© Bario-Neal
September 30th 2014
The Alliance for Responsible Mining and Ethical Metalsmiths begin collaboration to raise awareness on Fairmined Gold in the United States.
Few jewelers or consumers know where their metals come from or what impact those metals have on local mining communities and the environment. With the intent to raise awareness on the positive impact of Fairmined gold and connect ethical jewelers with Fairmined certified mining communities, the Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM) and Ethical Metalsmiths (EM) are now entering a formal partnership.
It was an inspirational breakthrough for the Fairmined initiative when in 2013 over 20 jewelers from EM’s Ethical Sourcing Consortium – in collaboration with the refiner Hoover and Strong, the first US-based authorized buyer of Fairmined gold – for the first time ever imported Fairmined gold from the Fairmined certified AURELSA company in Peru to the US. Today, ARM and Ethical Metalsmiths are thrilled to announce their collaboration to promote responsible mining and raise awareness about the importance of ethical sourcing from Artisanal and Small-scale gold mines among jewelers and consumers in the United States.
ARM and EM will focus on bringing more players into the Fairmined system and on working closely with jewelers to create broader awareness around responsible sourcing and Fairmined. The organizations will also actively increase jewelers’ access to Fairmined gold and build relationships between miners and jewelers to increase market access and generate positive, measurable benefits to Artisanal and Small-scale Mining communities.
“Ethical Metalsmiths have shown incredible leadership and commitment to make an important change in how jewelers source their metals and generate positive transformation in mining communities through the Fairmined initiative. We are honored to partner with them and invite other jewelers’ organizations follow their example” said Lina Villa-Córdoba, Executive Director of the Alliance for Responsible Mining.
“The Alliance for Responsible Mining and the Fairmined certified miners like AURELSA are committed, professional and visionary. By qualifying responsible, formal, artisanal and small-scale miners with the capacity to access the U.S. market ARM is mine by mine transforming the way we think about artisanal mining and is empowering these model communities to show the world what they are capable of.“ said Christina Miller, Executive Director of Ethical Metalsmiths.
The jewelers of the EM´s ethical sourcing consortium have until now sourced 3 kilograms of Fairmined gold from the Fairmined certified mining company AURELSA through refiner Hoover & Strong. Hoover & Strong will soon be offering a readily available stock of Fairmined gold accessible to anyone who is interested in supporting responsible Artisanal and Small-scale Mining communities by sourcing Fairmined gold.
For more information on Fairmined gold visit www.fairmined.org or send an email to .gro.1778471605denim1778471605riaf@1778471605ofni1778471605
For more information about Ethical Metalsmiths visit www.ethicalmetalsmiths.org gro.s1778471605htims1778471605latem1778471605lacih1778471605te@li1778471605am1778471605
Download official press release in English ans Spanish