Most of us love wearing our gold and silver jewellery, and they are beautiful materials to wear and work with. Mining for these precious materials has been taking place since ancient times, as early as 5th century BC.
9ct gold conch earring
But as we humans become increasingly aware of the effect we are having on the planet, we turn our attention to trying to make more sustainable and eco-friendly choices, and demand more transparency in supply chain so we know exactly where our purchases and the materials used to make them have come from.
You may have started to wonder, where do gold and silver come from, and are they environmentally friendly? In terms of jewellery buying, one of the simplest and most effective things to look out for is jewellery made from recycled gold and silver.
Gold and silver are both naturally occurring materials that must be found in the earth and removed, usually by mining. The main gold producing countries are Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Indonesia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea and Russia; similarly in recent centuries the principal countries silver is produced in are Canada, Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, Poland, Australia and the USA.
As they grow so slowly in the earth, these veins have become depleted by us so there is now an ever growing search for new gold to mine. There are also various environmental and human rights issues surrounding these mines.
Photo by Matthew de Livera, Australian mine
The processes used to remove to ore often use large amounts of other metals, and the air as well as ground water can become easily contaminated. Drinking water around mines has been found to have high concentrations of metals including arsenic, iron, and lead. Mercury poisoning can be fatal and has serious side effects.
Lack of rules and regulations in many of the countries gold is found mean that child exploitation is common, and a lack of basic health and safety can create very dangerous conditions for the local workers. Destruction of natural habits with great biodiversity is common where precious metals are found and mined.
The great news is, if we choose to recycle silver and gold to reuse it, we no longer need to extract fresh deposits from the earth. Gold can be recycled multiple times without losing its integrity, and the end products have exactly the same purity and usability as the first time around. So choosing to buy jewellery made of recycled silver and gold is an easy way to make sure your shopping is eco-friendly and sustainable.
I use both recycled silver and gold in my work, although you will not know it to see it! It is fully auditable and traceable as a guarantee of its provenance. It is produced from 100% recycled scrap metal, made up of scrap jewellery and recycled elements from the giftware, electronics and medical industries. It is exactly the same in constitution as regular sterling silver or 9ct, 14ct or 18ct gold, it is purely more environmentally friendly.
I hope you found this interesting or useful!
Tori x
If you're interested in reading more about gold production or recycled silver and gold, you can check out these links for further information.
Earthworks.org for info on gold mining
Gold.org for some positive impact mining case studies
Cooksongold.com for info on recycled gold
Wikipedia.org for info on the history of silver mining