ANCIENT Colombian civilisations covered the bodies of future kings in it; the Greeks used it in burial masks; Spandau Ballet devoted a song to it. Gold has entranced humankind for millennia: the earliest gold artefacts are believed to be 7,000 years old. Last year, the price of gold reached an all-time high, proof of our implicit faith in the precious metal. But the process of extracting it from the earth and refining it into its familiar lustrous form isn’t always pretty.
Dangerous working conditions, child labour, pitiful pay and chemical poisoning still plague the industry. Illegal operations are rife and even regulated mines have environmental pitfalls, including pollution and deforestation. An estimated 20 tons of waste are generated to produce enough gold for one plain band and the livelihoods of an estimated 100 million people worldwide depend on artisanal and small-scale mining, which typically occurs in unsafe, illegal mines. Great efforts have been made to eliminate blood diamonds from the jewellery supply chain and, now, consumers are turning their attention to the provenance of their gold.
Certified Fairmined and Fairtrade gold comes from artisanal mines that adhere to strict environmental standards, including the safe use of chemicals. Miners receive a fair price for the gold, with measures in place to protect their health and safety, eliminate child labour and create a positive impact on the wider community. Both organisations offer online directories where customers can find jewellers who work with Fairtrade or Fairmined gold. ‘It’s wonderful to know that a purchase of jewellery handcrafted with Fairmined gold makes a difference on a humanitarian level, improving the lives of so many people,’ says one such jeweller, London-based Thelma West.
Esta historia es de la edición May 19, 2021 de Country Life UK.
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Esta historia es de la edición May 19, 2021 de Country Life UK.
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Save our family farms
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A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
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We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
