Join the CRJC on October 22 for the Responsible Gem Boutique at 5 South Wabash Ave.,
AND October 23–24 at the Film Row Cinema in downtown Chicago for the Chicago Responsible Jewelry Conference.
Connect with industry leaders, learn about responsible sourcing and sustainability, and collaborate on building a more just future for the jewelry industry.
The CONFERENCE will bring together miners, designers, retailers, corporations, NGOs, and academics from around the globe to spark solution focused conversations about critical industry issues, including human rights in mining, natural diamond community benefaction, and supply chain transparency.
Also, there’s the Responsible Gem Boutique the day before the conference, on October 22!
Shop the trade responsible and traced gemstones and jewelry. The Responsible Gem Boutique features the leaders in responsible sourcing brought to the Chicago Jewelers Mall. The Boutique offers a unique shopping experience where you can meet with and get to know the gemstone and jewelry brands that make responsible jewelry accessible for your brand.
Conference: Film Row Cinema – 1104 S. Wabash Ave. Chicago, IL 60605
Join Us in Shaping a Just and Sustainable Future for Jewelry:
Connect, Learn, and Act at the Chicago Responsible Jewelry Conference
October 23rd & 24th, 2026
Responsible Gem & Jewelry Boutique – 5 South Wabash Ave.
October 22, 2026
Friday, October 23, 2025
9:00 – 10:00 a.m.
The “Paraiba” Gemstone Rush in Ethiopia
Hewan Zewdi, Agere Treasures | Stuart Robertson, Research Director, Gemworld International | Mkhu Mkhululi N (Nkosilamandla) Ncube | African Minerals Development Centre, African Union |
Join Hewan Zewdi as she describes firsthand how the “Paraíba” gemstone rush began. Hewan was sourcing tourmaline from the same farm where the discovery was made. This is a case study in how quickly value can be extracted from the ground before governance structures catch up. Within weeks of the discovery, informal networks of smugglers moved in to acquire rough material at the point of extraction, followed closely by well capitalized foreign buyers who used liquidity and superior market information to create a monopsony, paying as much as $150,000 a gram and securing the most desirable stones before local traders or authorities could establish fair reference pricing. The Ethiopian government has since intervened to secure the area, a sequence that raises pressing questions about sovereignty, timing, and enforcement capacity in the face of a fast moving international trade. In the fast paced and quickly changing Paraíba rush, when all actors including government are strategizing and positioning, is it possible to achieve equity for the land owner, the gem trade of Ethiopia, and the country as a whole? What is happening on the ground, and what can be done to build a responsible supply chain amid the frenzy?
10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Natural Diamonds: The Future of Responsible Diamonds in an Economic Crisis
Thabo Lerotholi, Lesotho, Kimberly Process Civil Society | Stanley Zale, President President Zale Advisors LLC |
This panel features representatives of the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition to examine possible outcomes when falling demand for natural diamonds effects the physical and social obligations of keeping a mine site safe and honoring its responsibilities to the local community in which it resides. The money required to maintain tailings infrastructure, monitor for seepage, and prevent structural failure becomes harder to justify on a balance sheet, raising the risk of environmental disaster which the diamond industry can least. The consequences extend well beyond the mine site. Many communities surrounding these operations lost their traditional livelihoods, farming, grazing, or other land-based work, when mining moved in, and have since come to depend on mine employment, economy and the local development projects that mining revenue supported. The resulting loss of revenue to these communities has direct implications for household stability, women’s economic empowerment initiatives, and access to basic services that were never backed by lasting infrastructure in the first place. We will discuss, what industry standards, accountability mechanisms, and stakeholder engagement frameworks can be implemented, upheld or developed to ensure equitable outcomes for affected communities and how mine safety and community support be sustained throughout a prolonged period of economic downturn.
