine in South Africa.

Regarding diamonds, the landscape is as bias to the rich and powerful as in gold, with the added complexity of the existing legal framework called The Kimberley Process. Diamonds are a human rights issue and are deeply political. The current disconnect between the politics, human rights issues and the consumer idea that diamonds are a pure product is perhaps one of the most disingenuous elements in the entire jewellery suppl chain. As I alluded too in an earlier blog post, The Kimberley Process (KPCS) is an inter governmental customs procedure to monitor the flow of rough diamonds from one country to another. It was not set up to be a certification mark on diamonds that could be used with customers. However, it is sold by the industry  as a consumer assurance system to bolster confidence in the diamond value chain. The crisis precipitated by the KPCS allowing exports of diamonds from Marange has highlighted the deep faulty lines emerging on the diamond supply chain. Fault lines around its definitions to include human rights in its core considerations when determining if a diamond is a blood diamond. Also the deep levels of mistrust between the countries represented in the KPCS. Western countries want human rights in, China, India, and the African Diamond Producers do not.  It would seem that from the following quote from Gillian Milovanovic the current Chair of the KPCS that human rights will not make it into the definitions

Progress on human rights/human security, financial transparency and development related matters should be part of “best practices” and other positive efforts to foster concrete results through mutual assistance amoug KP participants and observers but would not form bases for certification.

(taken from a letter to KPCS dated 7th August 2012)

And worse still she throws the responsibility of the diamond supply onto the retail jeweller.

If consumers want to know more about the diamonds they purchase – for example, whether the diamonds were associated with violence or human rights abuses, or have been used to fund corruption or suppression of democracy – they need to ask tough questions of retailers.

(taken from discussion between KP Chair and Greg Valerio 16 August 2012)

Because there is no traceability in the diamond supply chain, from mine to retail these words should cause the backbone of the industry to shudder. The KPCS is not going to reform and not going to protect us from dodgy stones entering the supply chain. A classic illustration of this is as follows. Stones are mined by embargoed Zimbabwe companies in Marange, they are shipped to China as conflict free, they are cut and polished and set into jewellery, with untraceable precious metals, and then end up on the high street in the UK and USA as precious aspirational products. Moral people uncorrupted by the politics will see this as a joke. Why should jewellers trust the KPCS and the people who govern such a ridiculous system.

In conclusion we await the outcomes of the November plenary meeting of the KPCS to see what will happen in the industry. if as we currently expect it fails to deliver a reform agenda (please be assured if it does I will eat humble pie and offer my genuine congratulations) we may well end up with a two tier KPCS, one for the Chinese and Indians and another with higher standards of due diligence for the western consumer nations.

What is clear though is we need pressure from consumers to move the industry to greater levels of public accountability over blood diamonds.

Gillian Milovanovic

GV: Can I start by asking what the role of the Kimberley Process is in the diamond industry and specifically what your role is as the KP Chair?

GM: The Kimberley Process Chair organizes the work of the KP for the year, chairs the Intersessional and Plenary meetings, and helps ensure that prior KP decisions are implemented. A main focus of my term as Chair is to provide the full support of the U.S. government to the KP’s ongoing reform efforts, including through consultations with civil society groups, the diamond industry, and participating countries.

GV: Can you ever envisage a day when there will be no conflict diamonds in the diamond supply chain?

GM: The joint efforts of governments, industry leaders and civil society representatives have enabled the Kimberley Process (KP) to curb successfully the flow of conflict diamonds in a very short period of time. Diamond experts estimate that conflict diamonds now represent a fraction of one percent of the international trade in diamonds, compared to estimates of up to 15% in the 1990s. That has been the KP’s most remarkable contribution to a peaceful world, which should be measured not in terms of carats, but by the effects on people’s lives.

GV: What do you think about the relationship between Zimbabwe and China? For many jewelers selling diamonds from Zimbabwe is the biggest threat to our industry. State sponsored oppression being paid for by the sales of diamonds that are then manufactured into jewelry in China and sold to western consumers?

