World Gold Council Article Adds Credibility to Urth Solution

(Photo by Cred Jewellery)

I am really thrilled to see companies like Urth Solution and their brand URTH make news - it helps when the source is credible.  You would think, the World Gold Council, is pretty reliable when it comes to reports on their website.  I was surprised to see many inaccuracies contained in this one article (it gets me wondering, how many other articles contain mistakes).  WGC is not directed at small business, eco lux, green, and definitely not small scale artisanal miners.  Their main agenda seems to mostly support large mining operations and companies.  I was surprised to see an article on URTH Gold.  In fact, it was quite out of the ordinary for them.  A bit out of the status quo.  Then as I read, I began to notice there were many errors in their May 2008 posting on "Gold Jewellery First to Help Small Miners" article (contributed by Adfero Limited ©) and they are not fact checking (tsk, tsk).  As much as I am glad that a main stream gold organization (as in WGC) is starting to focus on and bring attention to an industry that effects more than 100 million people, I want the story to be told right and get the facts out there to the mass public.  WGC misses the mark and really misses the entire point of why a company like Urth Solution should be a business model for change.  I am actually glad to see WGC actively looking at sustainable development, capacity building, and small scale mining operations.  But I wish they would just get it right.  Sort of reminds me of my whole diatribe on WalMart.  Guys - if you are going to do the right thing - do the right thing and go about it the right way! 

Okay so back to the article I referenced, as far as I know, Urth Solution is a company and is not called URTH Gold - this is possibly a trademarked term (it's on their website as such).  See all WGC had to do was research!  There are two facets to the company.  The core is Urth Solution and the other is URTH which sells ethical jewelery under the URTH brand (ethical friendly URTH gold).  Their products are not labeled or marketed as Fair Trade gold - this is because they market their products as "ethical" which is a very important distinction for many reasons.  In fact, I think it is this principal alone (and the beauty of it if you will) and one of the reasons that sets Urth Solution apart from other "green", and "eco luxe" companies.  It is one thing to say your company is green, or sells green products but a company that sources their product, ethically - in a way that is traceable as in value chain, is rare and I applaud Urth's visionary approach on this.  I should reiterate here that the above structure of Urth Solution is based off their marketing materials and older website.  I could be entirely wrong and therefore subject to eating a huge helping of crow should any of this information prove to be incorrect.  I am also 100% certain about there being no such thing as Fair Trade gold.  This is the beauty of having a blog - it is all opinion!

I can start a business tomorrow selling coffee and by making certain concessions, I can market it as Fair Trade.  The problem with Fair Trade is that many communities cannot raise themselves (nor afford) to achieve the level and standards that Fair Trade often embodies.  Ethical criteria such as the "Sub Zero" standards and other basic, human standards, are a way to start.  I think you have to have various levels of ethical product and processes to get to what we think of as "Fair Trade".  Fair Trade should be the end goal but what happens to the communities that fail to achieve that landmark, do we not buy from them, forget them, and let them waste away?  I don't think you can do that to 100 million people and would you want to? 

The big fat mistake in this article is that the WGC is completely wrong about Fair Trade gold.  They are basically saying that URTH Gold's products are Fair Trade.  This is not true and certainly not what Urth is marketing or stating.  Fair Trade gold does not exist.  Urth Solution's site makes no reference at all or claim that their products are certified Fair Trade.      

Suffice as to say, while there is no Fair Trade gold yet, there have been efforts made by many parties to certify gold Fair Trade.  This is a good thing.  Remember?  I said Fair Trade would be an end goal.  Getting all parties to agree on a set of standards has been very difficult in an industry so much larger than diamonds and as expected, talks on a universal set of standards fell apart this year. 

Here are some organizations that have been working on these certification standards (like sub zero mentioned above): Communitymining.org, Madison Dialogue, and CASM as well as many green jewelers such as Cred Jewellery.  Martin Rapaport's website (of Diamond Road fame) is also an excellent resource for more information on the road to certified Fair Trade gold and other organizations that work toward pretty hard at making this certification a reality. 

Full article from WGC.

Comments

[Dr. Lauren Weller]

Excellent take on the WGC article. I don't know how I have missed your site, it is very interesting. I also see you came back and fixed your typos. I know sometimes we blog at midnight and the next day the whole thing is a mess. Keep up the good work.

[Paul S.]

It's not really credible if the source doesn't fact check their own article. I agree with you on companies like Cred get it, they do. But I can't seem to find anything about Urth and their mission. That's bad press for them if they wish to make an impact.

[Liz F.]

Good article about Urth Solutions:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/10/27/sm_greengold.xml&page=1

[Admin]

Yes, I am very familiar with this article though it is now almost a year old. Urth Solution (no "s" on the end) should have their site up soon to capitalize on the recent increase in gold prices and the recent mining issues that have been in the press in the DRC.
Thanks for posting.

[online pawn shops]

Good. I don't know how I have missed your site, it is very interesting. I agree with you on companies like Cred get it, they do. But I can't seem to find anything about Urth and their mission.

[The Speck]

Urth is a very interesting concept - initially I think they were looking to use a sustainable development model as a business model to show that you can still make money with a mindset of sustainability. It was a fantastic idea had it worked. I am not sure where Urth goes from here, I think they must be trying to figure that out as well and hence why you haven't seen any marketing materials.

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