Central asia is covered by the highest mountains in the world. The western side of the Himalayan mountains
and the Pamir Mountains have many peakes above 6000 m2.
For thousands years they are the place of an intense mining activity producing the best Gemstones in the World.
Various countries share this treasure, and areas like Panjshir in Afghanistan, Gorno Badakshan in Tajikistan, Swat in Pakistan, Chatkal in Kyrgyztan, are famous around the
world for their valuable minerals.
Panjshir Emeralds
Panjshir emerald mines are located in the Panjshir valley, north east of Kabul. Panjshir emerald mines neither host child labor nor fund insurgents. Furthermore, indigenous people feed themselves through mining. They are the only population in Afghanistan that narrowly rely on government or donor funding.
Several local companies are participating in our project trying to mine more ethically.It adresses, as well, the result of environmental and social impact assessment. WE rely on the local suppliers who directly work with the miners to provide the stones and help to enforce traceability.
The Panjshir stones are extracted from more than 400 mines along the 150 km Panjshir Valley. They belong to two categories :
- Kamar Safeed are originated from the so-called area, for instance from Khenj mine. The stones are light green. For this type of stones, it is very usual to find big crystals with only few inclusions.
- The "Colored stones", or Rang in Dari, mainly come from high altitude mining. They have very intense green, and can reach very high quality.
Tourmaline from Pamirs
Tourmaline can be found in various areas of the Pamirs in Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The Badakshan province is rich in such stones with various colors, pink, yellow, green
We are working with local resellers, but are not yet enforcing traceability of these gemstones. We plan to establish in the coming year, presence in the extraction areas in order to promote our ethical values and apply quality and sustainability standards.
Lapis Lazuli from Afghanistan
Lapis Lazuli is a green stone, that can be found both in Tajikistan and Afghanistan. However the best Lapis is usually produced in Afghanistan, with an intense royal blue color.
We are working with local resellers, but are not yet enforcing traceability of these stones. We plan to establish in the coming year, presence in the extraction areas in order to promote our ethical values and apply quality and sustainability standards. At the same time we will promote investments in local roads and transport infrastrcture in order to ease the shipment of these stones.
Spinel and other crystals from Tajikistan
During a long while Tajik Spinel have been mixed with Rubis thanks to their intense red color. Nowadays the spinel is recognized for its quality and widely used in Jewelry. We try to promote the development of local brands for high end spinels.
Nowadays many other types of gemstones have to be discovered by the international clients. Our aim is also to promote these stones to help jewelry makers to create new products with brand new colors.
