Last week, five of America’s leading jewelry retailers announced their support for the protection of Alaska’s Bristol Bay from large-scale mining; particularly against the proposed Pebble gold-copper mine.

Featured in the report, Golden Rules: Making the Case for More Responsible Mining (pdf), the proposed Pebble mine would come to be “the largest mine in North America, covering over 15 square miles (39 square kilometers) of land and generating more than 3 billion tons of mine waste over its life. The waste [would] be impounded in a seismically active area behind a number of dams. If built to the proposed dimensions, two of these dams will be the largest in the world—far bigger than the giant Three Gorges Dam in China.

The project world utterly devastate the Bristol Bay watershed, and with it a wealth of natural resources:

• The world’s most productive wild salmon fishey - producing one third of the world’s sockeye salmon,
• The Mulchatna caribou heard, one of Alaska’s largest,
• A world-class native rainbow trout fishery, which supports a recreational industry of international significance.

The subsistence way of life for the many region’s indigenous communities would also be profoundly impacted, possibly lost for future generations.

The recent pledge by the 5 retailers — Tiffany & Co., Ben Bridge Jeweler, Helzberg Diamonds, Fortunoff, and Leber Jeweler, Inc. — brings the number of businesses around the world supporting clean gold up to 28—a number backed by no less than 100,000 consumers from over 100 countries who have signed on to support ‘the Golden Rules—’ which are social, human rights, and environmental criteria for more responsible mining of gold and other precious metals.

The rules call on mining companies to meet the following basic standards:

• Respect basic human rights outlined in international conventions and law
• Obtain the free, prior, and informed consent of affected communities.
• Respect workers’ rights and labor standards, including safe working conditions
• Ensure that operations are not located in areas of armed or militarized conflict
• Ensure that projects do not force communities off their lands
• Ensure that projects are not located in protected areas, fragile ecosystems, or other areas of high conservation or ecological value
• Refrain from dumping mine wastes into the ocean, rivers, lakes, or streams
• Ensure that projects do not contaminate water, soil, or air with sulfuric acid drainage or other toxic chemicals
• Cover all costs of closing down and cleaning up mine sites
• Fully disclose information about social and environmental effects of projects
• Allow independent verification of the above

To learn more about the No Dirty gold campaign, or to sign the pledge yourself, please head over to www.nodirtygold.org