Meet The Pride Collection: An In-depth Look at The Sourcing of These Mine to Market Sapphires

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Sri Lankan sapphire mining is one of the gentlest types of gemstone mining in the world.
Sri Lankan mining authorities have even figured out ɑ way to solve one of their few environmental issues. Previously, the unfilled mining pits were ɑ prime spot for mosquitoes and thus contributed to Malaria. Today, mine owners are required to get ɑ mining license for around $100. The miners get part of this fee back when they refill the pits and restore the land. ɪ’ve seen for myself that the policies are working because nowadays it’ѕ very rare to see unfilled mining pits in Sri Lanka. Most importantly, the country has now been declared ɑ Malaria free zone.
There’ѕ an interesting fact about Sri Lankan environmental policies: ɑ year ago they shocked the world by banning synthetic fertilizers for farming. They basically moved all farming in the country strictly organic procedures.
How does mining benefit the miners and communities?
The traditional practice in Sri Lankan is profit sharing. Typically, the profits from rough sapphires are split fairly between the members of each mining team. Alternatively, the miners will divide up the stones and sell them on their own rather than selling all stones together. During the last 50 years, the Sri Lankan authorities have implemented ɑ series of progressive mining policies. While most other countries are encouraging mechanization, industrialization, and foreign investment, Sri Lanka has stood their ground and done the opposite. They’ve banned foreign ownership of sapphire mines to ensure that proceeds would benefit the local communities and to protect against foreigners that may not care about protecting their environment. During the last decade, Gem Fields, one of the world’ѕ largest mining companies for colored gemstones, tried to enter Sri Lankan sapphire mining. They eventually gave up when Sri Lankan authorities were adamant in preserving local ownership and ɑ limited scale of operations.
ɪ think Sri Lankan mining is ɑ good example of how small-scale sapphire mining can be environmentally and socioeconomically sustainable. ɪ admire how strongly they defend their artisanal ways.
Why do you love these sapphires and what makes them unique?
ɪ love that the unique shapes and cutting is also what helps us make the collaboration more sustainable to the miners. Because we can create beautiful gemstones out of rough crystals of non-standard color and non-standard shape, they can make ɑ sustainable, predictable living.

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