11:10 – 12:00
When We Sold God’s Eye
Basilio Alex Cuadros, Author | Diogo Cinta Larga
This conversation opens with a brief introduction from a diamond industry specialist on Brazil’s diamond supply chain, setting context for a discussion of “When We Sold God’s Eye: Diamonds, Murder, and a Clash of Worlds in the Amazon,” journalist Alex Cuadros’s nonfiction account of the Cinta Larga, an Indigenous group in western Brazil whose first contact with the outside world came in the 1960s and who later found themselves running an illegal diamond mine on their own land. Cuadros will speak about the six years and roughly ten reporting trips he spent embedded with the Cinta Larga, tracing the discovery of diamonds on their territory in 1999, the diamond rush and smuggling network that followed, reaching as far as New York, Antwerp, and London, and the 2004 massacre of 29 prospectors that the book uses to frame decades of conflict, exploitation, and complicity. Joining by video, Diogo Cinta Larga, whose father was one of the diamond traders implicated in the book’s account, will offer a firsthand community perspective on how the diamond trade reshaped Cinta Larga life, on the accusations and stigma that followed his father’s generation, and on how the tribe continues to reckon with that legacy today. Together, the discussion will explore the tension between resistance and complicity that runs through the book, the failures of Brazilian institutions to prevent the violence that followed the diamond rush, and the broader questions the book raises about how nation-states engage with Indigenous, pre-capitalist communities confronting sudden extractive wealth.
12:00 – 1:30 p.m.
Lunch & Mentoring Sessions
Emily Chelsea, Retailer | Christina Miller, Responsible Jewelry Business | Holly McHugh | Corporate Jewelry Sector Andrea Jose, Jewelry Designer | Dana Bronfman, Jewelry Designer | Anna Bario, Retailer | Dani Cutler , Supplier | Jay Moncada, Supplier
New to the world of responsible jewelry? Curious but unsure where to start? This informal coaching session offers one-on-one conversations with experienced mentors from across the industry—designers, retailers, suppliers, NGOs, and more. It’s a judgment-free zone to ask the questions you might not feel comfortable voicing in a larger setting. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to grow, this is your chance to sit down, connect, and get real answers from people who’ve been there.
1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
Sudanese Gold Funding a War
Brad Brooks-Ruben, Partner, Arktouros | Lauren Fortgang, Director of PAEMA | Dr. Mutasim A Ali, SJD, Senior Legal Advisor at TheRWCHR
This panel brings together leading voices on atrocity prevention, legal accountability, and responsible mineral supply chains to examine how conflict minerals—especially gold—are fueling violence in Sudan and the Great Lakes region. Brad Brooks-Rubin, Partner at Arktouros, will frame gold’s role in geopolitical risk and sanctions compliance; Lauren Fortgang, Director of PAEMA, will highlight U.S. policy levers for atrocity prevention and congressional oversight; and Dr. Mutasim A. Ali, SJD, Senior Legal Advisor at TheRWCHR, will address the transnational networks and legal pathways enabling war economies. The discussion will also feature Namwezi Nicole Batumike of the PANZI Foundation, who will ground the conversation in lived experience from the DRC, where artisanal gold mining and trafficking continue to finance armed groups and exacerbate sexual violence, drawing critical lessons for Sudan and global due diligence efforts.
2:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Policy in Action
Brad Brooks-Ruben, Partner, Arktouros | Lauren Fortgang, Director of PAEMA | Dr. Mutasim A Ali, SJD, Senior Legal Advisor at TheRWCHR
Bringing together the conversation in the Sudanese Gold panel to discuss the legislation that would cut these gold flows and address conflict gold, this session features Brad Brooks-Rubin (Arktouros), Lauren Fortgang (PAEMA), Dr. Mutasim A. Ali, SJD (TheRWCHR), and Namwezi Nicole Batumike (PANZI Foundation) engaging with the full suite of current bills. Together, they will examine how the U.S. Legal Gold and Mining Partnership Act (S.3496)—which requires a State Department strategy to combat illicit gold mining in the Western Hemisphere and empowers Treasury to target jurisdictions and financial institutions tied to illegal mining—can inform broader approaches to illicit gold that also apply to Sudan and the Great Lakes region. The panel will also analyze the PEACE in Sudan Act (S.4726) and the U.S. Engagement in Sudanese Peace Act (H.R.1939), which mandate sanctions on actors enabling the war, require regular reporting on gold trading networks, banks, airlines, and transport companies, and strengthen congressional oversight of enforcement key tools for pressuring refiners, traders, and downstream buyers to strengthen traceability and exclude high-risk Sudanese gold. All speakers will also address the EU’s July 14, 2026 ban on purchases, imports, and transport of Sudanese gold, discussing how this de facto “off-limits” signal is reshaping global due diligence expectations for jewelers and auditors. Grounded in lived experience from the DRC, where artisanal gold mining and trafficking continue to fund armed groups and exacerbate sexual violence, the discussion will draw lessons from these frameworks to inform stronger, more enforceable supply chain controls for Sudan and beyond
3:40 – 4:30 p.m.
AI is environmental and social supply chain impact and what we can do to evaluate and mitigate it
Speakers Coming Soon
In our businesses we are rapidly building a new supply chains in through our AI usage. What does the AI supply chain look like, and what are its environmental and social impacts? Should companies be counting it within their carbon goals? What standards, measurement tools, and guidance are currently accessible to us? How do we minimize the negative impact of our own growing AI use? Are some AI tools more responsible than others? How can we improve our own business practices around AI?
4:30 – 5:25 p.m.
Economic Models For Gemstone Equity
st | Monica Stephenson, ANZA Gem | Eric Braunwart, Columbia Gem House | Jessica Hudson, VirtuGem
MiPanel Title: Economic Models for Gemstone Equity
This panel features three distinct economic business models in the gemstone sector, each operating within local structures. Each organization represents a different point of intervention in the gemstone value chain, from mine to market to finished stone.
Columbia Gemstone uses unrestricted support to mines, facilitating their sustainable growth and commitment to the Columbia Gem House Standards.
Moyo Gems raises up the most in need within gemstone communities, particularly women miners and traders, by facilitating open market access to rough gems through “Market Days.”
Virtu Gem creates economic impact by purchasing cut gemstones, delivering the highest price per gem to local gemstone infrastructure.
The panel will close by examining what equity means across all three approaches, and what tradeoffs exist between unrestricted support, market access, and premium pricing. The moderator will ask each panelist to define success within their own model, allowing the audience to compare outcomes rather than methods alone. Panelist order will follow the gemstone’s actual journey: Columbia Gemstone for mine support, Moyo Gems for market access to rough gems, and Virtu Gem for finished gem purchasing, giving the audience a value chain narrative to follow.
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Saturday October 24, 2025
9:00 – 9:30 a.m.
RJT/SCAD/CEJ
To Be Announced Soon
Updates in making Impacts and supporting community
9:30 – 10:30 a.m.
Fresh Water
Confirmation coming soon
Join our speaker as they examine the often overlooked relationship between gold mining and global freshwater systems, framed through the lens of the jewelry industry’s supply chain. Gold extraction operations routinely intersect with rivers, wetlands, and groundwater sources that communities depend on for drinking water, agriculture, and traditional livelihoods, yet freshwater impacts are frequently treated as a secondary concern relative to land access, labor conditions, and revenue sharing within jewelry sourcing conversations. Drawing on expertise in community-based freshwater conservation, this panel will address how gold mining alters hydrological systems, from sediment disruption and groundwater depletion to contamination risks tied to tailings, cyanide and mercury processing runoff, and what these changes mean for the ecosystems and communities positioned downstream. The discussion will explore what a genuinely water-conscious approach to responsible gold sourcing looks like, one that accounts for freshwater not as a peripheral environmental risk but as a foundational resource whose protection should be built into extraction planning from the outset, and into the standards jewelry brands hold their supply chains to. What accountability structures exist to monitor freshwater impacts across the life of a gold mine, and what happens when protections fail to keep pace with the speed of extraction and demand from the jewelry sector?
10:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Recycled Gold Loopholes and Why One Corporation Moved Away Altogether
Holly McHugh, VP Sustainability & Social Impact, Mejuri, Inc. | Christina Miller, Christina Miller Consulting | Andres Castellanos, Fair Alloy
Recycled gold remains a persistent blind spot in responsible sourcing conversations, despite years of reporting and public attention. This panel examines the trade routes through which conflict gold and illicit gold flows continue to enter the recycled stream, often labeled and marketed as low-risk or already compliant. Panelists explore what corporations, refiners, and standards bodies are doing, and not doing, to ensure accountability across these channels. The discussion addresses persistent data gaps at major standards bodies, the economic incentives that favor recycled sourcing over traceable mined gold, and the limitations of current assurance systems in capturing true chain of custody. Attention also turns to emerging efforts to classify recycled gold as waste, a move that could sidestep carbon and origin liabilities altogether. The panel raises the question of what standards can and cannot deliver, and where the gaps leave room for laundering to continue unaddressed.
11:40 – 12:30 p.m.
Coming Soon
Panel Coming SoonPanel Coming Soon
12:00 – 1:30 p.m.
Lunch & Mentoring Sessions
Emily Chelsea, Retailer | Christina Miller, Responsible Jewelry Business | Holly McHugh | Corporate Jewelry Sector Andrea Jose, Jewelry Designer | Dana Bronfman, Jewelry Designer | Anna Bario, Retailer | Dani Cutler , Supplier | Jay Moncada, Supplier
New to the world of responsible jewelry? Curious but unsure where to start? This informal coaching session offers one-on-one conversations with experienced mentors from across the industry—designers, retailers, suppliers, NGOs, and more. It’s a judgment-free zone to ask the questions you might not feel comfortable voicing in a larger setting. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to grow, this is your chance to sit down, connect, and get real answers from people who’ve been there.
1:30 – 2:30 p.m.
Designing Outside the Box
Anna Samsonova, Samsonova Consulting, Moderator Emily Chelsea
Coming Soon
2:30 – 3:15 p.m.
Illicit Mercury
Dr. Luis E. Fernandez, Executive Director of Wake Forest University’s Center for Amazonian Scientific Innovation (CINCIA) |
Responsible sourcing is something many jewelers care about — but until recently, access to gold from small-scale mining communities was limited, complicated, or reserved for the biggest players. At Fairever, we’ve worked hard to change that. Today, certified ASM gold is more accessible than ever — but higher costs, limited availability, and the complexity of separate supply chains still hold many jewelers back. Meanwhile, recycled gold is widely used but doesn’t contribute to change where it’s most needed.
In this talk, I’ll share a new approach we’ve been working on at Fairever: combining recycled gold with responsibly sourced gold credits. This lets jewelers keep using recycled material, but also send real support to artisanal miners — without having to completely restructure their supply chain. It’s a practical, flexible model that lowers the threshold for participating in ethical sourcing, while still making a tangible difference. I’ll show how it works, why we believe it matters, and how it connects to bigger goals around fairness, climate, and transparency. I hope that more people walk away seeing that doing good doesn’t have to mean doing everything. Sometimes, small shifts — done right — can change a whole system.
3:40 – 4:30 p.m.
A Gold Campaign
Speakers Coming Soon
With the knowledge we hold, the creative ability we bring to jewelry, and the influence we exercise as an industry that shapes what consumers want and value, we have both the responsibility and the means to move gold toward a cleaner supply chain. This facilitated interactive hour is designed as a working session, not a traditional panel, to activate and energize the jewelry industry alongside stakeholders, NGOs, mining community representatives, and everyone in the room. Participants will learn what a coordinated clean gold campaign can look like, examine the specific interventions each of us is positioned to make, and form working relationships on the spot to move initiatives forward together. Structured as a starting point rather than a concluding conversation, the hour is intended to catalyze action, surface commitments, and open a path for the jewelry industry to lead a visible, credible, and lasting shift in how gold is sourced, told, and worn.
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