Latin American miners to speak about Fairtrade Gold at UK Jewellery Conference
BIRMINGHAM, England, October 6, 2013 – For the first time in the UK, gold miners from Peru, Bolivia and Colombia will be speaking to the jewellery industry about the importance of Fairtrade Gold to their lives.
Flying in to the UK for the CMJ’s UK Jewellery Conference on October 8-9, the miners will be joined by Alan Frampton, director of UK ethical jeweller CRED and Greg Valerio, Fairtrade International Gold Programme Co-ordinator.
“This is the first time in the UK that we have had all the Fairtrade certified miners in one location, so it offers a rare and unique opportunity for jewellers and miners to connect with one another to do Fairtrade business,” said Valerio.
The presentation itself will be about Fairtrade’s commitment to transforming the lives of artisanal and small-scale miners through the Fairtrade label for gold.
Conference delegates will be able to discover how the Fairtrade gold model works, and what the vision is for the future of ethical precious metals.
The miners will talk about their challenges and aspirations and what it means to them to be part of Fairtrade gold and their vision for the future.
Alan Frampton will explain the gold journey, from the mine to a piece of jewellery and what this means to the end consumer.
“Fairtrade gold is the best gold story in the world,” said Valerio.
“The UK jewellery industry has the potential to become the world’s leading ethical market for jewellery and remains the strongest market for Fairtrade certified gold in the world. CMJ members should be the backbone of this ethical transformation.”
CMJ chief executive Willie Hamilton said: “One of the most important tenets of the CMJ is our commitment to ethical and socially responsible business practices, which we expect from all our members and promote through our partnership with the World Federation of Jewellery, CIBJO. We strongly support and will be promoting the Fairtrade Gold initiative to our retailers and to our suppliers.”
Business leader Karren Brady will be the keynote speaker at the second UK Jewellery Business Conference, organized by the Company of Master Jewellers (CMJ) taking place on October 8-9 and hosted by BBC television presenter Bill Turnbull.
Also speaking at the two day conference is Andrew McMillan, the former head of John Lewis’ Customer Service.
Andrew McMillan
Now principal at Engaging Service, he is a specialist in customer experience and employee engagement. He will be talking to CMJ retailers and suppliers on October 8 about the value of customer service for independent retail jewellers.
