Again, the expedition started with a trip to the Ministry of Energy and Minerals, where Styve checked with the minister that we had permission to visit the mines he had contacted and that their licenses were up to date.
Read MoreI first started using aluminium to make jewellery 2 years ago and it formed the basis for my graduate collection last year. As a material aluminum was perfect for what I wanted to do, it was light, so I could make larger pieces than would be possible in any precious metals and it can be dyed, through the process of anodization. I’ve been interested in the supply chain of precious metals for some years and was interested to know what, if any, advantages there were to using aluminum.
The history of aluminum as a material is fascinating and complicated, and, like all commodities encapsulates themes of transnation importance.