Consumers are now aware and demand to know where the gold they buy is being extracted from and how. Therefore, jewellers are ensuring they use responsibly sourced, eco-friendly, or recycled gold, according to a report in April 2019.
A trusted and ecologically friendly label is the ‘fairmined’ gold, a label certified by a Colombian NGO. The other label is the ‘fairtrade’ label launched by Swiss foundation, Max Havelaar. Both these labels endorse mining techniques that seek to preserve the environment in terms of extraction methods. They also ensure decent working conditions and wages for miners.
In 2018, the Swiss house Chopard became the first big name to commit to ‘100 per cent ethical’ creations.
Even the Geneva-based firm which makes the Palme d’Or trophy for the Cannes Film Festival now uses only verified suppliers of gold. Concerned jewellers are now keen to obtain gold which has been mined in such a way that there is minimal negative impact on the environment. They are also ensuring that they can trace the source of the gold they buy to an ethical production cycle. If they are buying gold from firms, they want to make sure that the firm is certified by the not-for-profit Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC), which has developed norms for the entire supply chain.
RJC members must adhere to tough standards of procuring only clean gold by way of ethical social and environmental practices, as irresponsible gold mining is one of the most destructive activities on the planet—contributing to both environmental and human degradation.
Furthermore, a brand, Courbet, has developed an original idea which promotes the use of gold only from electronic or industrial waste. They look for suppliers who recycle gold used in graphics cards or computer processors. The brand does not believe in promoting mining extraction or using recently extracted gold as more than half of gold’s available reserves may have already been extracted.
Even Ponce, a jewellery firm established in the fashionable Marais district of Paris in 1886, is RJC-certified and uses only recycled gold. The company boasts of producing 45,000 gold rings a year from recycled gold.