GM: On Zimbabwe the KP Plenary in Kinshasa decided on a way forward for exports from the Marange diamond fields in Zimbabwe.  As Chair, we work to ensure that the terms of the decision continue to be respected. However, the pre-November 2011 impasse in which the KP found itself showed the limitations of the KP and the need for overall KP reform, which the KP itself decided, at the Kinshasa plenary, to begin to address. It is the KP’s decision, by consensus, to review the KP’s core documents and definitions and to evaluate the need for reform, that forms the core of the US Chair’s agenda for our chairmanship.   I visited China as Chair and had excellent meetings with KP industry and government representatives in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.  China agrees that reform and modernization are needed to deal with future challenges.  China is an active participant in the KP, including in its Working Groups and we encourage China to take an active leadership role in the KP during this period of growth.  China’s diamond market is growing rapidly and industry there is facing enormous challenges.  We look forward to collaborating with China throughout our Chairmanship and beyond.
GV: Can you explain what the deadlock is concerning Human Rights within the KPCS and their inclusion into the definitions of what constitutes a Blood Diamond? Many jewelers fail to understand what the problem is, all they see is bureaucracy and an avoidance of dealing with the truth in Zimbabwe.

GM: The KP was created both to prevent illegal diamond revenues from funding insurgencies against legitimate governments and to ensure the continued health of the market for diamonds worldwide.  The KP’s founders took far-sighted steps to ensure that the diamond resource within their borders would continue to attract customers and provide both much-needed revenues for development and equally needed jobs in many countries around the world. Today we call on KP members to be equally far-sighted in modernizing the KP’s definitions and functioning to ensure that the economies of diamond producers – many of them in Africa— as well as those of cutting and polishing and of consuming countries, continue to benefit from a sound market for their product.  Ensuring that consumers worldwide continue to seek out this exceptional gem stone requires that we all look at and prepare the KP for today’s and tomorrow’s challenges.  If we do so, and do so together, not only will no sector or region be targeted unfairly but all will benefit.

GV: As I understand it, the KPCS is a customs procedure for tracking the flow of rough diamonds around the world. Yet for the jewelers it acts as a  consumer confidence mechanism that helps to bolster the public’s confidence in the diamond value chain. What steps does the KPCS need to take in order to restore jewelers and consumer confidence in the diamond story?

GM: Only rough diamonds are accompanied by KP certificates. Once diamonds are cut and polished, KP certificates are not required to trade them internationally. Moreover, the KP is a tool that currently addresses one specific problem: the use of diamond revenues to fund civil wars. If consumers want to know more about the diamonds they purchase – for example, whether the diamonds were associated with violence or human rights abuses, or have been used to fund corruption or suppression of democracy – then they need to ask tough questions of retailers.

GV: Institutionally what steps do you believe have to be taken to make the KPCS a stronger and more democratic and publicly accountable organization?

GM: The need for an administrative support mechanism, which is much smaller and less complex than a Secretariat, has been identified within the KP for some time, and the full KP Plenary mandated in November 2011 that the ad hoc KP review committee pursue this effort.  We continue to believe that such a permanent support mechanism is needed for the KP to truly serve its membership – and the broader public – and we will work to support the review committee’s engagement with existing international institutions to evaluate options for this.  We’re excited about improving internal communications, creating institutional memory and making the KP website up-to-date with the newest technologies.  We’re also seeking to strengthen cooperation on enforcement and encourage a greater focus on domestic implementation.
GV: As I understand it the KPCS is constituted as a tripartite arrangement between Governments, Diamond Industry and Civil Society. Do these groups have an equal say in the KPCS and if not why not?

