Where do ethical gemstones come from?

Any country that has gemstone deposits has the potential to be a source of ethical gemstones. How ethical a gemstone is, depends on a few factors the main one being how it was mined and whether the person/people who mined it were paid a fair price for their work.

Today, some countries have good reputations for ethical sourcing, whereas others do not. This often has a lot to do with the wealth and stability of a nation overall. Canada, for instance, is regarded as an ethical source of diamonds. This is because the diamond mines are well regulated, wages are good and workers are treated well in accordance with Canadian law.

At the other end of the scale, Lapis from Afghanistan is designated as a conflict mineral and is not an ethical gemstone. This is because it has been shown that the sale of these gemstones has/is funding terrorism and war in Afghanistan as well as miners having to work in extremely unsafe conditions and being vulnerable to exploitation. A weak national government means that workers have little if any, protection under the law.

So, to know whether a gemstone is ethical, or more accurately, if it has been ethically sourced, you need to know where the gemstone has come from and that’s not always easy. Though there are many initiatives to bring greater transparency to the sector, unless a gemstone has been tracked from the mining location to its final destination, it will be very hard to know. Knowing where a gemstone is from can help you learned how it was mined, what the environmental impact was (such as with garnets), how workers are treated, and whether the sale of these gemstones funds conflict.

If you want to make sure that you are buying an ethical gemstone then you need to be prepared to ask questions of the seller. For instance, simply asking the jeweller, ‘Where was this gemstone mined?.