Fultons Jewellery: Know the Journey of Your Jewellery

Features
8th March 2023
Cumbria Guide

Fultons Lakes Jewellery Works of Keswick is one of only two Jewellers in the UK that casts SMO gold in their jewellery.

You may ask what SMO stands for; it stands for many things, and in this case, it is Single Mine Origin. Pia from Fultons explains, “We know exactly where our gold has come from; our gold comes from an ethical mining firm based in Mali.

To be SMO – approved, the gold must have complete traceability and support the community from where the gold is mined.

Our gold comes from a little village called Yanfolila in the southern-eastern region of Mali in West Africa.

The gold is mined and refined there and does not leave the area for further processing.

The main difference is that the community is very well supported; the miners are all trained to the highest standards and are all trained in health and safety.

The companies invest in the workforce and build them up with many courses over the years.

There is a health centre in the village, a school where 11 teachers are paid for by the mining company and many other things that we take for granted.

This is a new way of mining – whereby communities, families and people are valued, looked after, and rewarded; communities thrive, families thrive, and children see a future for themselves and the next generation.”

It is easy to confuse the above with simply claiming it’s an ‘ethical process’ — the term has almost become a brand in its own right and has somewhat lost its value. But this is so much more than that.

As you will see – the effort that the mining company has gone through to make a real difference in the communities in which they work are pretty impressive and eye-opening.

The Yanfolila mine is owned by Hummingbird Resources and is a member of the World Gold Council (WGC). It is the world’s first mine to have received SMO accreditation.

Single-mine origin (SMO) is a new Global standard for gold that ensures it is responsibly sourced and fully traceable to a single mine.

This mine is proudly run predominately by a local and national workforce (96% national, with 35% directly from local communities).

The pure gold ore found in the mine on a stone floor

Since its time as an exploration project, Yanfolila has had a strong history of supporting local communities with many projects and livelihood initiatives outside of direct employment at the mine.

These initiatives include the creation of multiple market gardens, which now provide over 900 people, primarily women, with sustainable alternative incomes; poultry farms, which provide over 60 people – mainly local youngsters, with skills and an alternative income.

Water infrastructure support is in place, 48 water-wells built in the surrounding communities alongside 14 large-scale water towers and the installation of three deep boreholes since operations began.

The company supports income for 11 local teachers in the community and has also committed to the Hummingbird Tree initiative, with local communities provided with 8,000–10,000 tree seedlings per year to support Yanfolila’s reforestation commitments.

Yanfolila has also established and supports numerous artisanal craft initiatives, such as beehive and honey manufacturing, a soap factory, and shea butter manufacturing.

One of the most serious commitments is in the field of community health, where, through their engagement with international remote healthcare specialists “Critical Care International” (CCI), Yanfolila has designed and rolled out several community health programmes aimed at improving health across many sectors, from child malnutrition to FGM to malaria reduction, where their annual spraying programme protects over 10,000 people in and around the local communities against malaria, and it is working.

The recent number of recorded malaria cases was the lowest among workers since the mine opened in 2020.

So, if you did not know what SMO is, now you do.

Fultons has bought into the concept and truly wants people to know and understand where their gold comes from, so now you know the Journey of your Jewellery from Fulton’s – and the positive impact it has on the local communities from where it is mined. Big question in these difficult times does buying SMO gold cost more? No because Fultons cast their gold in house and this negates the need for middlemen and actually reduces cost to customer and the miles that your jewellery travels while being made.

Pretty special eh? But that’s the Fulton way I suppose; always setting themselves apart and raising the bar with how they work and what they do, from right here in the heart of the lakes.

Discover more at fultonjewellery.co.uk