GM: Governments, the diamond industry, and civil society make up the KP. All three have valuable roles to play and we seek to harness everyone’s talents to improve the KP.  This is a consensus-based process in which, though only governments have the right to vote in the formal decision-making process, everyone’s participation is needed in the shaping of the consensus and in finding solutions to improve the KP.  The diamond industry and civil society have been an integral part of the KP from its outset. Formally, they are designated as “Observers,” but they take a very active role in the day-to-day work of the KP. Their contributions are essential to the KP’s working groups – where most of the KP’s functioning occurs – and to the peer review system that monitors compliance. As with other aspects of the KP, their role will be one of the topics addressed in the review process being led by Botswana.
 
GV: What is the one thing that the KPCS can do for the small-scale diamond miner who is after all the majority stakeholder (when employment and livelihoods are considered) in this industry and also the most vulnerable to exploitation, corruption and abuse at the hands of rebels or unscrupulous and coercive governments?

GM: KP members, working in the spirit of the KP, have been focused on improving the development outcomes associated with diamond mining, including via a stronger focus on local communities and artisanal miners in producing countries.  KP members worked together to improve artisanal miner registration in Ghana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Experts within the KP have enhanced understanding of diamond valuation and improved diamond mining techniques in Sierra Leone and Guyana.  A KP member project has secured land tenure and stable incomes for artisanal miners in the Central African Republic and Liberia.  Most recently, members of the KP banded together to hold a development conference in an attempt to keep all of the players in a holistic mindset, become improving the lives of small-scale miners is a key goal of the KP.

GV: What will be legacy of  the US holding the KP chair be?

GM: Our overarching objective for the year is to achieve an array of reforms to make the KP more effective, efficient, and relevant.  To achieve these reforms, we are promoting open, transparent, and broadly consultative processes.

GV: Thank you for taking the time to talk with me, I trust that some of the structural issues within the KPCS will be resolved at the next full plenary and we will see a stronger system emerge that will restore faith across the entire industry.

We, the undersigned, are writing to express our concerns in regards to the Fairtrade and Fairmined gold label, in context to the current relationship between the Alliance for Responsible Mining and the Responsible Jewellery Council.  We are concerned about how this relationship might impact the jewelers currently selling, and those interested in selling Fairtrade and Fairmined (FT/FM) gold in the future. We are also concerned for the strength of the Fairtrade and Fairmined brand, the enhancement of the quality of life for artisanal and small-scale miners and the expansion of responsible mining practices everywhere.

From its conception, the Fairtrade and Fairmined standard for gold and associated precious metals was the realization of a dream shared by small-scale miners and jewelers.   The result of this collaboration is the FT/FM brand and story based upon traceability and transparency from FT/FM certified mines.  The purity from source is critical. Therefore, all gold labeled as Fairtrade and Fairmined must continue to be traceable from a certified FT/FM mine, to a Fairtrade and Fairmined license holder.  Gold that is a mixture of FT/FM gold and gold from other sources (mass balanced gold), must not have any association with the FT/FM product, the certification process, or any vague association with fair trade language.

We actively encourage RJC members to become a part of the FT/FM certification system by purchasing FT/FM gold, paying the FT Premium, and thereby making a positive contribution to future development and security of the certified communities. Any attempt to bypass this process would be a blatant attack not only on efforts to create a consistent consumer brand; but also on, the work that many have done to bring us where we are today.  The chain of custody from producer through manufacturing must remain traceable, transparent and third party certified.

As FT/FM gold gains acceptance in the market through the pioneering efforts of smaller, artisanal jewelers, large companies will step into the market, which we view as an entirely positive development.  However, systems must be put into place to assure that jewelers currently holding FT/FM licenses and jewelers who will be license holders in the future will continue to have full and complete access to purchase FT/FM gold.

We believe that FT/FM gold is a transformative opportunity for the artisanal small-scale mining community and jewelry sector.   It is truly the most precious gold in the world.  We hope to see the day when FT/FM gold is the first choice for all consumers who wish to purchase gold jewelry.

Thank you for considering these critical points. We request that you sign this open letter if you share the views expressed herein.

