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.

JCK