2021 Archive

Responsible Jewelry Council Policy

Casting House is a custom jewelry manufacturer and wholesaler. We have two sites located in Chicago and Bangkok and employ approximately 150 personnel between our two locations.

Casting House is a certified member of the Responsible Jewelry Council (RJC). The RJC is a standards-setting organization established to advance responsible ethical, human rights, social and environmental practices throughout the gold, silver, platinum group metals, diamond and colored gemstone jewelry supply chain.

The RJC has developed a benchmark standard for the jewelry supply chain and credible mechanisms for verifying responsible business practices through third-party auditing.

As an RJC certified member, we commit to operating our business in accordance with the RJC Code of Practices. We commit to integrating ethical, human rights, social and environmental considerations into our day-to-day operations, business planning activities and decision-making processes. Casting House also pledges to assess any risks that arise on a regular basis, done at least annually.

As a member of the RJC (Responsible Jewelry Council), Casting House is committed to the upmost responsible business practices, in every aspect of our work. Casting House’s Compliance Officer is Robert Mixell and he can be contacted at (312) 924-3914 or via email (rob@castinghouse.com).

Responsible Business Practices 

• Anti Money Laundering & Finance of Terrorism – Casting House aknowledges that, while majority of businesses in the jewelry industry act responsibly and in accordance with the law, there are companies that are taking part in criminal activity and/or financing of terrorism. We have policies and procedures in place to ensure that we do not conduct business with any of these companies, including an Anti Money Laundering Policy. All employees at Casting House are trained to report suspicious behavior that could lead to money laundering or financing of terrorism and will do so at the earliest signs.
• Anti Bribery Policy – Casting House and its employees follow a strict anti-bribery policy to prevent them from accepting bribes and the facilitation of payments. Though we do understand that hard work might be rewarded by a thank you, that this is quite different than a bribe and we have trained our employees to understand and report this.
• KYC (Know Your Counterparty) – Casting House will identify every customer and supplier that it deals with, to ensure that the nature of their business is in line with ours and that we can comfortably establish that they are not involved in criminal activity, such as money laundering or the financing of terrorism.

Health, Safety and Security – Casting House strives to provide their employees with a healthy, safe and secure place to work.

• Health – We do many things here at Casting House to ensure that our employees have a healthy place to work, from providing them with filtered drinking water to ensuring the air they breath is as clean as possible.
• Safety – Casting House is very conscious of employee safety, as well as customers that may be on-site.
• We provide every employee with safety gear
• We provide safety gear at the request of our employees
• We have provided extensive training on handling chemicals used in the manufacturing process
• Security – Casting House strives to provide a secure place of employment for all of our employees, as well as to ensure that our customers’ goods are secure, as well

Employee, Human & Labor Rights and Working Conditions 

• Casting House is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on any basis whatsoever, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, union membership, political affilition, marital status, pregnancy status, physical appearance, HIV status, or age.
• Not only does Casting House provide a suitable workplace for any human being, we also have policies that are conscious of our supply chain. Whether we are paying a fair wage to our employees or we are sourcing diamonds only from conflict-free areas of the world, human rights are very important to us.
• Any stakeholder (including suppliers, customers and employees) can contact us to submit any grievance via our stakeholder grievance policy.
• Casting House performs a human rights risk assessment and due diligence, according to the RJC due diligence guidelines, on an annual basis.
• Our most recent due diligence and risk assessment (August of 2021) finds that Casting House does not violate any human rights, nor does its supply chain.
• Stakeholder Grievance Policy: Any grievance or complaint that any stakeholder may have, whether that is from an internal or external source (local municipality, customer, unassociated member of the public, employee), Casting House finds it very important to receive those grievances. Our compliance officer’s direct line is 312-924-3914 or via email rob@castinghouse.com is the best method to submit this grievance. Casting House is devoted to remedying any legitimate grievance in the human rights and supply chain sector of our industry, as we understand it is a world wide supply chain, in a lot of instances. Casting House pledges to hear and review any stakeholder’s grievance without bias and retaliation being made, with the upmost confidentiality and to resolve all matters fairly. In fact, we encourage anonymity in a lot of cases, though sometimes that is not possible. Our compliance officer understands that anonymity can be of the upmost importance and that is why grievances are encouraged to be submitted directly to him. We then have an internal grievance mechanism that is reported directly to and investigated by the executive team of our company, including the President and CEO.