Christina Miller, Ethical Metalsmiths

Marc Choyt, Fair Jewelry Action USA

Greg Valerio, Fair Jewellery Action UK

Mike Angenent

Jeweltree Foundation

Open Source Minerals

Dr. Michael E Conroy

Colibrí Consulting — Certification for Sustainable Development

Shamsa Diwani,

Gemstyles Company and Sparkling Sun-Gem Company Tanzania

Katherine DalPra
Green Diva Jewelry

USA

Beth Gerstein

Eric Grossberg
Brilliant Earth

USA

Carolyn Barker
Carolyn Barker Jewellery
Australia 

Julia Turner
Julia Turner

Helen Chantler
Reflective Images Inc. 
USA

Amy Pieroni
A Pieroni Design
Gail Shaner
Gail Shaner
 Shelby Fitzpatrick 
Shelby Ferris Fitzpatrick
Ralph Parus
Ralph Parus
Susan Saul
Susan Saul Design
Amanda Hunter
Amanda Hunter Designer Silversmith

Amanda Quinby
Amanda Quinby
Hobbs Wells
The Derelict Group, LLC
Designed Silver, UK
Raissa Bump
Raissa Bump Jewelry & Knitwear
T Lee
T Lee Fine Designer Jewelry

Orland Larson
Ilektrom Design Studio

Jennifer Cross Gans
Jenny’s Jewels

Kim Carpenter
Todd Reed Inc. USA

Ute Decker

Ute Decker, UK

Karin Birch-Cromar

Salish Sea Silver Co.

 
Susan Kingsley
Susie Ganch
Ethical Metasmiths

Genevieve Flynn
G. Flynn Jeweler

Josh Humbert

Kamoka Pearl

Tahiti/USA

 
Kate Wilkonson  
Arcatus Jewelry, LLC
USA
Todd Pownell
TAP Studios
Boris Bally
Bally Humanufactured, LLC
Douglas Zaruba
Vortex 13, LLC
Sheena Thomas, 
Co- Elements, Ltd.
Evelyn Colemandin
Ekstasi Jewelry/OAK Collections, Inc.
Thomas Michaels
Thomas Michaels Designers. 
Savannah Lisle
Harmony Jewelry
USA

Sarah Kate Burgess

Sarah Kate Burgess

Robin Gaston
Uncommon Metals

Cassandra Adams
Cassandra Adams Architect

Julie Ashton
String of Blue Jewelry

USA

Linda Tien

James Hutchinson
4^th Street Gallery

Rosemary Mifsud
The Story of Two

Judy Geib
Judy Geib Plus Alpha, LLC

Marianne Hunter

Marianne Hunter

Susan Crow
East Fourth Street Jewelry

Michele Ratté
Michele Ratté Textiles

Jennifer Trude

Trudesign Metalsmithing

Daniel Szwaczkowski

UTEP

Sarah West
Sarah West Designs

Susan McCauley
Susan McCauley

Nina Dinoff

Nina Dinoff Jewelry

Wanesia Spry-Misquadace

Wanesia Fine Arts

B.M.Friedl artist

Beate Maria Friedl

Gary Roberts

Ruby Fair

Tanzania

Christine Lawrence Caratess (UK)

Vivien Johnston BA(HONS) FRSA — Fifi Bijoux, UK

Tessa Holland, Jeweller, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Ardis Bartle
Apex Measurement and Controls

Audrée H.St-Amour

Audrée H.St-Amour

Jennifer Trask
Trask Studio Jewelry

Dee Frost

Silverworkz Gallery.

