Sapphire mining in Madagascar

[buckeye]

Howdy all,
Found an Special report on the BBC about Sapphire mining in Madagascar and the atrocious conditions under which they work. I don't think I could ever buy jewelry without knowing exactly where it came from anymore. You never know how many people died mining your anniversary present.
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/629/629/6230594.stm

Bryce C

[genchaos]

If loss-of-life or physical threat is a factor in your consumerism of things made from minerals, you may have to give up everything. I grew up in a copper mining town. Several were killed while I lived there, countless were hurt. My own father was nearly killed when a front-end loader lost its brakes on a mine dump. My best friend died in an underground collapse at 19 years of age. My next best friend nearly lost his leg below the knee underground. He still has an amazing dent filled with twisted scar tissue between the tibia and fibula where an ore car linkage punched through his leg. Another friend had multiple concussions while working under an ore chute for a year. And, of course, this is in a country which actually tries to keep things regulated and relatively safe.
If you don't want blood in your gems and minerals you're gonna be waiting a long time.
(And no, I'm not excusing the abusive conditions you're referring to.)