Sotheby’s is set to offer an 11.16-carat, fancy-vivid-blue diamond at its upcoming Geneva Luxury Week, where it is expected to fetch more than $25 million.

Known as the Bulgari Laguna Blu, the pear-shaped stone is currently owned by a European collector who bought it from Bulgari when the jewelry house debuted it in 1979, Sotheby’s said last week. It is the largest blue diamond ever set in a Bulgari piece and still ranks as the most valuable gem the jeweler has sold.

“The Bulgari Laguna Blu is an extraordinary gem in every way,” said Olivier Wagner, head of jewelry at Sotheby’s Geneva. “This unmodified pear-shaped, blue diamond has received the highest grade for a blue diamond by the Gemological Institute of America [GIA], acknowledging its mesmerizing color and hue. [It] is bound to become the object of any collector’s dream.”

Sotheby’s will exhibit the Bulgari Laguna Blu at the Met Gala in New York on May 1, before putting it on the auction block at the Geneva sale, which will take place during the May 12 to 16 luxury week.

The diamond is part of a wider collection from the same consignor. Other pieces from that group include a step-cut, 18.78-carat, white diamond estimated at up to $1.4 million and a pear-shaped, 12.08-carat, white diamond with an upper price tag of $700,000. Bulgari created both in the early 1970s. A pear-shaped, 8.33-carat, white diamond from the same seller rounds out the collection. That item, signed by Italian designer Pederzani, has a high presale estimate of $500,000.

Similar blue diamonds have garnered high prices at auction. Last year, Sotheby’s sold the De Beers Blue, a step-cut, 15.10-carat, fancy-vivid-blue diamond, for $57.5 million in Hong Kong. Meanwhile the Blue Moon of Josephine, a cushion-shaped, 12.03-carat, fancy-vivid-blue diamond, brought in $48.5 million at Sotheby’s Geneva in 2015.

Image: Sotheby’s Bulgari Laguna Blu black background. (Sotheby’s)

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The 55.22-carat Estrela de Fura, the largest ruby ever to appear at auction, will go under the hammer at Sotheby’s New York on June 8. Its high estimate in the Magnificent Jewels sale is more than $30 million, which would challenge the current world-record price for a ruby at auction.

The polished stone came from a 101-carat rough that Dubai-based colored-stone miner Fura Gems unearthed last July in Montepuez, Mozambique. The ruby’s name means “Star of Fura” in Portuguese.

Even in its rough state, experts have deemed the ruby “an exceptional treasure of nature for its fluorescence, outstanding clarity and vivid red hue, known as ‘pigeon’s blood’ — a color traditionally associated only with Burmese rubies,” Sotheby’s said last week in its announcement of the sale.

The current world record for a ruby at auction belongs to the 25.59-carat Sunrise ruby, a Burmese specimen that sold at Sotheby’s Geneva in May 2015 for $30.3 million, or nearly $1.2 million per carat.

“To see a natural ruby of this size with such a combination of quality characteristics, spared from treatment, was considered almost unimaginable,” wrote Gübelin Gem Lab in its assessment of the Estrela de Fura. The stone “is setting a new record not only for Mozambican rubies, but also for rubies in general.”

Gübelin was one of two laboratories that graded the gem. The other lab, the Swiss Gemmological Institute (SSEF), highlighted the stone’s display of “vivid red hues due to multiple internal reflections.” The ruby is currently on view at Sotheby’s Hong Kong. It will then travel to Taiwan, China, Singapore, Geneva and Dubai ahead of the New York sale.

Image: The Estrela de Fura. (Sotheby’s)

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Hard-luxury companies are accelerating their responsible-sourcing efforts so they can meet consumer demand, comply with new legislation and ensure their long-term growth. But there is a lot yet to be done, and the costs of not embracing these practices are rising.

In the late 1960s, Philip Kotler’s seminal book Principles of Marketing introduced the “four P’s” that constitute a blueprint for any company: product, price, place and promotion. But the advent of more knowledgeable, demanding and engaged consumers calls for a revision. So businesses have added a fifth P: purpose. A company’s purpose is more than a consumer-facing mission. Investors see a firm’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) credentials as intertwined with profit.

