60 Minutes Piece on "Conflict Gold" to Air This Sunday
JCK Staff -- JCK Online, 11/30/2009 7:37:00 PM
A 60 Minutes piece on the role gold plays in fueling conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo will air this Sunday, November 29, according to a Jewelers of America alert to members and the official 60 Minutes website.
The site describes the story this way: "Five million people have died in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a war fueled primarily from gold mined in the country by warlords and smuggled out to be sold on the open market. Scott Pelley reports."
In a statement to its members, JA noted it has been interviewed for the segment, as have other industry associations and businesses. JA believes that the piece will show harrowing images from the mining sites and contain personal interviews that will attempt to call the integrity of the entire gold jewelry supply chain into question. JA expects that the jewelry industry will be cast as having failed to act responsibly in the face of an ongoing and well documented crisis.
JA has asked their members to reach out to their suppliers and ask them to affirm-in writing-their commitment to the responsible sourcing of gold and gold jewelry products, and to do what they can, within their spheres of influence, to ensure that the gold they supply has not originated from conflict sources, including the Eastern DRC.
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I question the show is really about the issue of "Blood/Conflict Gold." While I sympathize with events that occurred in the DOC, the real problem is the devaluation of our currency i.e. "the bleeding dollar," and the media's efforts to cover this scenario up and to provide disinformation on the economy to the public. Gold is having a field day, i.e. the price is $1176, and what more opportune moment than the holidays to call in question its validity as an investment and artifact of beauty than to focus on some obscure part of the world where violence and corruption have existed for decades, if not centuries, through a nationally televised program. Creating a news segment that will cause consumers, investors, and collectors to pause over their gift decision making during the holidays is playing a shill to influential powers. Our government, the Fed and Treasury, have for years orchestrated policy to place restraints on the price of gold to pump the dollar and contain inflation. Today, those measures are out of control due to a host of reasons and gold is set to live up to its function as a "safe haven." Its acquisition through jewelry is part of a long tradition of history and should not be restricted. The premise of utilizing corrupt warlords in DOC to diminish gold's luster is on par with placing the Balloon Boy, White House Gatecrashers, and Tiger Woods as leading stories of the day for days on end. Continued emphasis on these bizarre episodes only serves to reveal the dysfunctional aspects of our media.
Rikardo - 2009-29-11 12:29:42 EST -
The whole premise behind this "blood gold" arument is retarded. It is not the jewelers' or the consumers' fault if people kill each other over gold. If we were to extend the logic of these left-wing arguments, we would have to outlaw handguns, knives, greed, jeolosy, religion, oil and love itself as all of these have motivated the killings of thousands of people through the ages.
Tad Renfert - 2009-27-11 22:39:10 EST -
No one listens to this BS. Quit worrying. Season will suck anyway. Gold and Silver took huge dumps this morning, which is more of a concern, that is; That people can AFFORD to buy gold jewelry. We now sell Tungsten as jewelry. LOL. When I started, off color diamonds and hug piques were not even seen, let alone considered as diamond, they were called what they SHOULD be called..BORT. I could care less about where gold comes from, it is NOT the responsibility of retail jewelers to police the world. That said, how about if we stop calling that rock salt in the $99 braclet "Diamonds". A light green beryl is NOT emerald, it's beryl. So, start at home. Stop selling junk that cheats people, stop lying to your customers, and go back to being real jewelers who sell REAL jewelry.
Bob Smith - 2009-27-11 07:35:58 EST -
Fact is that the gold producing industry (miners and refiners) do not want gold to be traceable, mainly because of the additional costs. They state gold cannot be traced, which is incorrect - gold ore can be traced from individual seams (if not mine sites) and refiners are able to separate refining from mines and from recylced sources. In fact, over 1,000 tonnes of gold comes from recycled sources every year, enought to supply the US jewelery market 3 x over. Most of the large refiners are owned by the miners (Newmont, Anglogold Ashanti etc) so it is entirely possible for this gold to be traced. But unlike diamonds, which have taken the steps of the Kimberley process and a certification system, the gold industry will not invest in the processes needed to make gold clean. So let's hope this TV program shakes them up.
Simon - 2009-26-11 04:56:49 EST -
Dear John Anthony. It is because the "jounalists" have to produce sensational copy or no one would read their newspapers, and many are not listening to their broadcast diatribe. Now everything has to be sensational. The answer is to be honest in business. How can one know they are not supporting criminals? One can't just purchase from reputable people?
Lynn Barlow - 2009-26-11 03:18:18 EST
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