Archive for January, 2009
Brilliant Earth Donates to Stop Child Labor in Mines
Friday, January 30th, 2009Brilliant Earth is proud to announce our recent donation to the Diamond Development Initiative’s Tukudimuna Child Labor pilot program. The program works to get Congolese children out of diamond mines and into higher education and better economic opportunities. Our donation of $10,000 will sponsor the enrollment of 108 children, from the Democratic Republic of the [...]
Zimbabwe’s Soldiers Looting Diamonds
Friday, January 30th, 2009Following the Zimbabwean government’s recent violent removal of illegal miners in the country’s diamond fields, the soldiers sent to carry out the horrific purge have now themselves moved in to the diamond fields to continue the looting. The soldiers are even employing the same impoverished local villagers whom they drove away to work as veritable [...]
Zimbabwe’s Kimberley Process Status Investigated
Friday, January 23rd, 2009Zimbabwe is in danger of losing its Kimberley Process status as a source of conflict-free diamonds. The Kimberley Process was instated in 2003 to address the problem of conflict diamonds funding civil wars. The mass inquiry will address the extent of Zimbabwe’s control over its diamond exports and whether illegally smuggled stones are supporting Robert [...]
Steady Progress in Gold Mining Practices
Friday, January 23rd, 2009With the recent down slide of the world economy, gold is in higher demand than ever, making it even more important to scrutinize the social and environmental impacts of mining for gold. A good deal of the world’s gold is mined by small-scale artisanal miners, who often work under unsafe mining conditions, and rarely receive [...]
The Price of Gold
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009National Geographic’s January feature story does a fantastic job of examining the human and environmental toll of gold mining around the world. It is full of fascinating facts and gripping human stories - highly recommended reading!
With the international price of gold recently skyrocketing to over $1,000 per ounce, the millennia-old global scramble for gold has [...]
Halo Heaven
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009There’s no doubt that the hot green wedding trend will continue into 2009, and beyond! Another trend that’s hard to miss is the strong customer demand for halo diamond engagement rings. Brilliant Earth is excited to bring both these trends together with our expanded collection of halo diamond rings made from conflict free diamonds, [...]