The dark underbelly of the jewellery world is being turned on its head. With slow fashion taking its spot in the limelight, consumers are looking to the lesser-known processes of the jewellery industry and the cause and effect of large-scale mines.
As an advocate of ethical practices, we hold the environment and the quality of miner’s lives at the heart of everything we do – but you already knew that! Whilst ethical fashion and living is commanding attention in the form of column inches, social media and TV, what you may not know is that the scale of exploitation that continues within the mining industry and the negative effects they are having on our precious planet remain prevalent. Even more terrifying is that these methods are used by some of the biggest names in jewellery.
So what makes ethical jewellery different?
In breaking down the definition of ‘Ethical’ its core principles lie within morals and avoiding activities or organisations that do harm to people or the environment.
Working with corporations such as Fairmined means that all gold and precious metals used are sourced with the miners wellbeing at the core. Their quality of life, abolishment of child miners, gender equality and creating healthier working conditions all go in to the Fairmined process. In larger scale mines its been known that workers aren’t even provided with basic safety equipment such as hard hats, the conditions in which they work are polluted with exposure to cyanide and mercury of extremely high levels. These chemicals are used to extract and clean precious ore.
Fairmined assured mines, don’t use cyanide and have a reduced use of mercury. They provide clean environments, fair pay and support the whole community by investing back into the mines. Here at ANUKA we use the precious metals in our LUXE collection, gold plating and our soon to be launched Eco Fairmined wedding collection; so you’ll know that everything you purchase from us is traceable and assists in making a positive impact on responsible mining.
Small scale means low impact
Keeping the mines small and managing their output doesn’t only assist in the miners wellbeing but it plays a heavy hand in ensuring the environment experiences minimal impact. The Fairmined assurance label means water supplies are protected and minimal to no chemical extraction is used resulting in leaving a positive environmental legacy.
Ethical jewellery doesn’t stop at using Fairmined or Fairtrade. Our processes look to incorporate ethical production in every corner of the business. Right down to packaging. There is also a growing trend to use recycled precious metals, whether that’s old pieces that you’ve inherited, or recycled gold that’s been bought second hand and refined, it all adds to the contribution towards a better gold standard in a society where reusing what we have is paramount.
We take the core values of ethics and apply transparency and honesty in the supply chain whilst supporting the environment and social impact. Its important that this message isn’t lost and we’ve teamed up with provenance to show you how we work and who with.
To find out more about Fairmined visit their website www.fairmined.org site and for more information about reusing old precious metals, drop us a note at Francesca@anuka-jewellery.com
