Marketplace Morning Report Can jewelry ever be truly conflict-free?
Mar 18, 2026
Kaylee Wells, a Marketplace reporter who covers local-interest stories, and Nancy Marshall-Genzer, a Marketplace technology and business reporter. They discuss tracing gold and gems through conflict zones and a jeweler working with women miners in Colombia. They also cover a brewing legal spat between big tech around cloud deals and an unexpected run on red yarn sparked by a vintage knitting pattern.
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Precious Metals Supply Chains Are Intrinsically Opaque
- Supply chains for gold and gems are notoriously opaque and tied to human rights abuses and environmental harm.
- Mimi Swabi highlights that tracing origins is hard because high value and small size make smuggling and illicit movement easy.
Small Jeweller Connects Women Miners To Markets
- Small, a London jeweller, links women miners, refineries, and local goldsmiths to create traceable jewelry supply chains.
- Pippa showcases lapis lazuli from Afghanistan and gold sourced from women panners in Colombia's Choco region.
Create Traceable Jewelry By Documenting Every Step
- Build traceability by working with small, certified fair trade mines and documenting each step from panners to refineries to goldsmiths.
- Pippa recommends local collaboration and certification to ensure provenance and safer practices.