Green Jewelry Market Trends – Technical Articles

The Case for HARMONY Precious Metals™

Total sales for the U.S. Retail Industry in 2007 (including food service and automotive) were $4.48 trillion with jewelry sales comprising $64.8 billion. 1, 2

About 39 percent of the U.S. adult population purchases fine jewelry each year, and consumers from age 18 to 24 have the highest incidence of jewelry purchases. 3

Metal mining is the number one toxic polluter in the United States, responsible for more than a quarter of all reported toxic releases in 2005, including 92% of arsenic releases, 84% of mercury releases, and 83% of lead releases. 4

Open-pit precious metal mines essentially obliterate the landscape, opening up vast craters, flattening or even inverting mountaintops, and producing 8 to 10 times more waste than underground mining. 5

Cyanide is used by large mining operations to separate silver & gold from ore. Cyanide pollution is a major concern. A rice-grain sized dose of cyanide can be fatal to humans; concentrations of 1 microgram (one-millionth of a gram) per liter of water can be fatal to fish. 6

Thus far, 57 jewelry retailers have signed on to the No Dirty Gold campaign’s “Golden Rules” criteria for more responsible mining and sourcing of metals. These retailers represented $14.5 billion in US jewelry sales in 2006 or 23 percent of the US jewelry market, and include 8 of the top 10 retail jewelers in the US. 7

77% of U.S. consumers surveyed in June 2009 said that a product’s “energy footprint” influenced their purchasing decisions. 8

76% of U.S. consumers are willing to pay more at the register for environmentally friendly products. 8

74% of U.S. employees believe organizations should take action to lead eco-friendly initiatives. 9
U.S. Consumers Likely to spend $104 billion on Green Technology Products Per Year9

71% of U.S. consumers are interested in green technology but there is a large gap between the number of products consumers own now and the number they say they would like to own. 10

83% of U.S. adults want to preserve and protect the environment. 1042% percent of adults said products and services that help the environment are hard to find. 10

59% percent of U.S. adults say they like trying new technologies that help the environment. 10

56% percent of U.S. adults say gadgets designed to help the environment would be fun to own. 10

68% percent of U.S. adults like to do business with companies that are environmentally responsible. 10

72% percent of U.S. adults say they resent companies who say they care about the environment but are not sincere. 10

Sources

1. U.S. Census Bureau

2. February 3 2008, http://www.idexonline.com/portal_FullNews.asp?id=29499

4. Toxics Release Inventory, 2005 dataset, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/triexplorer/

5. Carlos D. Da Rosa, J.C. and James S. Lyon, Golden Dreams, Poisoned Streams (Washington, DC: Mineral Policy Center, 1997), pp. 37, 42.

6. Da Rosa and Lyon, p. 43; Robert E. Moran, Cyanide in Mining (Golden, Colorado: MPC, undated), p. 6.

7. www.nodirtygold.com http://www.nodirtygold.com

8. U.S. National Survey conducted by ORC Guideline Research Group June 2009 http://www.orcguideline.com/about_us_news.aspx

9. Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/ and technology research firm Rockbridge Associates Inc. http://www.rockresearch.com/ June 2, 2009

10. http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/ntrs/ March 12, 2008