What would jewelry be without the rich, deep beauty of precious metals like gold and silver? It's truly hard to imagine! However, it is no secret that gold mining poses significant risks not only to nature but also to the people working in the mines.
Urban mining - sustainable recycling gold
Material
One thing is clear:things cannot go on as before!
Maren Jewellery is a company with a documented sustainability approach along our value chain. You can find details in our sustainability report.
So what does it mean for us that gold and sustainability are so difficult to mention in the same breath? Given the severe environmental impact of gold extraction and the fact that people risk their lives under terrible conditions, should we as sustainable jewellery designers avoid it altogether?
We should face these questions and do everything we can to improve the conditions of gold production both for the people working in mining and for nature. Because one thing is clear: it cannot go on like this.
For little gold, far too much waste
94% (1) of the total carbon emissions generated in the production of a silver ring arise during the metal extraction process.
Particularly in small-scale mining, people who often have no other source of income put their lives at risk day after day due to inadequate equipment and disturbingly poor working conditions, in order to bring to the surface from the depths of the earth a raw material whose beauty they can most likely no longer even perceive.
Many mines are unhygienic workplaces, increasing the risk of accidents, illness, and contact with toxic chemicals. In addition, mine workers are often forced to work long shifts without adequate pay, without proper protection, and without health insurance.(2)
Gold can occur as nuggets in the ground or in rivers, so that it can simply be separated mechanically from the soil substrate. But in most cases, only the finest traces are found in rock minerals, so the precious metal must first be separated from the rock. Prospectors use cyanide and mercury for this.
As a result, gold mining is the leading cause worldwide of water, soil, and air pollution from mercury used to extract gold. (3)
Gold mining is so bad for our environment
Large-scale industrial gold mining uses the cyanide leaching process. A process that is not only incredibly harmful to the environment, but also dangerous for people.
Small-scale miners are more likely to use the mercury process. In this method, gold-bearing ores are sifted in water for hours until the gold dust is concentrated in the sediment. This concentrate is then mixed with mercury, which forms a liquid alloy with the gold. This alloy is heated, causing the toxic mercury to evaporate and leaving behind the pure gold.
1 kg of gold from newly mined gold from gold mines generates 4,166 tonnes of hazardous waste, toxic waste, and overburden. (4)
The chemicals cyanide and mercury poison the soil as well as the water in the mining areas and pose a significant health risk.
In addition, 250m3 of water per 1 kg of newly mined gold (5) is consumed for the extraction of gold.
Ultimately, gold mining also has serious ecological consequences: huge craters have to be torn into the landscape for every gold mine – and all too often these mines are located right in the middle of rainforest regions.
Mining operations in particular often lead to the displacement of the local population; people lose their homes and are sometimes forced to flee. The rights of Indigenous peoples are especially often violated in the process. (3)
Old Gold Mine - Minas de Riotinto – Mining on the Río Tinto
What about Fair Trade gold?
Fair Trade Gold comes from mines that operate according to defined social and environmental standards. These include regulated working conditions, minimum prices, and requirements for reducing environmental impact. Compared with conventional, non-certified mining, this represents an important step forward.
At the same time, Fair Trade Gold is still newly mined gold. Even when strict standards are met, mining remains associated with impacts on ecosystems and the consumption of resources—albeit under improved conditions.
For this reason, depending on the piece of jewellery and the supply chain, we rely on both certified Fair Trade Gold and recycled gold, carefully weighing social and environmental aspects against each other.
That's why we chose recycled gold
Gold has been mined for 4,000 years. Hardly any raw material can be recycled as effectively as gold, because when gold is melted down, it loses none of its purity or quality. For these reasons, we decided to build on this richness and use recycled gold for our sustainable jewelry, so that no additional primary gold mining is required due to our choice of materials for Maren Jewellery pieces.
Our recycled gold comes from the C Hafner refinery in Pforzheim, where 29 kg CO2e are used per kg of recycled gold (7), compared to 16,000–32,689 kg CO2e per kg of newly mined gold. (8) (9) That is around 550 times more CO2e. And as if that were not enough, C Hafner offsets the CO2.
The circular economy also comes within tangible reach through recycled gold, because we too can make use of this wonderful property of gold and – as has in fact been tradition since the beginnings of goldsmithing – return leftover resources to the cycle and reuse them. The WWF (3), as well as the Rettet den Regenwald association (6), also point out in their publications the ecological advantages of recycled gold over primary mining.
To keep your gold jewelry beautiful and shiny for as long as possible, we have put together valuable tips for you in our journal on cleaning gold jewelry .
Aren't we making it too easy for ourselves?
By using recycled gold, are we not ignoring the actual problem? Just because we are not using newly mined gold, the mines will not simply close. Nature and people will continue to be pushed to the limits of their capacity.
Maren Jewellery is a company with clear principles that we feel committed to upholding. One of them is responsibility. We do not want to look away, but rather take action wherever we can. That is why we decided to support the Earthbeat Foundation with 3% of our profits starting in 2021.
The Earthbeat Foundation is an organization that promotes alternative income opportunities in communities where people depend on small-scale mining, in order to reduce environmental impacts over the long term.
No one is perfect, and only together can we work toward a new world that treats people and nature with kindness. So let us learn together and make this world a better place together.
Sources:
(1) Parnuwat Usapein, Chantra Tongcumpou, "Greenhouse Gas Emission in Jewelry Industry: A Case Study of Silver Flat Ring" 2016
(2)International Labour Organisation, "Artisanal and smallscale gold mining baseline report: Camarines Norte and South Cotabato" 2020
(3) WWF, "Gold – anything but gl.nzing for the environment" [Online] Available: https://www.wwf.de/themenprojekte/waelder/mining/gold-mining. Accessed on 2021.03.19
(4) IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Elin Eriksson, Per-Erik Karlsson, Lisa Hallberg, "Carbon Footprint of Cartons in Europe – Carbon Footprint methodology and biogenic carbon sequestration"[Online] Available: https://www.procarton.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/08/carton_carbon_d.pdf. Accessed on 2021.05.19
(5) P2W, "Mining" [Online] Available: https://www.p2w.co/mining/. Accessed on 2021.03.22
(6) Save the Rainforest e.v., "Gold mining and its impact" [Online] Available: https://www.regenwald.org/themen/gold. Accessed on 2021.05.10
(7) Dr. Philipp Reisert, "What is more sustainable, gold extraction or gold recycling" [Online] Available: https://blog.c-hafner.de/oekologischer-fussabdruck-wasist-nachhaltiger-goldgewinnung-oder-goldrecycling/. Accessed on 2021.05.10
(8) Fritz, B.; Aichele, C.; Schmidt, M., "Environmental impact of high-value gold scrap recycling" The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. 2020
(9) World Gold CounciL, "Gold and climate change –Current and future impacts" [Online] Available:https://issuu.com/christinadianparmionova/docs/gold_and_climate_change-current_and_future_impacts.Accessed on 2021.03.19
Written By Moritz Hackl
Moritz is a copywriter, blogger and journalist and lives in Munich. He prefers to write about the beautiful things in life - such as sustainable jewellery.
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