Who mined my Crystals?
Ethical sourcing in the crystal industry goes deeper than aesthetics and involves considering the environmental impact and the human cost. The process from mine to market is complex, and many intermediaries are involved, making full transparency difficult to achieve
If it comes from Dark Star Crystal Mines you can bet it was either Mark or Mick who mined your crystal, or the more obvious choice - you mined it!
Our Crystals are Ethically Sourced
Yeah, everyone says that. This is capitalism and the biggest cut of the profit is the economy’s driver. The difference is that we mean it. “Our crystals are ethically sourced”. We say that because we mine the crystals ourselves and will provide a certificate of guarantee to back our claim. If we cannot guarantee the ethical origin of what we sell, we do not provide a certificate. Dark Star Crystal Mines brings their crystals from their resting fissures to you without a middleman. We are the source and we are the seller and it is us who write this statement, those same people who mine the minerals.
Look in your average supplier’s stock and see their crystals, invariably most will come from India, China, Brazil and Madagascar; these are the big showy geodes, sparkling quartz and amethysts. For these imported crystals, their prices more suited to a Maharajah.
It is typically a long trail to get to a shop in the city. At its beginning the source is usually quite murky; this works for both the final seller and the initial producer. I believe the phrase is “Plausible deniability”. Are you really in the wrong if you’re not clear on your product? Short of buying straight from the mine its almost impossible to say you know your crystals are ethically sourced. You can bet that whoever digs your crystal from its resting place is desperately poor and working in hellish conditions. Safety is not even a thought for the mine owner. Workers are replaced when they die or are to injured to continue working.
So you have healing crystals from the Congo – smoky quartz and citrine from the copper mines. Seven year olds work in those mines and very often die. You’re fooling yourself if you expect positive vibes in your healing. Emeralds and rubies are often connected with drug lords. Jade and opium from South East Asia powers the conflict between the Burmese military and Kachin Guerillas. It’s a dirty, bloody world out there and you support it by buying without a proper knowledge of your purchase.
We can’t directly malign the product of this business or that one, we don’t know everybody’s practices and their standards, but we can say that we are fortunately operating in the first world with expected regulation and we are as artisanal as they come. If you live near Southern Ontario you can visit our mine on a mineral club tour and as a rockhound you can collect your own. Health and safety is a top priority and we ensure that collection is in a gentle way with all due respect to the environment and within the sensibilities of the metaphysical movement.
"Despite that explosive growth, the way the crystal industry operates has largely avoided close scrutiny. There is little in the way of fair-trade certification for crystals, and none of the industry-wide transparency schemes developed for commodities such as gold and diamonds. Tracing a crystal from the time it is dragged, dusty and cracked, from the earth, to the polished moment of final sale requires a journey backward down the supply chain: from shop, to exporter, to middleman, to mine, and finally to the men and women (and children) who work below the ground, on whose labor a billion-dollar industry has been built."
A quote from, "Dark Crystals:The brutal reality behind a Booming Wellness Craze, by Tess McClure, www.theguardian.com/lifestyle/2019/sept17/healing-crystals