The latest financial reports from the largest luxury groups are a case in point: LVMH and Kering included a section detailing their ESG-related activity and progress, while Richemont issued a separate corporate social responsibility (CSR) report.

But which ESG areas are the most important for hard-luxury companies when it comes to consumer perception and long-term growth? And how far have these companies come? While ESG encompasses a broad range of topics, Federica Levato and Matteo Capellini — respectively senior partner and associate partner at Bain & Company — point to three key areas for luxury businesses: responsible sourcing and labor conditions, environmental sustainability, and transparency.

Monitoring the supply chain

The issues of human rights and labor practices in the jewelry business came to the fore at the end of 2020, when NGO Global Witness released a 48-page report alleging that rubies from the military-controlled state of Myanmar were ending up in the jewels of Place Vendôme brands. In the past, Global Witness exposed how the Taliban and other armed groups were earning millions with Afghanistan’s lapis lazuli, while the arrest of Horacio Triana, known as Colombia’s “emerald czar,” revealed Colombian emeralds’ complicated links to drug trafficking and the country’s paramilitary groups.

Unlike diamonds, which are controlled by a handful of large miners and regulated by the Kimberley Process, colored gems mostly come from a multitude of small artisanal mines scattered all over the globe, and pass through a tangle of dealers before ending up in jewelry. Supervising bodies like the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC), the Coloured Gemstones Working Group (CGWG), the World Jewellery Confederation (CIBJO), the International Colored Gemstone Association (ICA), and the International Council on Mining and Metals, among others, have attempted to make the sector more transparent and accountable, but there seems to be no magic bullet.

Let’s not only ask where the gemstones are mined; let’s also ask, who are the companies and the executives running the mining companies?

Gemfields, the largest colored-stone miner, joined the Voluntary Principles Initiative on Security and Human Rights in 2020. The move aimed not only to improve Gemfields’ own image — it had come under fire for its labor practices in the past — but also to lead the way for other players in the colored-gem sector. The House of Gübelin has begun buying rubies from less problematic countries such as Greenland.

However, even in countries with ethical issues, there are responsible ways to source directly from miners, believes Susan Wheeler, founder of the Chicago Responsible Jewelry Conference. If one does purchase from conflict areas, Wheeler recommends thorough due diligence. “Let’s not only ask where the gemstones are mined; let’s also ask, who are the companies and the executives running the mining companies?” she says.

Large luxury groups still have a lot of homework to do on workers’ rights, according to the Sustainability Index that online media source The Business of Fashion published last year. Although it didn’t focus specifically on jewelry, the report rated the workers’ rights scores of publicly traded luxury firms. Kering scored 40 out of 100, Richemont 25, and LVMH only 19.

De Beers, which has full mine-to-market operations, is keen to declare its own ESG credentials. “Our diamonds are not only 100% conflict-free, but they have been ethically sourced to the highest health, safety, environmental and labor standards,” says Céline Assimon, CEO of De Beers Jewellers. For the past 15 years, the miner has employed “the strictest set of standards in the industry…covering all critical issues of ethical, social and environmental integrity,” she adds. Responsible sourcing is one of the core pillars of De Beers’ “Building Forever” plan — a set of 12 goals the company announced in 2021 to achieve by 2030.

The company also runs the GemFair program to regulate and improve the operations of artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM). The platform tracks diamonds and ensures that these mines respect international requirements for fair labor practices, worker health and safety, and environmental impact.

While GemFair’s stated aim is to promote the sector’s legitimacy and benefit the 150 million people who depend on ASM, the platform is not without its critics. In a 2020 study, Marc Choyt, president of New Mexico-based jeweler Reflective Jewelry, warned that GemFair posed the risk of letting De Beers dominate the diamond trade again as it did until a couple of decades ago.

A structural turnaround

Some critics still maintain that initiatives like these are mere public relations stunts — especially considering the top three luxury groups’ poor scores in The Business of Fashion Sustainability Index. Running a sustainable business goes beyond isolated initiatives; it demands structural and operational changes.

