At DiamondsByMe we believe in the importance of a responsible business practice. That is why our experts in noble metals made the decision to only use responsible gold. We hope to motivate multiple jewellers and goldsmiths to also opt for a responsible business practice and only sell responsible products.
Responsible gold, also called ‘Eco friendly gold’, is gold that is mined in a responsible manner. A lot of gold is quarried and extracted in ways that harm the environment or go hand in hand with issues like child labour. These environmental and societal issues are problems that our society strives to resolve where possible.
In order to make a big difference as a small nation the Dutch gold sector and CSR Netherlands launched a joint scheme to achieve a responsible international production chain, this scheme led to the signing of a “Agreement on International Responsible Business Conduct of Companies in The Netherlands with Gold or Gold Bearing Materials in Their Value Chain”. This agreement ensures transparency of the production chain, all the way from mining the gold to its eventual reuse. Special attention is paid to such topics as human rights, environment, and biodiversity.
Most of the gold used to create jewellery in the Netherlands comes from recycling. Sadly, in a part of the gold sector the origin of gold is not exactly clear. This is a problem because many mines are involved in unsustainable business practices to this day, damaging environments and societies.
To stop sales of gold obtained through irresponsible business practices the joint scheme proposes to find out where this gold comes from and how it reaches the Dutch market. The goal is to improve transparency and to improve the efficiency of measures against the suppliers of unsustainable gold. Hence their slogan: knowing, showing, improving.
In order to inform our customers as efficiently as possible about the origin of their gold jewellery the Dutch Federation for Gold and Silver (FGZ) as well as the Dutch Guild of Goldsmiths have made a code of conduct for members. This code of conduct is meant to ensure transparency in the jeweller and goldsmith branches when it comes to the origin of their products. This way awareness of the origin of products is improved and the client will know whether a gold product is actually made from ‘good gold’.
The agreement is ratified by many big names from the Dutch gold sector, amongst which: the before mentioned Federation for Gold and Silver and the Dutch Guild for Goldsmiths. The agreement is the fifth of its kind in the area of International Corporate Social Responsibility.