Clean diamonds

I have just returned from New York, where I attended my brother's wedding, and I picked up the February issue of your magazine from the news magazine rack on the plane. It was very interested to read about Leonardo DiCaprio's new film, Blood Diamond, (African Business February 2007) as it very much related to what I learnt about the latest developments in the US.

While the Blood Diamond film highlights how the illegal diamond trade has been the cause of enormous human suffering, helping to fuel and finance armed conflict in parts of Africa, gold mining, too, bears the scars of conflict, destruction, and human rights abuse. In fact, the irresponsible mining of gold, diamonds and other precious minerals has resulted in myriad human rights abuses, cyanide spills, and human health impacts.

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When my brother did the rounds of the jewellery stores to buy his wife's new wedding band, he found that as well as pledging adherence to the Kimberley Process that attempts to monitor how diamonds come to market, many of the jewellers had also joined the 'No Dirty Gold' campaign.

No fewer than 21 big jewellery stores including Tiffany & Co, Ben Bridge and Zales (all household names in the US) have endorsed the campaign's 'Golden Rules' criteria for more responsible mining.

These 21 stores reportedly have a combined turnover worth roughly $12bn a year in sales, so the campaign is presumably having quite an important impact.

My brother also told me that various companies are now being set up to offer clean diamonds and gold that has been recycled from various sources, including scrapped electronic goods, guaranteeing that their jewellery is untainted by conflict or environmental degradation issues.

I think we should welcome these developments and, if possible, try to replicate these initiatives in Africa itself. There could well be a business case for setting up 'fair trade' jewellery outlets throughout the continent.