The retail giant Zales and a number of other jewelry companies have added to the growing opposition to mining in the Bristol Bay watershed and the planned Pebble mine. They have signed the Bristol Bay Protection Pledge and so stated their opposition to the copper-gold mine that would threaten one of the best salmon fisheries in the world. The local communities in Alaska don’t want the Pebble mine, and these jewelers are supporting the rights of the communities to protect their livelihoods.
Zale Corporation, a signatory of the Golden Rules, is the largest jewelry chain in the US and their Pledge shows just how far the No Dirty Gold campaign and work to protect Bristol Bay have come. Jewelry demand represents over 80% of gold mined in a year, so miners have to pay attention to these jewelry companies. This action by the jewelers sends a strong message to Anglo American and Northern Dynasty, the companies planning the Pebble mine: this is the wrong place for a mine, and we don’t want gold from mines like Pebble.