Caz Guiney and Ali Limb
Northcity4

Cheryl Kelly

Metal Wear

Hattie Rickards Hattie Rickards Jewellery  (DK)

Orland Larson

Ilektrom Design Studio

Anna Moltke-Huitfeldt,

Jewellery in Life

Denmark

Brooke Battles
Brooke Battles Design

Bethan Carr

Bethan Carr Jewellery

Linda Weiss

Linda Weiss Designs

Molly Dingledine
Molly Dingledine Jewelry

Felicity Peters,

Felicity Peters, Australia

Stefan Alexandres

Art
Nancy Zappala Pierson  Metalsmith
Nanna Grønborg, Germany, Nanna Gronborg

Miia Turunen

LaNinja

Marina Belsito
Dalanisha

Linnie Mclarty
Linnie Mclarty  (UK)

Melinda Nugent

Ethical Jewellery

Australia Pty Ltd

Katie Walker, Believer Jewellery Limited, UK.

Gina D’Onofrio

Jewelry Appraisal Services

Ryan Justin Holandes
Meriken Metals

Jimena Bolaños
Jimena Bolaños jewelry

Annika Rundberg

Annika Rundberg

Catherine Pépin
Catherine Pép

Elisabetta Brodaska

Eco Fairtrade Jewellery Designer — Italy

Juliet Cline
Juliet Elaine Design

Charlene Modena

Modena Designs

Erin Fader

Erin Fader Jewelry Design

Naomi Padowicz

Mietek Padowicz

Becky Thatcher

Becky Thatcher Designs

Julia Thompson
Designer Maker in Silver & Gold

Renee Mendola

White Goat Studio

Linda Weiss
Linda Weiss Designs

Michelle Lenáe Jewelry

Goldsmith, Fine Jewelry Artist

Mary Jo Goralski

Jamie Windhaeuser

Michael Goralski

The Jewelry Mechanic, Inc.

Penny Payne

Olive & Reg (UK)

Caroline Lepargneur

Cachou Bijoux

Claudia Abderhalden
Claudia A. designs  (US)

Jorge Arrieta

Niccolo Bella

Jessie Turner
Jessie Turner Designs

Wiebke Goos
Goos Jewellery

Germany

Erin Daily

Brooklyn Metal Works

Rochelle Dodson
Rochelle Dodson

Robin Halpin

RxRox Jewelry

Barbara Heinrich

Barbara Heinrich Studio, LLC

Ursula Bettmer

Bettmer-Gold

Germany

Laura Ryan

Gemologist

Brazil

Ingeborg Ohly

Bijohly

Germany

Tania Kowalski

Synnove Saelthun

Oria Jewellery

Margherita de Martino Norante

April Doubleday

(UK)

Kristen Bak

Baks

Denmark

Carol Dacre

Contemporary Jeweller,

New Zealand

Professor Patricia Madeja
Patricia Madeja Studio Jewelry — Pratt Institute

USA

Meghan Connolly Haupt

Sulusso, USA

Spring Rees

Spring Rees

Neke Moa

Maori Jewellery

New Zealand

Godfrey Gardner

Jewellery Designer, UK.

Jo Taylor

Tootsie Valentine UK

Blanca Schusterman

Jewelry by Blanca

Elyse Demaray,

Demaray Designs

Felicia Szorad

Independent Jewelry Artist

Joe Muench

Associate Professor of Jewelry Iowa State University, USA

Ed Lay

Educator/Metalsmith

Breeta Toma,

Vitriarts

David Crump

Vipa Designs Ltd

UK

Gina Johnson

Chocolate Couture (UK)

Alan Frampton

CRED Jewellery UK

Ben Manning

Utopian Creations

Australia

Anna Loucah

Fine Jewellery

Judith Lotter

Kleinodien-Werkstatt

Germany

Thomas Becker-

Atelier für Schmuck

Germany

Alexandra Simpson

Enchanting Jewellery Design UK

Amanda Li Hope

Amanda Li Hope UK

Jan Spille

Jan Spille – Schmuck

Germany

Jane Macintosh

Jane Macintosh Jewellery
UK

William Rohtert

Geologist and Gemologist

USA

Harriet Kelsall

Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design  UK
Martha W D Bushnell