Responsible Sourcing Methods - Signet Responsible Sourcing Protocol (SRSP) – Casting House is dedicated to compliance of the Signet Responsible Sourcing Protocols, specifically in regards to Gold, Silver, Diamonds and Colored Gemstones. Furthermore, Casting House only uses RJC Certified suppliers and who have the same ethical sourcing standards that we do, in addition to conducting their due diligence to the effect of ethical sourcing and KYC (Know Your Counterparty). Although not all diamond sources have added the provenance claims of SRSP to their RJC Certification, majority of them do. Casting House requests all suppliers do so in their next audit, if applicable. More information regarding the SRSP commitments and guidelines can be found at: https://signetresponsiblesourcing.com/

• Natural Diamonds – It is very important to Casting House that we do everything in our power to not contribute to the conflicts in sourcing diamonds. Casting House investigates their supply chain as far back as possible and does its best to source directly from the siteholder. We also test 100% of parcels of diamonds to ensure that no undisclosed laboratory grown diamonds contaminate the natural diamonds that Casting House inventories. Furthermore, we are committed to assessing any internal risks of contamination to the natural diamonds in our manufacturing by synthetics and mitigating those with additional procedures of segregation.
• Kimberly Process – Casting House follows the Kimberley Process Scheme to ensure that all diamonds we supply to our customers are conflict-free and only use suppliers that can provide guarantees to such effect.
• The World Diamond Council System of Warranties – Casting House ensures that all of our diamond vendors provide a system of warranties, to ensure that the diamonds they are supplying us are conflict-free.
• Colored Gemstones – all natural Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald Gemstones – Casting House sources their all natural Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald gemstones from suppliers that are able to document the country of origin and verify they are responsibly sourced in accorance with SRSP Colored Gemstone appendix guidelines.
• Metal – Casting House strives to use 100% recycled metals when available.
• Fine Gold – Casting House only sources gold and gold products from RJC Certified refineries. All gold is certified as 100% recycled.
• Silver – Casting House only sources silver products from RJC Certified refineries and all silver is certified as 100% recycled.
• 100% Recycled Metals – All of our fine gold and silver products used in manufacturing come from recycled sources.
• Platinum & Palladium – Though Casting House uses recycled metal when available, not all recycled metals provide the quality that our customers are used to. PGM is one of those. Though not all of the PGM we use is recycled, a large percentage of it is and the rest is responsibly mined from some of the largest providers of the metal to the jewelry industry in the world. Casting House only sources Platinum and Palladium from RJC Certified refineries.
• SRSP Grievance Policy – see Stakeholder Grievance Policy

Environmental Policy – Casting House does everything in its power to be environmentally friendly; such has been a priority of ours for a very long time. From ensuring that all of our metals are generated from recycled sources (when possible) to eliminating as much as waste throughout our manufacturing processes to recycling we implement eco-friendly policies into our processes as often as we can! Not only do we commit to being environmentally friendly, we conduct risk assessments on an annual basis to ensure that we are doing everything that we can.

Synthetic Diamonds – Casting House has methods of inspection and policies in place to ensure that undisclosed synthetic diamonds do not contaminate our supply of diamonds.

• First of all, any employee that touches diamonds at Casting House are trained in our policies and procedures for diamond purchasing, supplying and internal movement.
• We purchase all diamonds from trusted sources that can verify the origin of their diamonds.
• We test 100% of all diamonds purchased from suppliers for undisclosed synthetic diamonds.
• We have performed internal risk assessments of our diamond movement in manufacturing, to identify any high risk points of contamination and have put policies into place to lower that risk.
• Casting House keeps their inventory of diamonds in its own location, separate from any customer goods, to ensure that there are no possibilities of being mixed with undisclosed stones while in our possession and in Casting House manufacturing.
• Synthetic disclosures are printed on all invoices that diamonds are included on, to ensure our customers are aware.

