industry over the past few years, as parts of the industry shift away from mining practices and toward more sustainable initiatives.Single Mine Origin, otherwise known as SMO, is on a mission to trace gold back to its provenance for consumers and brands to take full responsibility of where their metals are coming from rather than relying on recycled gold, the origin of which cannot be traced.
“We’ve been looking at responsible sourcing and provenance for a long time and we work with fair trade and we do a lot of work in recycling, but I was pretty frustrated at how difficult it was to move a lot of barriers in terms of inconsistent supplies, high price premiums and resistance from jewelers,” Charlie Betts said in an interview.
Dan Betts’ first gold mine came into production at the end of 2017 in Mali. “Dan’s mine has employed loads of people locally with educational, environmental and health care impacts, as well as infrastructure . We’re quite unique in that we have oversight of the whole supply chain from the gold mine, all the way through refining, manufacturing to finished product,” said Charlie Betts.
Jeweler Emily P. Wheeler will present her first all-SMO collection at the Las Vegas Couture show. She has been an early adopter of SMO in the U.S., along with Roseate Jewelry.