“To really make a change, the industry needs to consider the supply chain as a value chain,” asserts Leanne Kemp, founder and CEO of blockchain company Everledger, which provides traceability technology for the trade. “This means considering every aspect of a product’s life — the impact each of the supply chains is having [on] the production process” — and restructuring the company’s operations to incorporate ESG strategies.

Everyone must get involved, she believes: “The responsibility for ESG practices should be shared throughout the entire organization, rather than a single C-level role hidden within the marketing department or alongside procurement.”

Kering rated only 40 out of 100 on workers’ rights in a Business of Fashion study — still better than Richemont and LVMH.

Naturally, a structural turnaround implies costs. Ethical practices challenge companies’ bottom lines, says Dupreelle. “There is up to a 20% to 25% cost increase when switching to Fairtrade gold to ensure it is mined in ethical conditions. The effect is the same with responsibly mined gemstones, which have an average cost increase of 10% to 15%. The question remains as to how much of these costs customers will be willing to absorb.” Larger and established luxury brands have a greater ability to adjust to these changes, he adds.

And it’s not just the monetary costs. Besides being more expensive, recycled materials require additional traceability efforts to guarantee their sustainable origins, explains Dupreelle. The monitoring also needs to reach sub-suppliers to be truly meaningful, and this requires investment in technologies. In the creative department, designers have to retrain to adopt sustainable practices.

Yet the costs of not implementing sustainable practices are rising, Dupreelle warns. Governments are cracking down on companies’ transparency and emissions with new laws and taxes. ESG criteria matter not only to consumers, but also to prospective employees. When looking for work, 40% of millennials check firms’ ESG records, according to a recent BCG study. So do financial institutions, which offer better deals to companies with good ESG scores.

As Assimon says, “sustainability is no longer [just] nice to have, but core to every business.”

This article is from the March-April 2023 issue of Rapaport Magazine. View other articles here.

Image: Dorcas Masilo, shift coordinator at a processing plant water reserve at De Beers’ Orapa Mine in Botswana. (De Beers)

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Gübelin Gem Lab has launched Gemtelligence, a platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to determine the origin and treatment of colored gems.

This new tool, which analyzes emeralds, sapphires and rubies, was created in cooperation with technology and innovation institute the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM). The Swiss gem lab unveiled Gemtelligence at AGTA GemFair Tucson earlier this month.

Gemtelligence uses an algorithm based entirely on AI to pinpoint the country of origin of rubies, sapphires and emeralds, and heat treatments in rubies and sapphires. It is a first in the gemstone industry, according to Gübelin.

This system, which employs deep learning architecture, references the Gübelin Gem Lab’s archive of more than 28,000 gemstones from all commercially relevant mines, along with tens of thousands of high-grade stones the lab has analyzed for customers since the 1970s.

“This progress makes it possible to fully delegate data interpretation to a software program,” Gübelin said. “Gemologists are free to increasingly concentrate on producing plausible results, leaving them more time to invest in research and development.”

Gemtelligence is being gradually implemented at Gübelin’s three laboratories in Lucerne, Switzerland; Hong Kong; and New York. Currently, each stone in these labs is still tested by human experts.

Image: Gübelin Gem Lab stone collection. (Gübelin Gem Lab)

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The American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) has unveiled a new project that aims to improve transparency and traceability, ethics, sustainability, and human rights with regard to colored gemstones mined in Africa.

The project, named the “Transparent and Traceable Gemstone Supply Chains Initiative,” will examine colored-gemstone supply chains in Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, Nigeria and Sri Lanka. AGTA partnered with the Colorado School of Mines (Mines) on the initiative.

“AGTA and Mines recognize that guidelines developed for responsible sourcing of diamonds and precious metals do not fit the colored-gemstone supply chain,” John Ford, CEO of AGTA, said in a statement last week. “Both AGTA and Mines share the common goal of improving the transparency and traceability within the international mining community and desire to identify and cement best practices at sites worldwide.”

AGTA plans to expand this program to the South American and Asian supply chains, Ford added.

