Editor’s Note
**Editor’s Note:** This investigation examines the stark contrast between the global demand for Madagascar’s sapphires and the perilous conditions faced by the miners who extract them, highlighting an industry fraught with inequality.
Precious Stones
Swiss jewelers are scrambling for Madagascar’s controversial sapphires. The Big Island supplies the majority of these colored gemstones globally. But the miners who extract them at the risk of their lives hardly benefit from this bounty. A field investigation.
“The sun has just risen. Armed with a shovel and an iron bar, Kinawate heads for the mines. Tall, thin, with calloused hands and a warm smile, this 54-year-old father of six is an artisanal miner in Ilakaka, an area in southern Madagascar that hosts one of the world’s largest sapphire deposits. Discovered in 1998, the mine supplies, among others, Swiss jewelry and watch brands.”
Sapphires extracted from a recently discovered wild mine in Madagascar.
JULIE ZAUGG