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Unregulated Madagascar Sapphire Mining
By B. Earth | December 11, 2008
Before 1998, the town of Ilakaka, Madagascar had only about 40 residents. Now, it has ballooned into a city of tens of thousands, thanks to the discovery of sizable sapphire deposits. While many of the deposits were once found near the surface of the sandy ground, the easily mined minerals were quickly extracted. Now, miners are forced to dig deep into the earth, where they work in dangerously narrow holes to find what precious stones they can. The industry is entirely unregulated, enabling the dangerous and sometimes deadly conditions in which the generally impoverished miners are willing to put themselves. Furthermore, thousands of young children have been taken out of school in order to work with their families to scrabble for gemstones in unsafe conditions.
Madagascar’s sapphire mines are also taking an environmental toll. The island nation is one of the most biologically diverse regions on the planet. The astounding variety of its wildlife is already being threatened by development and global warming, and the Ilakaka mines do further damage to the delicate ecosystem.
Brilliant Earth sources its sapphiresfrom ethical partner mines in Malawi, Sri Lanka and Australia. The high-quality stones are mined according to strict labor, trade and environmental standards. The sapphires are also tracked from the moment they are mined to their final delivery in order to guarantee their ethical purity.
To read more about and view images of the Ilakaka mines.
Topics: In the News, Mining Issues, Uncategorized |