No Dirty Gold Campaign

Greening gold

Jewelers take the lead to monitor mining

South Florida Business Journal - by Leslie Kraft Burke

Jewelry retailers throughout South Florida and the nation are beginning to act on concerns that the gold mining industry is taking a toll on the earth and some of its people.

Although few consumers know where the precious metals in their products come from or how they are mined, some of the nation's largest jewelry retailers have signed onto the No Dirty Gold campaign: an initiative that calls mining "a dirty industry that can displace communities, contaminate drinking water, hurt workers and destroy environments."

Founded in 2004 by Earthworks and Oxfam America, the No Dirty Gold campaign tries to educate the public and retailers about the impacts of irresponsible gold mining and enlist their support to reform harmful mining practices. The campaign is not calling for a boycott of gold, officials say, but on the mining industry to provide alternatives to irresponsibly mined gold.

"We launched the campaign after a series of mining accidents," said Payal Sampat, No Dirty Gold campaign director. "There was a collective sense of a disconnect between the consumer market and what was happening around mine sites."

While the campaign raised awareness of mining's damage, it created the Golden Rules, a series of standards that retailers pledge to support as they source their gold. Part of the effort's mission is to convince all major jewelers to sign onto the standard and make sure the mines they use actually are in compliance.

So far, seven of the 10 largest U.S. jewelry firms - comprising 22 percent of the country's total jewelry sales ($12 billion) - have signed onto the Golden Rules. The retailers represent a diverse cross-section of the market, ranging from high-end jewelers like Tiffany & Co. and Cartier, to class rings maker Commemorative Brands (marketer of Balfour and ArtCarved rings), retail giant Wal-Mart and TV shopping firm QVC.

Jewelry retailers who have not signed on include Target, Rolex and Sears Holding Corp.

Tiffany adopts strategy

Signing onto the Golden Rules fit with Tiffany & Co.'s core values, according to Linda Buckley, the luxury jeweler's VP of public relations.

"We changed our sourcing for diamonds in the mid-'90s and invested in a diamond mine in Canada at that time," she said. "We feel that particularly because we take much of our design inspiration from the natural world, we need to preserve it as a source of inspiration, as well as for everyone's welfare."

Tiffany said it sources the largest portion of its gold and silver from one mine in Utah, which operates in a sustainable and environmentally sound manner.

Large companies like Tiffany and Wal-Mart will drive the greening of gold, because they will require the mines they use and their suppliers in general to adhere to certain standards and practices, said David Meleski, CEO of the Richline Group, a gold and silver jewelry manufacturer and distributor in Tamarac.

Wal-Mart sings up with Aurafin

One of Richline's companies, Aurafin, is creating for Wal-Mart a line of gold and silver jewelry that has been produced in a sustainable manner. The line is to be launched June 1, Meleski said, in keeping with the retailer's overall corporate push for sustainability.

"This was really a test program for us. We didn't know if there would be enough supply to launch something like this for a company as large as Wal-Mart. But, we found mines in the U.S. that could accommodate," Meleski said, adding that there is extra cost to the sustainable jewelry making process, mostly due to auditing of practices.

The added cost would be passed along to the consumer. Meleski and Tiffany's Buckley predict that, if this happens, consumers won't mind. Both also acknowledge the effort to create sustainable jewelry is just beginning, so it's difficult to predict its appeal.

For Weston entrepreneur Michael H. Gusky, who owned Aurafin for 25 years before selling it last year to Berkshire Hathaway, the ultimate in sustainable gold and silver jewelry is to recycle that which already exists. His new company, GoldFellow^®, which he launched in February, buys gold from consumers and sells it on once it's refined.

But Gusky hopes one day to be able to use this refined gold to manufacture new products to be sold back to consumers.

"I often wonder where the 300-plus tons of gold chains, bracelets and earrings are that I sold with Aurafin," he said. "What isn't being worn could be recycled into new designs, sold to consumers at a fraction of the cost they typically pay for gold jewelry now - and with no mining."

THE DETAILS:

Did you know?

Sources: www.nodirtygold.org, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ResourceSaver

No Dirty Gold's Golden Rules

Jewelers call on mining companies to meet the following basic standards:

Source: www.nodirtygold.org