Responsibly sourced
jewellery is now
available.
But the
mainstream is still an
ethical minefield, argues
Leonie Nimmo.
T
he Chilean San José mine was propelled
to infamy in 2010 thanks to the
rescue of 33 miners that had been
trapped underground for 69...
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Responsibly sourced
jewellery is now
available.
But the
mainstream is still an
ethical minefield, argues
Leonie Nimmo.
T
he Chilean San José mine was propelled
to infamy in 2010 thanks to the
rescue of 33 miners that had been
trapped underground for 69 days.
Live on
television the world witnessed the incredible
event, a testimony to human endurance and
technological achievement.
But why were those
lives risked in the first place, in a notoriously
dangerous type of mine, responsible for
regular fatalities? During all of the news
reports of distraught wives and girlfriends,
their hope, love – even their underwear – there
was a deafening silence from the mining
industry.
The supply chains which bring us precious
metals and gemstones have, at their source,
some horrific human rights abuses and
environmental crimes.
A catalogue of atrocities
from around the globe includes dead and
damaged miners, displaced indigenous people,
slavery, mass rapes and land and water sources
poisoned to such
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