The good news is — when it comes to handmade and hand-finished jewellery (as opposed to mass produced items) — having your jewellery made from ethically produced materials costs you nothing extra, yet does that little bit more to help the planet. In the case of 'The Promised Ring', all of the supplied raw materials meet our strict ethical standards.
From the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 'ethical' means possibly three things:
We're not in the business of selling medications, so it's the first two definitions we work from.
When it comes to the jewellery industry, there are morally and legally imposed standards when it comes to things like metal quality, disclosure of gemstone types, synthetics and the like - at least in first world countries.
But when it comes to 'ethics' from an environmental and social stance, there really are no standards. And to say whether it's right or wrong to use mined gold or gemstones from Burma (or other political hotspots) is a big call — best left to individual choice.
At EJA our stance is that 'ethical', in the context of jewellery, means, "does minimal harm (to the environment and to people)".
Our objective is to educate our customers so they know the right questions to ask and can make a choice.
The gold needed to make one ring is acquired by the displacement of around 20 tonnes of earth; this is then extracted using toxic chemicals. The jewellery industry uses 85% of all newly mined gold.
However, there is a stockpile in the form of old and broken jewellery, jewellers' scraps, obsolete computer and mobile phone hardware etc. that could serve our needs for the next 50 years or so.
Because of this, we feel that the jewellery industry has a responsibility to utilise these existing resources and to do so in such a way that does not further damage the environment. Along with many leading retailers overseas, we have signed Oxfam's 'no dirty gold' pledge.
Mining is a dirty business in anyone's language, but Gold & silver mining is particularly so.
Gold & silver is mined using processes that are very damaging to the environment. Cyanide and heavy metal (especially mercury) poisoning of mine sites is a by-product of conventional leach mining practises and damage to the local ecology is common place thanks to workplace accidents — some of the most notorious incidents include the Baia Mare spill in northern Romania in 2000 that polluted the Danube and Tsiza rivers, Placer Dome's Misima mine in Papua New Guinea that, in 2004, spilled cyanide into the ocean killing local marine life and the Kalgoorlie Gold Mine spillage into local groundwater in 2004.
To economically extract ever-decreasing supplies of raw Gold & silver, mining companies use a process called leach mining. This basically involves saturating ground-up rock with cyanide. Heavy metals, like Gold & silver, attach to the cyanide solution and can later be separated using electrolysis-like processes.
And whilst most responsible mining companies go to considerable efforts to prevent environmental damage, inevitably accidents happen. Sadly there is a very long list of accidents relating to cyanide spillages, failures of tailings dams and other industrial accidents.
Importantly, cyanide is only part of the problem. Industry supporters will quickly point out that cyanide biodegrades very quickly, but it's the other heavy metals (like lead and mercury) trapped in the tailings and slurries that cause lasting damage.
Add that to the fact that a lot of the world's remaining Gold & silver deposits are located in ecologically sensitive areas and you have a recipe for disaster.
It also seems that economic status and legislative controls make little difference to where the damage happens.
Serious accidents have been reported in several locations in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Romania, Hungary, China, Ghana, The Republic of Congo, Papua New Guinea and many others.
The problem is so significant that Oxfam America and EARTHWORKS launched their No Dirty Gold campaign in 2004 — its purpose being to educate retailers and the general public about the true social and environmental cost of gold.
The movement is gaining momentum in the US and the UK. At last report, 23 major jewellery retailers — including Tiffanys & Co., Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels and Wal-mart — have signed the campaign's 'Golden Rules'. (This group of 23 retailers represent 22%, or $12 billion in retail jewellery sales in America alone.)
Yet in Australia, the concept of 'dirty gold' is almost unheard of — and it seems even on a global scale, 'dirty silver' doesn't even rate a mention (even though it's produced using essentially the same cyanide leaching process used in gold mining).
Most platinum comes from South Africa, the United States, Russia, South America and Canada, with South Africa and Russia producing some 60% of the total. (It's estimated that 90% of the world's remaining supplies are in South Africa.)
Like Gold & silver, platinum is a dwindling resource — and is even more difficult to recover (hence its higher price). It's actually more plentiful in the Earth's crust than the other two precious metals, but production volumes are only around 10% of those of Gold & around 1% of silver volumes.
There are three factors that make platinum hard to recover:
On the socio-political side, South Africa is the main 'hot bed'. Some publications report widespread dislocation and oppression of local populations, including imprisonment of dissident leaders, violent quelling of protests, destruction of crops and intentional polluting of community water supplies.
On the other hand, other publications (like The Times) report a beneficial local economic boom — job creation, infrastructure development, real estate value increases and the like.
Either way, unlike Gold & silver, platinum has significant uses outside of jewellery (it's an irreplaceable component in car exhaust systems for example) — so the jewellery industry is not the major production driver.
When it comes to 'dirty' Gold & silver, unfortunately there is almost no public awareness of the issue in Australia. Even inside the industry, very few jewellers are aware of the damage conventional mining of Gold & silver does to the environment.
Ethical Jewellery Australia Pty Ltd grew from the desire to do something about changing the status quo.
As EJA's position is to reduce the impact the jewellery industry has on the environment and its people, we only use recycled Gold & platinum. We source all of our metal from EPA-approved recyclers, as we don't want to obtain ethical metals at the expense of environmentally destructive recycling methods.
When it comes to gemstones, nowadays most people are familiar with the concept of "blood diamonds", but the problems of exploitation, cartels and unsafe work practises are not limited to the diamond industry alone.
Quite apart from the corruption and unethical practises rife in the international gem trade, several of the processes used to enhance the value of stones are also very damaging to the health of the people operating those processes — particularly in third-world countries. Irradiation of gems carries a significant health risk to operators and treatment with beryllium (a carcinogen) is equally as dangerous.
Gladly there is growing awareness about the negative issues associated with the diamond and gem trade and more and more consumers and jewellers are actively preferring non-conflict stones (though far fewer people are aware of the issues associated with irradiation and beryllium treatment).
The issues surrounding the production of diamonds, gemstones and organics are every bit as complex as those associated with precious metal production.
In the diamond trade, most of us are at least somewhat aware of the issues relating to human rights abuses and cartels — whether that be in a country torn by civil war or one where the population is oppressed by corrupt and exploitative governments and powerful enterprises.
When it comes to gemstones, there are literally dozens of types of precious stones in common use sourced from around the world. Like the diamond trade, gems are every bit as subject to exploitation and corruption, though the incidence of fraud (through production of synthetics and treatment of stones) is more prevalent.
At EJA our policy is to only use gems from suppliers where we can verify the source. Likewise we avoid treated stones.
Importantly, our 'genuine article' and no-conflict stance doesn't mean we don't support third-world countries where the governments and/or mining companies are serious about supporting and developing local mining communities. Botswana is a great example of where gem mining companies put a good deal back into the local communities in the form of infrastructure and education — as well as employment.
Organics are things like pearls, amber, coral, ivory, wood, tortoise shell, bone and the like.
Flat out we don't support the manufacture of jewellery from any non-renewable organics — especially from animals (which includes coral). In our opinion, it's just plain unnecessary when there are so many other beautiful materials to work with.
Pearls are interesting in that producers, through necessity, need to look after their local environments. If the surrounding water (salt or fresh) is polluted in any way, oysters don't thrive, so it's in the producer's best interests to keep the environment clean. (By way of example, the Japanese pearl industry — once a world leader — now no longer exists thanks to pollution of waterways.)
Most Gold & silver is mined using processes that are very poisonous to the environment — and mining platinum is very destructive. Our jewellery can only be made with 'clean' precious metals. Our metals for EJA Jewellery & ingots for 'The Promised Ring' are sourced only from EPA-approved recyclers and suppliers that adhere to environmentally friendly mining practices.
All EJA and 'The Promised Ring' gemstones must be sourced from non-conflict regions and fair trade countries. Wherever possible we use Australian gem materials. When we source stones offshore, we make sure they come from non-conflict/low impact areas. We also do not supply any gemstones or diamonds that have been cut or processed in any way by child (or otherwise exploited) labour.
Though this should go without saying, we will only use genuine gemstones. We frequently sample test the stones we buy to make sure our customers are getting what they expected.
We do not use irradiated gemstones or stones enhanced with beryllium. Many stones are treated with radiation or beryllium to improve or change their colour. Both these methods can be extremely harmful to the people operating the equipment and we don't support processes that put people's lives unnecessarily at risk.
Our designs must be innovative and our jewellery robust. A lot of mass produced jewellery not only looks cheap, it's made cheap — which means it doesn't last. So that EJA's jewellery looks great and stands the test of time, we work with one of Australia's leading bespoke jewellers to make sure our jewellery is not only beautiful, it's able to cope with the rigors of everyday life.
Always 'made-in-Australia'. Whilst we have to source some of our materials offshore, all of our jewellery is made here in Australia and gem set and finished by skilled local jewellers.