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  • Women gathering the‘rejects’on tailings while the men are mining
  • Golden rutilated quartz rough from Brian Cook’s mine
  • In basic artisanal mining technique, shafts can go as deep as 100 meters.
  • Underground search for quartz veins

Bottom-up responsible sourcing model

In the current jewellery market where a large socially and environmentally conscious consumer base is observed, responsible sourcing has never been so concerned. To this end, industry associations have devoted themselves to raising industry standards and major corporations have endeavoured to implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices.

Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) has developed key standards for the jewellery supply chain, from mine to retail, to ensure practitioners’ commitment to responsible business practices. De Beers’ Best Practice Principles has built ethical standards in the diamond pipeline to prevent unacceptable business, environmental and social operations. Also, the world’s leading gemstone miner Gemfields has set environmental, social and safety standards in the coloured gemstone sector and dedicated itself to building local communities in mining areas.

Unlike these top-down efforts, Brian Cook, geologist, purveyor of minerals and gemstones and co-owner of California-based Nature’s Geometry, has taken steps in the dirt, or the bottom-up approach, on sustainability and responsible sourcing in Brazil’s north-eastern Bahia state which is rich in golden rutilated quartz. As Andrew Bone, executive director of RJC described during the panel discussion in JCK Las Vegas in June 2017, artisanal mining communities which depend on resources are the “least visible” in the long supply chain from mine to market.

“For traceability I want to create visibility to the source of the gemstone while bringing sustainable benefits to the community,” Brian Cook expressed his original idea of developing the responsible sourcing model project that connects small scale artisanal mining with consumers. Cook has worked as an exploration geologist in Brazil since 1987, then became a landowner in Remedios, a town of Bahia where he operates a golden rutilated quartz mine. The remoteness and exotic biome, plus the rich local culture of artisanal mining add up to a perfect location and community for a viable project, the passionate miner told Hong Kong Jewellery.

In cooperation with nearly 1,000 miners from the region, Cook has helped them legalise the lands and mining rights which sets the stage for help from local government. He pays local and state tax on stones being sold in order to obtain accompanying documents for all stones, and has developed export channels through the state of Bahia. With a processing and cutting centre where raw stones are sorted, cleaned, classified and graded, workers are taught basic lapidary skills in order to add value at the source of the supply chain. He also gives special focus on empowering local women who work at the periphery of the mine, collecting low-grade materials. Through basic cutting and bead-making training, they could sell the stones at the local markets.

Besides the achieved steps, Cook plans to head to the key step of the project – creating an educational garden using current science for regenerative agriculture and visitor facilities where people can visit and learn about the unique local culture and the initiatives.

As many consumers care about the influence their purchase makes, by implementing these initiatives, Cook believes that it adds more relevance to the products. In the broader context, teaching mining communities in rural settings how to develop sustainable economic activities is a goal shared by most countries and UN initiatives. “If our industry has a hand in those actions, it will be perceived by consumers as something very positive,” he added.

While the large scale models on responsible sourcing from top down may get bogged down in the middle of the supply chain, Cook creates visibility at the beginning of the chain. “The point here is to create a model on a scale that can be easily implemented then grow naturally from the economic and social benefits,” he explained.

He emphasised: “By creating a small concentrated project we have a chance for quick success. The project is scalable and reproducible. Positive results will influence expansion in all directions. When nearby villages witness the positive benefits from our gardens and lapidary school, I believe there will be great interest to learn how to participate.”

Having spent 12 years to successfully formalise the lands and miners, Cook is currently raising funds, mainly from foundations and non-profits, to further materialise the project. “Once the basic project is up and running, there will be exciting plans,” he projects. Apart from the agriculture side that they will look for important plants for natural ingredients, spices and medicines, which will create new revenue and cross-industry collaborations, “essentially we are showing a way for a community dependent on extractive activities to invest in a regenerative activity, thus creating long-term sustainable economic health and food security. This is a story that actually improves the image of the gem and jewellery industry while doing a good deed,” Brian Cook concluded. (Photo courtesy: Brian Cook)

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