[Jewelry making - Article 00176] - Re: [Orchid] Responsible Gold

[Sonia Q]

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>     Guilt ridden I am - I recently read "The price of Gold" an older
>     article published by Ganoksin.
>     http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/the-price-of-gold.htm 

>     I am a environmentally conscious person and now I am feeling major
>     conflict over the work I sell. 

    My first post to the list! (Hello! :) ) 

    As a just-starting-out person in silver and goldsmithing (I've been
    making beaded jewellery for years), the ethics of the materials I
    use concerns me too. I'm not sure that it would be possible to be
    100% certain about every stone and every gram of metal, but I'd like
    to do my best. Asking my wholesaler if they can tell me the origin of
    the silver and gold I buy will be a start - I live in Australia, so
    (I assume, please correct me if I'm wrong) it's highly likely that
    the metals will have been mined and processed within the country,
    which would at least in theory mean that this has happened under
    Australian industrial and environmental laws, a known quantity to me
    as opposed to what might go on in developing nations that have more
    easily exploitable labour and so forth. 

    I certainly don't expect that the wholesaler could tell me which
    mines the materials have come from, though I think most of the
    precious metals mined here are done so by just a few larger outfits
    (presumably BHP, etc). There's a set of guidelines that many mining
    companies are signatory to: 

    which would again in theory mean they ought to be aiming for
    ecologically sustainable and ethical practices. I realise
    discovering the actual practice would require some research. 

    And the same applies to stones. I'd like to "buy local" and
    ethically where possible. It's not always going to be possible, but I
    will at least make the effort. 

    - Sonia 

    (PS - I've often wondered if "new age" retailers selling tumbled
    stones as crystals promoting peace/wellbeing/etc have considered the
    origins of such...I'm not sure that a stone that's been blasted out
    of the earth and processed by someone earning 20c a day has such good
    "vibes".) 



 
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