Outrageous fortitude Dr. H,

Greetings from Southern Tanzania (Lupa goldfields). I was out in the bush
yesterday, chatting to a bunch of artisanals who were illegally working near
our prospects (ah, but to some of course, they are "subsistence miners", and
to be patted on the back for making a go of things as opposed to those
horrible, multinational companies).

Anyhow, perhaps the attached photo will be useful in illustrating some
issues.  Suffice to say those horrible European Wazungu's in the photo
weren't forcing this child to work.  No, he was happily getting on with his
business, and the Tanzanian bloke working with him turns round to us and
proudly introduced him as his son!  

You couldn't make this up.  She actually exposed a shop assistant giving
misleading information!  Whatever next...


PS - is a "successful ethical travel company" one where it's clients stay at
home and massage their substantial accumulations of middle-class guilt?


Best regards



Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: The Mineral Deposits Studies Group listserver
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Richard Herrington
Sent: 24 June 2011 09:27
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [GEO-MINERALISATION] The Real Price of Gold - Channel 4 TV
programme 27 June

Dear all
 
I put my hands up as I think I shall appear on the programme, I was
contacted on the back of the little book on gold that the NHM published a
while back.  I was interviewed about it and tried (maybe unsuccessfully-
they haven't shown me the version of the interview to be broadcast) to get
them to put some perspective into the programme.  I pointed out the
difficulties of tracing high street gold to source and indicating as Gawen
says how little gold is actually sourced from artisinals.  I get the
impression tht the programme is aimed at bashing the low-cost end of the
high-street stores, a kind of Gap/Primark child labour expose although there
is likely to be some comments about the 'toxic waste' end of the mining
story and the wish to apply something like the Kimberley Process to gold
which of course is highly problematic given the refining story.
 
Let's see but I may have to suffer the slings and arrows along with the
others involved!
 
Richard Herrington
 
Department of Mineralogy
The Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
London SW7 5BD
UK
Tel: +44(0)207 942 5528
 

________________________________

From: The Mineral Deposits Studies Group listserver on behalf of Jenkin,
Gawen R.T. (Dr.)
Sent: Thu 23/06/2011 21:58
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: The Real Price of Gold - Channel 4 TV programme 27 June



Hmm, this forthcoming documentary might be something to raise your blood
pressure a bit.

"Dispatches challenges the British gold jewellery industry to come clean
about where the gold in their jewellery comes from. Businesswoman Deirdre
Bounds, who ran a successful ethical travel company, reveals what's wrong
with the industry and goes on the road to present her unique take on how
things could be done very differently.

Secretly filming at Britain's biggest high street jewellery chains, Bounds
exposes shop assistants giving vastly misleading information about where the
gold in their jewellery is mined. Then, unable to get a straight answer from
the stores, Bounds travels to the mines where some gold is sourced.

In Senegal, she meets a child miner and reveals his hazardous daily
existence at an illegal mine. She also looks at allegations that a
large-scale industrial mine in Honduras has caused hair loss and rashes in
the local population.

Shocked by what she's seen and the lack of traceability in the supply-chain,
Bounds sets out to find how things could be done better.

In her search to find an alternative, she explores newly-launched Fairtrade
and Fairmined gold and also how recycling old gold could offer an answer.

Going undercover, she finds one of Britain's largest gold manufacturers
[sic] not living up to their pledge to support ethical alternatives. And she
asks the British public to back her campaign to clean up the British
jewellery industry."

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/episode-guide/series-94/episod
e-1
Available on the web after the programme has been broadcast (8 pm 27 June).

It looks to be tarring the whole industry with the same big brush. Maybe
someone would like to pull together some less misleading information about
the industry to put out there in response to this?

Here's a start: Clearly no-one condones the use of child labour in any
industry across the world, but according to BGS World Mineral Production
Data 2005-2009 Honduras and Senegal together accounted for 0.3% of global
gold production in 2009, so the examples given are hardly representative of
the global mining industry.

All the best,
Gawen

Chair, Mineral Deposits Studies Group



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Geo-mineralisation is administered by the Mineral Deposits Studies Group
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Geo-mineralisation is administered by the Mineral Deposits Studies Group
(UK)
(www.mdsg.or.uk)

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Geo-mineralisation is administered by the Mineral Deposits Studies Group (UK)
(www.mdsg.or.uk)