RECYCLED GOLD VS. FAIRMINED GOLD

In our quest to offer the most sustainable options to our customers, we offer both conflict-free recycled gold and mercury-free Fairmined gold, which is about 30 percent more expensive than recycled gold. Below, we break down the difference between the two so you can make an informed decision about your purchase.

Recycling, as a concept, is nearly synonymous with sustainability. It's the very foundation of many of our ideas around environmentally-friendly practices and often, it is a very effective process that genuinely benefits the Earth and its inhabitants.

Recycling works by reducing demand for virgin materials—which in turn decreases production of them. When you recycle a plastic water bottle, you're feeding that plastic back into the supply chain. Rather than send it to a landfill and create demand for companies to produce another, the bottle is broken down and re-used. It essentially becomes another water bottle. This same process cannot necessarily be applied to gold. Demand for gold, because of its immense value, is so high that it will likely never be reduced to a point where people stop mining it. Unfortunately, it will always be worth somebody's effort to dig gold out of the ground, no matter how much we recycled gold that has already been mined.

Gold is mined by both large-scale mining companies and independent artisanal and small-scale (ASM) miners. The world’s 15 million ASM miners make up 90 percent of the global work force in gold extraction, and often work in harsh, remote, and dangerous conditions—meaning they lack access to things like safety equipment and healthcare. These miners are usually impoverished people who mine gold in order to feed their families, and without proper channels to sell their gold, they are at the mercy of middlemen who exploit them.

The vast majority of the time, ASM miners use mercury in the process of mining gold. Mercury can cause a host of neurological disorders and conditions, and can lead to death. Unfortunately, most ASM gold miners lack either the resources or knowledge to handle mercury properly. They mix gold and mercury by hand, often in the same pans they will later use to cook dinner for their children. They burn off mercury inside their own kitchens, where their families then breathe in the neurotoxin methylmercury. The gold mining pits of ASM miners also leech that mercury into groundwater, and common spillages dump huge quantities of mercury into streams. This mercury pollution can remain in waterways for centuries, poisoning entire ecosystems.

When Fairmined practices are implemented at an ASM gold mine, miners are educated about the dangers mercury poses to themselves, their children, and the greater environment. Fairmined works with miners to eliminate the use of mercury (or cyanide, another chemical commonly used) altogether. Gold produced without these chemicals is classified as 'Eco-Gold', and it generates increased premiums for these ASM mining communities. At Olivia Kane, we offer mercury-free Fairmined gold, which directly benefit these miners, ensuring that miners receive a fair wage for their work, with safer working conditions, fair labor rights, and strong miners’ associations that have the power to lobby for their rights.

The Fairmined gold standards are grounded in principles set forth by the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN declarations for rights of individuals, the Millennium Development Goals, and the Johannesburg Declaration of Sustainable Development. They respect the national laws in which the mining is taking place, and adhere to ARM’s high standards for quality of life, sustainable human development, environmental stewardship, gender equality, and ethnic and cultural diversity. Additionally, the ARM does not tolerate contribution of profits to armed conflicts.

At Olivia Kane, we are aware that regardless of how much recycled metals we use, precious metals will continue to be mined. Fairmined practices have the power to transform the gold mining industry, along with the lives of the millions of people who dependent upon it, ensuring small-scale miners are paid fairly for their work and that unsafe mining practices are abolished. They also enable you, the consumer, to wield your economic power to benefit the most responsible small-scale mining operations in the world.

Additional Resources: