No clean diamonds?

Following last week's post about choosing an engagement ring, we have picked up on a thread in the Ethical Weddings Forum (http://www.ethicalweddings.com/forum) suggesting that Canadian diamonds, often seen as the hassle free way to find conflict free diamonds, are perhaps not as clean as they seem.

"There are no clean diamonds. Exploring for them, digging them out of the ground and selling them requires sacrifices from the natural environment, from the wildlife and fish that live on it, and from the Aboriginal people who depend on it." Mining Watch

The thread takes us to Mining Watch and their article: There Are No Clean Diamonds: What You Need to Know About Canadian Diamonds

The gist of the article seems to be that huge transnationals operating in Canada are using the 'conflict free' tag to keep their diamonds sparkling clean - so sparkling in fact as to blind the consumer to the impacts of diamond mining on the environment and on the Aboriginal people who are living there.

A typical example is De Beers who declare their diamonds conflict free but are under boycott for their involvement (with the Botswana government they jointly run all the country's diamond mines) in the eviction of the Kalahari Bushmen after diamonds were discovered on their land.

And De Beers is one of the big operators in 'clean' Canada.

We're talking about exploitation of resources - human and environmental - and the article details the scale and scope of each major Canadian mine and the impact it is having and will have once its stash of diamonds has been exhausted, the mine is abandoned, local jobs are lost and the environment irretrievably damaged.

Mining Watch encourages the public to fight for justice, human rights and environmental protection for miners worldwide.

Check out the Canadian diamonds article and let us have your questions and thoughts in the Forum.

See you next week!

Katie