About the data
In the absence of universal jewelry industry standards and definitions of fair-trade, "ethically-sourced" refers to gems that have been mined, cut and polished with regard for the social and environmental impact. Whether or not a gem is ethically-sourced, the process of mining has significant environmental consequences. However, ethically sourced gems go beyond just conflict-free to indicate a positive community contribution
Methodology
Use your preferred search engine to search for “[Company name] Ethically Sourced Gems” or "[Company name] responsible sourcing" – when the company is well known this search should give you some high-ranking results that are pages on the company’s website. For companies that are not so well known, you may wish to limit the search to their official website (e.g. "site: http://www.astleyclarke.com "Ethically Sourced Gems” or "site:http://www.astleyclarke.com responsible sourcing”– in Google search).
Where the company has a press report or page on their website in relation to Ethically Sourcing their Gems, they should receive a value of “Yes” and you should add a link to this page as the source.
Where you cannot report or a page on the company’s website that is talks about Ethically-Sourced Gems or responsible sourcing, set their value to “No” and make a “report” source – describe the domain you searched and give the date (e.g. "http://www.astleyclarke.com/ searched on 13th October 2016)