Ethically sourced

Informal mining is a type of mining where the mining concession holder does hold the required documents and permits for the mining, but all his mining activities are not reported to the authorities, meaning the entire mining operation sells the extracted minerals against cash payment (no paper trail, no tax payments) and miners are working without formal labor contracts. They don´t receive labor benefits like vacations, health insurance, accident insurance, life insurance or retirement benefits. If something happens to them, they are on their own. It is common place for Peruvian crystal exporters to source their materials from such informal mining operations.

We are refusing to accept rocks or crystals from providers that want cash payments. All our crystals are sourced from miners that provide us with formal invoices. All payments are made via bank wire. Our expenditure for sourcing therefore is visible to governmental authorities which are now able to identity the source for our material and check on the provider any time they wish. Our procedures do force our providers to have their permits and paperwork in order and become formal and legal miners.

In 2021 we started our own small scale crystal mining operations and we are in progress of growing this new branch of our business. When mining ourselves we have total control of the environmental impacts caused and our workers are hired under regular labor contracts being provided with all legally required benefits and safety measures. All our products coming from our own mining operations are clearly marked as such.

Definitely, making our own mining in a growing number of locations, is the best way to make sure that our crystals are environmentally friendly and ethically sourced. If you have a crystal business or if you are looking for a sustainable investment opportunity, you can become a partner in our Global Ethical Mining Initiative

Luckily mining of gemstones and crystals in Peru is not located in conflict areas with exemption of the amazonite mines, which are located in the VRAEM, the valley of the three rivers Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro, a “lawless” region overrun by “narco-terrorists”, where about 70 percent of Peru’s cocaine is produced. Today, an estimated 300 ex-terrorist fighters remain in the region protecting and controlling drug production. Because of this we are not sourcing amazonite.

Luckily Peru has enacted a number of laws strictly prohibiting child labor in mining operations and has implemented those laws too, so that at least for all legal and formal mining operations one can state that child labor is not an issue anymore. None of our providers is known for or has been seen employing children. If that would ever occur we would immediately sever our contacts with such a provider.

No mining for Peruvian gemstones and crystals is located in the Peruvian rainforest. Most mining operations are located on the westerns slopes of the Andes and in the coastal desert of Peru, being one of the driest deserts on earth with very little plant or animal life to be harmed and with nearly no underground water bodies to be contaminated. Additionally gemstone and crystal mining is not using any chemicals, with dynamite being used for underground mining being the only chemical used. Environmental impacts therefore are from a start relatively low to very low for Peruvian crystal mining operations.

In our own mining operations we are making sure that physical impacts are kept as low as possible and that all produced trash is transported out of the area.

The use of water in lapidary production is a huge environmental component. All cutting, shaping and polishing tools are water cooled. Additionally cleaning machines and the entire facility from stone dust, as well as cleaning the stones themselves, all this consumes a huge amount of water. In 2021 we changed our water system building a simple but effective water recycling system for our lapidary machines. By doing so we were able to reduce our water consumption for the last three months of 2021 in 75% in comparison to the months before. The full effect of such huge water savings will be reflected in a further reduced carbon footprint by the end of 2022.

We are now offering you a unique opportunity to take part and eliminate the footprint of your crystal completely by choosing the Carbon Positive Price when buying your crystal.

In our wholesale branch most packaging materials (drums, cartoon boxes, paper cushioning) are reused materials, meaning we are using packaging materials from other products or companies. It does not look pretty, but it reduces the environmental impact of such materials to zero as they don´t have to be produced or even recycled.

In our retail branch we are using recycled packaging.

Bubble Wrap: Crystals are products that tend to break easily, Sadly in Peru we have no access to alternative packaging materials that have the same protective success than bubble wrap, which still is the ideal material for safe packaging. Therefore bubble wrap is still not replaceable. However, we are at least trying to reduce the impact by reusing bubble wrap whenever possible, especially in our wholesale branch.

How you can help us: Nowadays there are many recycling stations all around the world that accept bubble wrap, which is a material that can be 100% recycled. Please help us reducing the environmental impact of your crystals by collecting the bubble wrap and delivering it to your nearest recycling station. Thank you.

We are now offering you a unique opportunity to take part and eliminate the footprint of your crystal completely by choosing the Carbon Positive Price when buying your crystal.

Saving energy is still a challenge for us. Sadly the cost of solar panels in Peru is still so high that converting our energy source to solar is prohibitive. The good news is that Peru´s energy mix consists of 60% hydroelectricity, 5 % alternative energies and only 35 % of our national energy is produced with fossil energy which makes Peru´s energy production to be one of the cleanest ones globally.

Nevertheless we are in a constant search for ideas how to reduce our energy consumption and will apply those ideas whenever possible.

We are now offering you a unique opportunity to take part and eliminate the footprint of your crystal completely by choosing the Carbon Positive Price when buying your crystal.

Reusing is better than recycling, as recycling is an additional process of manufacturing while reusing is not.

We are reusing materials whenever possible

• When moving our facility in 2020 to a new location we had to retrieve dozens of kilos of wiring from the previous company. We recovered all copper from the wiring manually and will use this copper wire for our jewelry production.
• We also reused 90% of the wood that was retrieved from the existing infrastructure when adapting it to our use.
• In our wholesale branch we are reusing packaging materials from other companies (drums, cartoon boxes, paper for cushioning). It does not look pretty but reduces the environmental impact of such materials to cero.
• Sadly there is no alternative to bubble wrap packaging that would have the same protective success. Recycled bubble wrap is not yet sold in Peru. We are trying to reduce the impact by reusing bubble wrap in our wholesale branch whenever possible. Please help us by recycling your bubble wrap packaging with your nearest recycling station.

We are constantly improving our recycling effort by collecting garbage in separate containers for glass, wood and paper, metals and other garbage. Sadly there is not yet a composting alternative for organic materials available in Lima.

We are now offering you a unique opportunity to take part and eliminating the footprint of your crystal completely by buying it using the Carbon Positive Price

No mining for Peruvian gemstones and crystals is located in the Peruvian rainforest. Most mining operations are located on the westerns slopes of the Andes and in the coastal desert of Peru, being one of the driest deserts on earth with very little plant or animal life to be harmed and with nearly no underground water bodies to be contaminated. Additionally gemstone and crystal mining is not using any chemicals, with dynamite being used for underground mining being the only chemical used. Environmental impacts therefore are from a start relatively low to very low for Peruvian crystal mining operations.

In our own mining operations we are making sure that physical impacts are kept as low as possible and that all produced trash is transported out of the area.

We are now offering you a unique opportunity to take part and eliminate the footprint of your crystal completely by choosing the Carbon Positive Price when buying your crystal.