Signet Offers First ‘Conflict-Free’ DRC Gold

RAPAPORT… The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has exported
conflict-free artisanal gold to the US jewelry market for the first time,
according to groups involved in the project.



The metal from the South Kivu province has gone on sale at
certain Signet Jewelers retail chains, the Responsible Artisanal Gold Solutions
Forum (RAGSF) said last week. RAGSF and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) worked with several American companies to
establish a legitimate supply chain, according to the organizations.

Fair Congo, the artisanal-gold export office in the DRC, shipped the metal, with
Asahi Refining processing it in the US, before Richline Group manufactured it
into gold earrings. Signet then sold the finished products through brands
including Kay Jewelers and Zales.


“We are proud to be contributing to the establishment of due-diligence
systems to support a documented, tracked and traceable process for artisanal
gold from the DRC,” Mark Hanna, chief marketing officer of Richline Group, said
last week. “This first completed proof of concept is evidence of the potential
for scalability.”


Currently, more than 95% of artisanal gold in the DRC comes
from illegal mining, and is smuggled out of the country, contributing to the
ongoing conflict in the country, according to RAGSF. The pilot is the first
step to exporting responsibly sourced gold from the DRC that conforms to international
due-diligence standards, it added.


“We aim to support the continuous improvement in the
integrity of the global jewelry supply chain,” said David Bouffard, Signet’s
vice president of corporate affairs. “We look forward to responsibly sourced artisanal
gold from the DRC becoming part of the mainstream gold supply chain.”


Image: An artisanal miner panning for gold. (Shutterstock)