Introduction: Jim Fiebig (www.sellmorecolor.com) has been a passionate advocate for the artisanal mining sector for many years. Here, he describes the current situation in Madagascar, and his work in that country. This post first appeared on the Madison Dialogue list serve, which elicited a response from Mohamed Mnzava, who questioned his work. Jim then responds

What are some of the current issues around green practices in the jewelry sector? This article in the Green Supplement of National Jeweler features my company, Reflective Images, as well as several other people involved in the Madison Dialogs. http://www.nationaljewelernetwork.com/njn/content_display/independent/

Reuters reports that the National Union of Mine Workers, South Africa’s biggest union, are preparing for a big fight with DeBeers. “There is just no room for peanut increases and for that we are prepared for war,” said Eddie Majadibodu, the NUM negotiator at the companies, adding that food prices, fuel prices and general inflation