Ethical Upliftment: The Tanzanite Foundation
June 19, 13
In many respects the Tanzanite Foundation is a model to be replicated throughout the jewelry industry. In fulfilling its goals of promoting and protecting tanzanite, the organization also emphasizes the environment, ethical behavior and transparency.
As part of its mandate, the Foundation strives to “uphold an ethical route to market in accordance with the Tanzanite Tucson Protocols (TTP), and invests in meaningful and sustainable ‘upliftment’ projects developed in harmony with indigenous communities in Tanzania.”
The TTPs are a set of rules developed to both protect Tanzanite and to ensure the stone has an ethical route to market. At its most basic level, the TTP ensures that relevant labor legislation, safety regulations and best mining practices are adhered to.
Following the TTP, Tanzanite Foundation members commit to operate in accordance with legal and ethical employment practices and adhere to strict safety standards across the board. In addition, the Foundation has developed the Small Mines Assistance Program (SMAP), which aims to build relations with small mines in the area by facilitating the transfer of geological, mining and safety guidance as well as providing crisis management assistance.
Such is the work of the Foundation that it was recently selected for the 2013 Best of Manhattan Award in the category of community organizations by the Manhattan Award Program. The Manhattan Award Program is an annual initiative that honors the achievements and accomplishments of New York metro businesses that have incorporated best practices to generate a competitive advantage and long-term value.
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Hayley Henning, the executive director of the Tanzanite Foundation, said the award is testament to the fact that people do take notice of work that is being done to make a difference in the lives of those outside of the tanzanite mining area.
The role of the Tanzanite Foundation is multi-faceted. As a trade industry organization dedicated to promoting tanzanite, the foundation makes sure both trade and consumers are aware of the gemstone and its attributes.
As well as marketing tanzanite, Henning says deeper responsibility lies with the local community upliftment projects, specifically the empowering of local Maasai women to build a business making wire wrap jewelry, its latest project.
The Tanzanite Foundation started this scheme in April 2012, and since then it has been growing in leaps and bounds, says Henning.
Using skills taught by jewelry designer and carver Naomi Sarna, tools and wire donated by Tanzanite Foundation members and tumbled rough tanzanite donated by TanzaniteOne Mining, the 12 women of the project have created their own jewely collection. The women are a part of the Naisinyai ward, a local community that lives just outside the TanzaniteOne mining operation in Tanzania, East Africa.
Many of the women had never seen pliers before, but were quick to adopt the wire wrapping skills. Now the women gather three times a week, in a small house next door to the Naisinyai Primary School (which is funded by the foundation) to create their works of art.
“Their progress is remarkable and the pieces stunning. Each item is a handcrafted work of art, and their use of the tumbled tanzanite, with their Maasai designs, show both creativity and tradition,” says Henning. “For example, the coil design, a focus in their collection, symbolizes that a woman has a son who is a warrior. Everybody who’s seen their work is so impressed.”
The jewelry, which is being sold on a US television jewelry and gemstone sales network, as well as in the Tanzanite Experience stores in Tanzania, will soon be available for sale on the Tanzanite Foundation Website. The proceeds go back to the women who will in time be able to build their own workshop.
Says Henning, “the Tanzanite Foundation feels strongly about empowerment in the local community, because we believe that long after we’ve mined the last tanzanite from the ground in the not too distant future, we hope to have left a legacy – whether through education of the local children, or skills transfer.”
One of the ways the Foundation – through TanizaniteOne – is helping to do so is via beneficiation. Local polishing has increased, largely due to a government ban on the export of large stones for polishing outside the country, in places such as Jaipur, India.
“Since the Government announced the implementation of the export ban, TanzaniteOne immediately accelerated the construction and establishment of a precision cutting facility at the mine sorting facility in Merelani, Tanzania, which has been part of TanzaniteOne’s long term strategy,” explains Henning.
“A dedicated facility with full indexing benches was brought online in the fourth quarter of 2010. Existing cutters and polishers were able to use the potential of the facility immediately, and the training of further local polishers started. The facility reached full utilization in mid-2011. Sightholders were able to use the facility and TanzaniteOne polishing staff to polish their large rough purchases from December 2010, and were excited to be able to continue to polish their material in Tanzania in 2011.”
She explains that indexing, as opposed to free-hand polishing, allows for defined tolerances and repeatability, which is essential for the new technology cuts developed in-house. “The introduction in early 2011 of advanced polishing trainers will speed up the technical abilities of the local TanzaniteOne polishers and skill them to be able to produce the more advanced designs. The capacity to meet legal requirements for local beneficiation has been established, and further capacity and technical development will enable value-add polished projects to be established.”
Another development is that Urafiki Gemstones Ltd EPZ construction was completed during 2012 and opened for polishing, adjacent to the sorting and recovery area. A mixture of traditional, precision and tumbling benches were brought online. This is a much larger polishing facility under an Export Processing Zone license. The 450 m2 facility has the possible capacity of close to 200,000 stones per annum. This capacity is large enough to cover all production effected by the ban on the export of one gram and above rough and provide the basis of a processed trading operation and expanded production for The Tanzanite Experience retail operation to expand its franchise base.
“Naturally, as a part of TanzaniteOne Mining, the Tanzanite Foundation endorses all of the above, and understands clearly the goals of the government to increase the ‘value add’ of the cutting process, to benefit the country to whom the natural resources belong,” says Henning.
When it comes to helping empower people in the mining areas of Tanzania via the Tanzanite Foundation, Henning says the best thing consumers can do is to buy tanzanite through a legitimate source, and request certification that states origin and an ethical route to market. The Mark of Rarity is the icon of the Tanzanite Foundation, and is available for use by TanzaniteOne sight holders and their customers.
Looking to the future, Henning says the Tanzanite Foundation will continue to promote tanzanite to the gem and jewelry industry, as well as to consumers in the US and emerging markets, such as China and India. But at the heart of the Tanzanite Foundation activities is the Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, which has become increasing important over the last few years,” says Henning. “Through TanzaniteOne, the Tanzanite Foundation provides assistance to schools and local villagers in the area surrounding the mining area, which they will continue to do.”
Further projects include In addition to pumping fresh water daily into the local community, TanzaniteOne recently installed a reverse osmosis plant in the community that surrounds the tanzanite mining area. This plant will remove excess fluoride in the drinking water, which has in the past turned the local children’s teeth brown.