Tiffany urges opposition to Alaska gold mine

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Tiffany urges opposition to Alaska gold mine

By Teresa Novellino

August 20, 2008

New York—From the fate of the red-skinned salmon that swim the clear waters of Bristol Bay, Alaska, to the die-hard salmon fishermen currently fretting over their livelihood, the new documentary Red Gold sends the message that a natural American paradise is on the verge of being lost.

It's a message Tiffany and Co. hoped to convey to the jewelry industry by hosting a screening of Red Gold in Manhattan on Tuesday night.

Why does the Fifth Avenue jeweler want to get involved in the fishing industry? As the film explains, there is copper and gold in the Alaskan wilderness near Bristol Bay, and the Pebble Limited Partnership, which consists of Northern Dynasty Partnership and Anglo American US, is seeking permission from the state of Alaska to build what would be the largest copper and gold mine in North America.

The Pebble Limited Partnership says it plans to develop the Pebble Mine in an environmentally and socially responsible way, and that it will bring lucrative jobs to a region they describe as "economically depraved."

But Bristol Bay fishermen and environmental group Trout Unlimited Alaska are opposed to the mine, fearing that toxic waste that would be stored in a massive dam near the mining site will destroy the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world and the source of their livelihoods.

Tiffany shares the same concern.

"Tiffany and Co. has vowed never to source gold from Pebble should it open," Tiffany and Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Kowalski said after the screening.

In Alaska, residents are scheduled to vote on Aug. 26 on a ballot initiative that would place tighter restrictions on open-pit mining projects such as the Pebble proposal. From there it will ultimately be up to state lawmakers and residents to decide whether or not Pebble goes forward.

Nevertheless, the jewelry industry is weighing in. Four additional jewelers have also said they would oppose the Pebble Mine, including three other majors, Fortunoff, Ben Bridge Jeweler and Helzberg Diamonds, and Chicago-based independent Leber Jeweler.

Kowalski hopes to convince more jewelers to get on board. He says Tiffany and other jewelers who would like to avoid using gold from Pebble, should it open, could track their gold sources by using a chain-of-custody system, as Tiffany does, similar to the Kimberley Process for diamonds.

Tiffany obtains its gold from the Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah, owned by Rio Tinto.

Wal-Mart, which sells more jewelry than any other retailer in North America, now offers a line of environmentally-conscious jewelry consisting of 100 percent traceable gold and silver, Kowalski said.

Red Gold, which will be screened in Juneau, Alaska, later this week, took top honors at the May 2008 Mountainfilm Festival in Telluride, Colo. Both the Best Film Audience Award and Festival Director's Award were presented to filmmakers Travis Rummel and Ben Knight of Felt Soul Media, a Telluride, Colo.-based film company.

The plan is to continue to show the film in the state of Alaska and in other U.S. cities.

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