2/4/05 The
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Gold
Jewelry - World's Dirtiest Valentine's Day Gift?
Mon Feb 14,11:22 AM ET
World - OneWorld.net
Jim Lobe, OneWorld US
WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb 14 (Oneworld)
- Two U.S.-based development groups are warning
Valentine's Day (news - web sites) shoppers that
the gold jewelry they buy for their sweethearts
may be a lot dirtier than it appears.
Marking the first anniversary of their
"No Dirty Gold" campaign, EARTHWORKS and
Oxfam America are reminding consumers that the production
of a single 18-carat gold ring weighing less than
one ounce generates on average at least 20 tons
of mine waste that itself may prove very harmful
for local communities and the environment.
"Gold loses its luster when it
is produced at the expense of healthy communities,
clean water, and human rights," according to
Payal Sampat, the international campaign director
for EARTHWORKS, which is based here. "Retailers
and consumers are saying this price is too high."
Valentine's day is the biggest holiday
for gold jewelry sales in the U.S., and particularly
for the three biggest sellers of gold jewelry, Wal-Mart,
Zales and Sterling.
To mark the day, campaigners, including
a giant puppet called "Ms. Goldzilla,"
will be distributing Valentines cards with the message,
"Dont tarnish your love with dirty gold,"
in front of major jewelry and watch stores along
New York City's Fifth Avenue.
Consumers will be asked to sign a
pledge calling on gold mining companies to use cleaner
alternatives in mining, particularly in developing
countries where regulations are generally more lax
or less enforced than those in wealthy western countries
where gold is still mined.
In a major scandal that surfaced last
year, an independent study completed by Indonesia's
Environment Ministry found that waste generated
by Colorado-based Newmont Mining Corporation at
its Minahasa Raya gold mine had contaminated Buyat
Bay in Sulawesi province with mercury and arsenic
at levels that pose a human health-risk, particularly
to young children.
Newmont has rejected the report's
conclusions, but investigations by the New York
Times, which consulted independent experts, backed
up the Environment Ministry's findings.
In addition to the pollution, mining
often produces serious social problems. Governments
eager to attract foreign investment frequently sell
concessions to major companies without consulting
local communities that are most affected by the
mining operations.
"We want buyers and sellers of
gold jewelry to hold mining companies accountable
to the communities where they operate," said
Carrie Dann of the Western Shoshone Defense Project
in Nevada.
Worse, gold mining has become increasingly
mechanized so that communities often dont receive
much new employment opportunities despite the enormous
capital costs involved in mining.
Metal mining currently employs less
than one-tenth of one percent of the global work
force but consumes seven to ten percent of the world's
energy.
But the major impact is environmental--particularly
the huge amount of waste generated by mining. "Mining
companies have polluted our water resources and
violated our right to a healthy environment in their
rush to riches," said Kalia Moldogazieva, a
mining activist from Kyrgyzstan whose open-pit Kumtor
mine has suffered a number of toxic spills and a
1992 cave-in that killed one worker. The Kyrgyz
mine is owned and operated by Canada's Cameco Corp.
and partially financed by the World Bank (news -
web sites)'s International Finance Corporation (IFC)
and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD).
In the United States, mines generate
an amount of waste equivalent in weight to nearly
nine times the garbage produced by all U.S. cities
and towns combined, according to the two groups.
Based on gold-sales projections for
the first two weeks of February, the two groups
estimate that Valentine's Day sales of gold jewelry
in the U.S. will have produced 34 million metric
tons of waste worldwide.
The two groups say that their campaign
has gained momentum since its launch on Valentine's
Day, 2004, with groups in Germany and three gold-producing
nations--Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, and Peru--starting their
own campaigns.
In response to the campaign, leading
jewelry and electronics retailers, including Tiffany
& Co, Cartier, Helzberg Diamonds and Harry Winston,
have issued public statements in support of its
goals.
"As consumers and retailers learn
about the true cost of gold, they are calling for
it to be produced in ways that do not harm people
and the environment," said Keith Slack, a senior
policy advisor with Oxfam America.
The "No Dirty Gold" activists
are drawing heavily on the experience of other recent
consumer efforts to end sweatshop labor in the apparel
industry, combat the trade in "blood diamonds,"
and promote Fair Trade coffee and cocoa products.
The activists' strategy has been to press retailers
of these products to press their suppliers to ensure
that they do more to reduce waste and protect the
environment, health, and human rights of communities
where they operate.
Most consumers, according to the "No
Dirty Gold" groups, are unaware of the social
and environmental impact of most gold-mining operations.
Like the other campaigns, the gold
campaign also enlists students in their efforts.
The two groups noted that students at about a dozen
colleges in the United States and Canada have been
organizing to clean up "dirty gold" used
in class rings.
In addition, to Wal-Mart, Zales and
Sterling, the top ten U.S. jewelry retailers include
QVC, JC Penney, Sears, Tiffany, Finlay Fine Jewelry,
Fred Meyer Jewelers, and Friedman's.
The worlds top six gold mines by production
in 2003 included Freeport's Grasberg mine in Indonesia,
Newmont's Yanacocha mine in Peru; Navoi's Muruntau
mine in Uzbekistan; Barrick's Betze-Post mine in
Nevada; and Gold Fields' Driefontein and Kloof mines
in South Africa.
The next biggest include Newmont's
Carlin Trend mine in Nevada; Placer Dome's Cortez
mine also in Nevada; Barrick's Pierina mine in Peru;
and Barrick's and Newmont's Kalgoorlie mine in Australia.
Visit the NO
Dirty Gold Website for more information
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