Madagascar sapphires: nightmare stones

Located in the Indian Ocean, Madagascar is an island with a promising underground. Indeed, the island's subsoils are rich in colorful gems, now highly prized in the world of jewelry. Since the end of the 90s, high-quality sapphires have been emerging from these mostly “artisanal” mines, fanning the flames of envy. But what about the welfare of the miners - often children - who toil away in search of these precious stones?

Human conditions are absolutely disastrous, as investigative journalist Julie Zaugg demonstrates in her article for Public Eye in January 2024. Young children, their bellies swollen with dysentery, run through the streets of the Far-West-like mining towns, which have sprung up quickly and generally lack latrines. Their brothers and sisters, scarcely older, help their parents in the many holes to extract the coveted stones. The risk of collapse for these artisanal mines is real, but the need to survive is stronger. 

Once the precious raw pebbles have been found, it's all about getting a good price for them in the eyes of greedy buyers. The profit for these buyers is often a minimum of 400% on resale, and the miners get very little value for it, which they are often forced to accept. This percentage should be questioned in the context of the many intermediaries who inflate the price of the stone each time. The “final'' customer, the one who comes to buy a jewel with a sapphire in a jewelry store, is then charged a price that is far higher than the one at which it was purchased from the miner. It's also worth noting that the average monthly wage in Madagascar is a very low $43, according to BDEEX. Then comes the long process of legal export... or not. Numerous bribes and the corruptibility of certain customs officials have led to the unfortunate appearance of false export certificates, in a country that recent statistics rank as one of the most corrupt in the world (145th out of 180 according to the Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International, 180th place being occupied by the country with the most corruption). 

Most of these sapphires are then cut in Asia, but some of them end up in Switzerland, where they are sold by major retailers. It is therefore not uncommon to buy a sapphire with a false export certificate that has participated in this odious market: miners earning the bare minimum for long days in dangerous crevices, starving bellies and uncontrolled exploitation of these mines are all part of the history of these stones. It is now imperative to put a stop to this practice and turn to a more sustainable solution, such as laboratory-grown sapphires, which represent an excellent alternative. The government must abandon these processes and find lasting solutions to these problems as soon as possible. We can also ask ourselves about the living conditions of miners in the rest of the world, which are also generally disastrous. 

The jewelry world must open its eyes to the treatment of minors and review its practices, in particular by encouraging the use of cultured gems. Open-mindedness is now de rigueur, and the democratization of cultured sapphires, for example, is necessary. Customers, for their part, can make a more responsible choice by reversing the trend of supply and demand, making an informed decision when making their purchase to encourage this new, more ethical market. 

AGUAdeORO is a jewelry store founded in 2009 and based in Geneva and Zurich, offering its customers the opportunity to buy ethical jewelry made in Switzerland. Our aim is to offer jewelry that combines sustainable development and elegance.

(Photo credit: © Julie Zaugg, Public Eye)