Native Alaska communities and commercial fishermen rely heavily on the sustainable salmon fishery of southwest Alaska. The new gold mine severely threatens the way of life and livelihoods of locals in that area.

The proposed Pebble copper-gold mine is located in the southwest of Alaska. This poses a problem for commercial fisherman and native communities of that location, due to the fact that this mine is to be situated at the headwaters of Bristol Bay, known to be the world’s largest remaining wild sockeye salmon fishery.

Mega-mining giants, Northern Dynasty and Anglo American are responsible for planning this mine, which is expected to be the largest mine of North America. The mine foot print would span across 30 square miles.

The mine is projected to output a total of 10 billion tons of mine waste. Additionally, close to 35 billion gallons of water would be used at the mine a year, taking away from imperative salmon spawning streams. A massive power plant and the development of a 100-mile road would be required for the project as well.

A long list of Jewelers with over £3.5 billion in sales, also oppose the mine, including Ben Bridge Jeweler, Helzberg Diamonds, Leber Jeweler, Caro Jewelry and Fortunoff. The ‘Bristol Bay Pledge’ is circulating, which over 50 top jewelers have signed to express concern over the ecosystem of international significance and designated fishery reserve.

And Michael Kowalski, chief executive of Tiffany & Co, commented: "There are some special places where mining clearly does not represent the best long-term use of resources. In Bristol Bay, we believe the extraordinary salmon fishery clearly provides the best opportunity to benefit south western Alaskan communities in a sustainable way. For Tiffany & Co - and we believe for many of our fellow retail jewelers - this means we must look to other places to responsibly source our gold."