I have a large collection of at least 30 pairs of hoop earrings varying in size, color and heaviness. However, one thing is shared among each pair, they’re all fake. Prior to this research I was always curious as to what makes up the simple hoop earring. As I know now, it is a form of costume jewelry as defined in the Merriam Webster dictionary: “jewelry designed for wear with current fashions and usually made of inexpensive materials” (Merriam-Webster Costume Jewelry). However, this definition is vague. What kind of inexpensive materials? Where are these sourced from? Are hoops even safe for wear? These are the crucial questions that plunged me into learning more. 

​

Perusing through the renowned jewelry store, Claire’s website, it seemed as if my questions were never going to be answered. Every pair of hoops had the finish, the size, the closing feature and the word “Metal”(Claire’s), within the product description. Not a type of metal or the mix involved, but simply the word metal as to cover the material portion of the description. Therefore, I searched elsewhere on Amazon in order to find a key ingredient in many hoop earrings, that being stainless steel (Hoops). Stainless steel is an “an alloy of steel with chromium and sometimes another element...that is practically immune to rusting and ordinary corrosion” (Merriam-Webster Stainless Steel). This definition shows that there are multiple types of inexpensive materials that are used to make the stainless steel that goes into a hoop earring.

​

This drove me into research about what steel is. Crude steel is malleable and an alloy of carbon and iron with a carbon content of 1.7% or less (Merriam-Webster Steel). The iron and carbon source for the same product can be sourced from a variety of locations. In 2014, seven of the top-ten iron mines in the world were located in Western Australia (WA), Australia and the largest was the mine owned by Rio Tinto, a renowned global mining company. The Pilbara, WA, is the home of 16 connected Rio Tinto mines. There are over 12000 people employed by this one company to work in or for the Pilbara mines. This area, in Northern WA is home to “31 Aboriginal cultural [or]...language groups. Each culture has a traditional location where their people practised a hunter-gatherer and fire-stick farming lifestyle” (Pilbara Indigineous). The indigineous people of the Pilbara in many ways, faced a similar history to many of the other Australian indigenous groups as a result of European invasion. Many were forced into slavery for missionaries or explorers. During the early to mid 20th century was the Stolen Generation era. Children with mixed Aborigine and European descent were stolen from their homes and forced to live with white families or attend assimilation institutions. They were forced to neglect their native tongue, names, heritage, skin and traditional way of life to assimilate to European culture. The people of the Pilbara also had issues with obtaining Australian citizenship. All of these sensitive cultural issues, is what Rio Tinto had to take into account when establishing their mines in the Pilbara. For example, Rio Tinto ensures that there are “Agreements [to] provide recognition of Native Title rights and interests of Traditional Owner groups while securing the ongoing operations and expansion of our iron ore business in the Pilbara region of Western Australia” (land agreements). They also help create programs to benefit said communities either through employment access and other developmental programs. Rio Tinto is a leader in culturally responsible mining. How the ore is actually mined is that it is extracted from surface rock. Most is retrieved by open-pit mining, and does not involve the deep shafts like other mining types. Shafts, as seen in many situations, pose serious safety hazards to workers. However, with any type of mining there is an element of environmental damage; water and land degradation are common, high use of fossil fuel energy used in the process increases carbon emissions and so forth. The iron mined in Australia and elsewhere has a variety of uses. However, much of it is utilized in the steel production industry. 

​

Crude steel is produced in numerous locations but is very prosperous in India. Tata Steel is a large organization, located in India, but abroad as well. In 2013 Tata Steel was the largest “Indian-owned business in the country by revenue, with more than 24,000 employees working for 11 companies” (Vora). Tata is renowned for its outsourcing and also for its variety of products and solutions. The effects of an industry like this on the environment can be large, but with financing that comes into a corporation like Tata, great feats can also be accomplished. Research and development projects, especially within the education, public health and renewable energy sectors, have increased as the premise of corporate responsibility becomes more popular. Specifically they have funded Mobile Medical and Surgical Unites, to provide more accessible healthcare to citizens in India. In addition, the company is in the midst of building 30 schools to increase access to healthcare for students across India (Hungama). Tata is also very transparent about their consumption of energy, water and about their footprint, which many companies can look to doing in the future to better assess their environmental impact. Regardless of these programs, Tata Steel, and steel in general, is known for being strong and that is a result of the process used to make it. Tata utilizes the LD Process or the Basic Oxygen Furnace to remove impurities, like phosphorous, from pig iron in order to make steel. How it works is that the iron and scrap steel is melted and then oxygen is channelled through to oxidize the impurities out. The removal of these impurities is what makes crude steel so strong, the iron and the small amount of carbon. This entails Although it is strong, crude steel itself, when exposed to the elements can rust easily, which is why it is combined with other metals, like chromium, to decrease the likelihood of the steel rusting. Thus stainless steel is created from the combination of these metals to make a tarnish free product. 

​

The largest centers of chromite ore mining are in South Africa, Kazakhstan, India and Turkey, with South Africa with the most production at 15 million megatons in 2017 (Horpyniuk). Most of this is exported to nations like China, who use it for the production of stainless steel. Tata Steel has a chromite ore mine in Odisha, India to that is then processed at one of three Tata owned smelting plants in the region. The latest edition was “the Rs 542-crore ferro-chrome plant” (Pti.) producing at 55,000 tonnes per year and with in the Gangnam district of Odisha. Ferrochrome is produced by reducing chromium from chromite by using carbon and using high temperatures in a furnace, over 2500 degrees celsius, to create an alloy with Iron or the ferroalloy. This kind of production requires large amounts of energy because of the extremely high heat levels needed to develop the ferroalloy. Ferrochrome 55 is the one used for stainless steel most commonly. This energy is mostly sourced from fossil fuels and has a major carbon footprint. According to reports from INFACON (Innovations in the Ferroalloy Industry) in India, the CO2 emissions for Ferrochromium per tonne of product produced was 1.3 tonnes. This goes to demonstrate the environmental cost that is not calculated in the money cost of an item, like a simple pair of hoops. The sheer amount of energy that goes into the mining, refining and development of the materials within a simple household object. 

​

Companies within China and all over the world use these metals and other products harvested or mined from all over the globe to develop a product as simple as hoops. As expected, large amounts of machinery, cheap labor and energy go into the production of products like stainless-steel hoops. We so often hear about the conditions of the workers in overseas factories like within the costume jewelry industry that projected to grow into a $40 billion industry by 2022 (Costume Jewelry Market). The sale of a pair of hoops goes beyond simply just looking at a factory that makes hoop earrings. This essay is not about one factory, it is about how interconnected the world has become and how we rarely know where anything comes from. The US is of course importing large amounts of premade, cheap jewelry from China, there was rarely dispute. In 2008 the United States absorbed 39% of the costume jewelry exports from China (Research and Markets).  But where are the materials that are used within this industry sourced from? Where is the iron and chromium sourced from that makes the stainless steel we see around us everyday, that I wear on my body almost everyday? How does the actions of these companies contribute to carbon emissions or benefit the societies that they go into, with job creation or health programs? This experience was not about learning things that I already knew, but challenging myself to look into the mining industry like never before and understand the materials that are the source of where my chosen good, the hoop earring, comes from. Stainless steel hoops come from a variety of places, from Australia, India, China or maybe other places like South Africa or Kazakhstan. They are made with products and services from all or some of these places, and when I put them on I’ll never know exactly where they’re from, but now I have an idea.