Supplier Code of Conduct – Casting House is an integral part of the mineral supply chain in the jewelry industry and, because of this, not only do we conduct our due diligence of all suppliers but we also expect the same standards of our suppliers. We work very closely with our suppliers to develop a responsible supply chain for our customers to be confident in.

We do not tolerate any abuses within the supply chain from any vendor and will immediately halt business with any supplier with a legitimate abuse found in their operations. Some of these abuses can include bribery, finance of terrorism, human rights violations of any type including but not limited to forced labor and human trafficking, money laundering, obvious negative environmental practices and sourcing from high risk, conflicted affected areas of the world. Casting House follows the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 5 Step Framework for conducting their due diligence and we expect that all of Casting House suppliers follow suit:

1. Establish strong management systems – Casting House has created and abides by internal policies of strict sourcing guidelines, in line with the SRSP guidance
2. Identify, assess and prioritize risks – Casting House conducts due diligence and risk assessments on their supply chain continually. Every new supplier goes under heavy review to ensure they are in line with the SRSP guidance and all suppliers are reviewed on an annual basis.
3. Manage risks – Any risks that arise from our risk assessments are raised to management and corrective action is decided. Any supplier that contributes to serious impacts will be disengaged with
4. Audit control points – Casting House does annual due diligence on their suppliers and request they provide the necessary documentation (whether this be recycled content certifications or updated vendor forms) and run annual checks on them to ensure they are living up to the standards and claims they have previously been held to.
5. Communicate and report on due diligence – Casting House’s risk assessments and due diligence results are included in the annual update that Casting House provides on their website.

The most recent due diligence performed at the end of 2020 finds that there are no suppliers of Casting House’s supply chain that alert our compliance.

2020 Company Findings & 2021 Goals – as 2020 proved to be a hard year for everyone, Casting House continues their commitment to responsible business practices.

• SRSP Compliance – in all areas of the SRSP guidelines (gold, silver, natural diamonds, colored gemstones), Casting House continues to source from the most responsible of suppliers. We have assessed and worked to mitigate all risks, through various risk assessments and supply chain mapping of our materials sourced.
• Environmental Impacts – Casting House is committed to mitigating our environmental impact as much as possible, while still being able to manufacture high quality custom jewelry. Working with our personnel and the building we are located in, we have made continuous efforts to be less impactful on the environment. Through responsible sourcing of materials, responsible hazardous waste disposal and electricity reduction efforts, Casting House continues to mitigate any negative environmental impacts on the Earth. We will continue to work with our suppliers, as well as the building management in which we are located, to continue our efforts of responsibly sourcing and electricity reduction, in addition to any new initiatives we anticipate reporting in 2021.
• Responsible sourcing impacts the environment more than most people understand. Sourcing 100% recycled gold and silver reduces the need for mining these elements from the Earth and simply reusing them, instead.
• Upgrading equipment to energy efficient, when possible, as well as re-outfitting our office and manufacturing areas with energy efficient lights and other energy efficient efforts in collaboration with the Mallers Building also reduces our environmental footprint.
• As always, Casting House takes a recycling iniative with our building for all products that can be recycled. We will continue the efforts and ensure that all waste is being properly disposed of.
• Due Diligence Measures – In 2021, Casting House will begin integrating new measures for further due diligence on our business partners, specifically our suppliers of raw materials such as gold, silver, platinum, mined and lab grown diamonds. One of the measures we will be implementing is the Sanctions Listings by the Office of Foreign Assets Control; we will begin conducting annual searches from this database for all of our suppliers.

Signed/endorsed: Troy Agler, President GM Casting House Inc. Date of effect: August 12, 2021