Responsible Sourcing
What are conflict minerals?
Conflict minerals are the result of the practice of mining minerals in areas with armed conflicts and human rights abuses that fund violence and insurrection. Very often when talking about conflict minerals, we have to mention the many terrible cases in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The valuable minerals are the only reason for ruthless acts committed on the local people. The Congolese National Army or other various armed rebel groups, including the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda and the National Congress for the Defense of the People, all continue persecuting the population for these minerals. This illegal trade provides units of the national army and rebel groups with millions of dollars per year usually used for purchasing weapons and for reinforcing their campaigns and positions.
What Does Responsible Sourcing Mean?
Being a major player in the silver jewelry market, ELF925 is passionate about its responsibility in relation to ethical sourcing. Any silver used in our jewelry is sourced from conflict-free zones such as Australia and South America; the pure silver is then refined into 92.5% Sterling Silver in South Korea. After strict quality control, the 925 silver arrives in Thailand where it is modelled, cast and stamped into some of our amazing creative designs.
What is 925 sterling silver?
Fine silver is 100% pure and is generally too soft and weak for producing functional objects or Jewelry; therefore, the silver is usually alloyed with copper to give it strength while preserving the ductility and beauty. Sterling silver is an alloy of silver containing a minimum of 92.5% by mass of silver and 7.5% of other metals; usually copper, although zinc, platinum or geranium are also common. This combination makes it more resistant to damage and scratches. The standard for sterling silver has a minimum millesimal fineness of 925. It is not always that easy to differentiate 925 sterling silver jewelry from other objects made with silver. For this purpose we use stamps.
- • ‘925’ means the item is Sterling Silver
- • ‘999’ is used to describe pure and unprocessed silver
- • ‘750’ and ‘825’ are not Sterling Silver, it is used to make items such as cutlery and tableware
How do we ensure our jewelry is safe?
Having customers from over 60 different countries means our products need to conform to international safety standards. We need to carefully follow the latest international regulations to ensure our jewelry is safe to wear and complies with international standards. For this purpose we are working closely with several recognized international and independent testing organizations. Below you will find the most common tests that we carry out on our jewelry regularly:
- • Nickel release
- • Lead content
- • Silver content
- • Phthalates content