and by searching out an older piece means no new metal or stones will have to be mined to make it, bringing a big ecological bonus. There is also some small reassurance in the fact that a lot of older stones will have been mined before the advent of diamonds used to fund conflict. You may be lucky enough to have some vintage pieces of jewellery within the family, which have been passed down the generations and have a real sense of personal history attached. And there is a real sense of romance attached to presenting a unique and beautiful piece of jewellery to someone who is being invited to join the family. But even if you have to look to the open market, you are sure to find a unique piece. Older jewellery is more likely to have been made to a one off design, a bespoke piece designed by the jeweller for a particular customer. The fact that a vintage piece is a kilo to be used by the community to help develop the infrastructure including schools, health clinics, water and electricity. CRED worked with the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM), a Colombian-based organisation which was born out of the Oro Verde (green gold) movement, which has been producing a responsible and traceable supply chain of gold since 2004. Mines in Peru and Bolivia have received the Fairtrade certification, including the Sotrami mine, which is now CRED’s main supplier of Fairtrade gold and silver. And they continue to try to push the certification and the benefits it brings out to the wider world. They are now working with Fairtrade to bring in the first African Fairtrade gold from Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. There has been enormous progress in ethical practices in the production of gold and silver, but no mining operation is ever going to totally ecologically sound. According to an analysis from mining watchdog group Earthworks, producing the gold for just the average 18-carat wedding band is responsible for twenty tons of toxic mine waste. Highly
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toxic substances like arsenic are routinely released into the ecosystem by the process, and others, such as mercury, are used in the industrial process of separating the gold from the ore. There is a huge environmental toll to be considered. But as consumers, we can be grateful that companies like CRED, and organisations like FLOCERT (Fairtrade) and the Responsible Jewellery Council have pushed producers to take more responsibility for their actions. It also proves to the large mining companies that extracting gold in a cleaner, more responsible way is important to customers and in some small way, the industry has started to clean up its act. It’s not there yet, but there is progress and momentum is building. It’s our responsibility as consumers to look into the provenance of prospective purchases, and look out for those hard won Fairtrade logos and the symbols of the other organisations. Ask questions and reassure yourself. There are alternatives which could be considered more ecofriendly. There is a healthy market in vintage and classic jewellery,