New forms of gold jewelry share spotlight

Two South African gold companies have entered separate offerings in the gold jewelry market, but for different reasons.

AngloGold has teamed with American talk-show host Oprah Winfrey and Edgars, the country’s luxury goods retailer, to sell the “O” Charm, a 9-carat gold pendant designed to raise money for the fight against AIDS.

Meanwhile, Harmony Gold Mining is boosting its fortunes by peddling the gold ring depicted in the recent film of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel The Lord of the Rings. Before the film’s release, Harmony secured the rights to produce the ring in South Africa.

Harmony’s ring, produced at its high-tech refinery in the Free State, is 99.99% pure. The 18-carat alloy ring is adorned with cryptic lettering, which readers and filmgoers will recognize as the evil Lord Sauron’s spell to dominate fictitious Middle Earth. The words read: “One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.”

The standard ring weighs just under 6 grams, is 7 mm wide and costs US$200. More than 1,000 of the rings have been sold, and heavier versions are likely to follow.

The second and third instalments of the US$380 million Lord of the Rings trilogy — The Two Towers and The Return of the King, to be released in December 2002 and December 2003, respectively — are expected to generate even higher sales of the rings.

The “O” Charm project was conceived by AngloGold to coincide with the launch of the South African edition of The Oprah Magazine. Winfrey is a well-known champion of social welfare causes, and sales will raise money for three selected South African hospice organizations, or lodgings for the terminally ill.

The charm is available exclusively through Edgars and retails for just under US$30.

Last month, AngloGold announced it would provide assistance to further the South African government’s AIDS vaccine program. The company will provide infrastructure and medical expertise and even encourage employees to volunteer for vaccine trials under the program, which aims to raise R2.29 billion for the development of an AIDS vaccine within 7-10 years.

AngloGold estimates that up to 30% of its 44,000-strong South African workforce has HIV/AIDS.

“The Gold ‘O’ Charm project marks a point of departure for us at AngloGold,” says Kelvin Williams, executive director of marketing. “This is the first time that a gold producer has conceived and sponsored a marketing project with a charitable purpose; one which promotes the product and raises funds for the campaign against AIDS.”