W D Bushnell

USA

Liv Runa Ditte Thrane

Jewelry Students

Hereford College UK

Samantha Rose

September Rose Ethical Jewelry

UK

Julia Bray Garretson

Julia Bray Garretson Jewelry

Anna Bario
Bario-Neal jewelry- USA

Ian Doyle

Associate, Lifeworth Consulting: France

Andrea Antonucci, Andrea Antonucci Ädelstenar

Sweden

Cindy Dennis Mangan Jewellery Designer Manufacturer UK

Individuals

Mariah Jo Layton Marie

Vanek

Stefan Padowicz

Erin Pinto

Laura Judith Ryan

Erika Miller

Magdalena Goudie

Total number of signatures 152

Currently the Alliance for Responsible Mining and Responsible Jewellery Council are moving towards a partnership that MAY lead to the mass-balancing of certified Fairtrade Gold to RJC members (refiners, jewellery brands etc).

Mass balancing is endemic in the gold industry, a process where by you can mix different sources of gold so that the origin of that gold becomes lost. Currently this practice is not permitted within the spirit of the Fairtrade Fairmined standard.

Ameriko is one of the Oro Verde Fairtrade Fairmined certified miners

The strength of the Fairtrade Fairmined Gold standard has been its purity from source, the excellent standards created by ARM and FLO and minimum price and premium paid to the miners to secure community development. In just one year SOTRAMI, one of the Peruvian certified mines received in excess of £70000 in FT premiums that has gone to education and the creation of a community co-operative store.  The system is working, albeit still small, but growing. For example we are currently putting the finishing touches to a UK and Ireland Fairtrade Fairmined gold campaign that over its three year duration is targeting one ton of FT Gold into the UK by 2015. Fair Jewelry Action and Ethical Metalsmiths are actively working on introducing the certified gold to the USA, as well as Sweden and Holland being the latest countries to adopt the product.

The risk to the system lies squarely in the lack of clarity and transparency around the deal that ARM and RJC are about to do on (the potential) mass balancing of gold from certified sources. As things stand at the moment (and they could change) RJC members could buy from a certified source, call it responsible (which it would be) mass balance it with gold from other large-scale or recycled sources (to increase volumes) and NOT pay the Fairtrade premium. They big companies would benefit from everyone’s hard work and not reward the miners.

Let us be clear and honest. Not all the gold currently being mined from certified sources is being sold into the Fairtrade Fairmined system. This is true. What is also true is that all the certified sources are selling their gold into the normal supply chain regardless. So no miner is stock piling their gold, it is all being sold. The real issue here is not sales of gold, it is that the volume of Fairtrade sales needs to climb and that is a market issue not a gold sales issue.

As the open letter states very clearly;

We actively encourage RJC members to become a part of the FT/FM certification system by purchasing FT/FM gold, paying the FT Premium, and thereby making a positive contribution to future development and security of the certified communities.

If RJC members do this, all is good, volumes increase, miners are rewarded for their diligence in becoming certified and consumers will benefit from being able to buy Fairtrade gold in their jewellery.

If this does not happen and mass balancing takes place through RJC members, the miners will not benefit from premiums, (they will just have different customers), the traders will make more money as they benefit from the volume game, the consumer will be denied choice in the gold jewellery purchase and the possibility of a heavy weight corporate company buying up all the production and denying others the possibility of paying the miners a premium and having access to certified production, becomes a very real possibility.

Therefore I am asking every jeweller, jewellery company, Fairtrade Fairmined license holder, industry activist, NGO and concerned consumer, (if you have not done so already) to sign the Open Letter by downloading it here and then emailing Marc Choyt directly at reflective@cybermesa.com and he will add your name to the growing list (54 jewellers in the first 4 hours) of jewellers from around the world who have a different vision for the future of our industry.

ARM-RJC_Community_Letter_FINAL (Download here).

I want to thank you for your support in this. Rome was not built in a day, but to quote Ervin Renteria a small-scale miners from Colombia and one of the co-founders of ARM, alongside myself, ‘We will keep walking’.