Nicole Smith, assistant professor of mining engineering at Mines, and PhD student Jenna White will lead the research effort. Research preparation will take place through March followed by site visits to Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar, Nigeria and Sri Lanka until November, AGTA said. The supervisors will examine several types of mining operations of various sizes in different environmental and social contexts, analyzing colored gemstones at each location. A report is expected in the spring of 2024.

“Consumers want transparency when it comes to the sourcing of all sorts of goods, and colored gemstones are no different,” Smith said. “We’re excited … to examine some of the best practices along colored-gemstone supply chains and how consumers can be sure the stones they’re purchasing are produced in an ethical way.’”

The partnership was made public following the annual AGTA GemFair show in Tucson and amid AGTA’s plans to be involved in the public comment process the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched for its “Green Guides,” which govern eco-friendly advertising claims and terminology.

Image: (From left) Sebnem Duzgun, Nicole Smith, John W. Ford Sr., Kimberly Collins and Jenna White.

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The American Gem Trade Association (AGTA) has begun an effort to define and standardize contemporary industry terms in the field of sustainability.

Issues such as fair pay, the environmental impact of sourcing and other ethical-minded business practices have gained importance among consumers, the AGTA said last week. However, definitions of many terms are not uniform.

To address this, the AGTA has formed a committee — currently unnamed — to develop “practical and specific” terms for the colored-gemstone and cultured-pearl industries, it explained.

The committee’s launch coincides with a call by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for comments for the upcoming updates to its “Green Guides,” which govern eco-friendly advertising claims and terminology. AGTA said it would work with the Jewelers Vigilance Committee (JVC) to develop proposed revisions and additions for the FTC.

Defining and standardizing these terms, as well as ensuring they are in the FTC document, is “one of the most important conversations happening in the colored-gemstone and cultured-pearl industry,” the trade group argued.

The committee comprises mainly AGTA members with practical experience in various areas of the supply chain. It will create a handbook of contemporary definitions, designed to offer clarity and consistency in the largely unpoliced realm of “greenwashing” — a term for conveying a false impression or misleading information about the environmental soundness of a company’s products.

Committee members include:

Jaimeen Shah, PrimaGems USA

Bruce Bridges, Bridges Tsavorite

Becky Scheffler, Rio Grande

John Bradshaw, John J. Bradshaw

Ron Rahmanan, Sara Gem Corp.

Jeffrey Bilgore, Jeffrey Bilgore LLC

Vincent Pardieu, field gemologist

Pardieu, while not an AGTA member, is a gemological expert. AGTA CEO John Ford and board president Kimberly Collins — owner of Kimberly Collins Colored Gems — will offer input and guidance as needed.

Image: An amethyst on grass. (Shutterstock)

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Gemfields recorded its highest annual auction revenue for rubies from its Montepuez mine in Mozambique following its final sale of the year.

Total ruby revenue for 2022 came to $166.7 million, an increase of 13% over last year’s record $147.4 million, the company said earlier this month. The improvement comes despite challenging conditions in the Cabo Delgado province, where the deposit is located, including an insurgency that forced employees to evacuate the mine, Adrian Banks, Gemfields’ managing director of product and sales, explained.

During the company’s final sale of the year, which took place in Bangkok between November 21 and December 8, Gemfields sold 431,671 carats of rubies at an average price of $155 per carat. Revenue came to $66.8 million, with 94% of lots finding buyers.

The company’s total auction revenue for the year for goods from Montepuez, as well as emeralds from its Kagem mine in Zambia, came to a record $316 million, up 32% from 2021, Gemfields added.

Image: Rubies from the Montepuez mine. (Gemfields)

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The celebrated rubies from deep in the ancient mines of Burma’s (Myanmar’s) Mogok valley have a mystical appeal to them. They have historically fetched the highest prices on the global market, and their famously intense deep-red shade, known as “pigeon’s blood,” evokes passion, power and prestige. Their beauty lies in their uniform color, high clarity and rich saturation, which make them incredibly rare and valuable. However, ethical issues clouding their country of origin in recent years have pushed dealers to look elsewhere to satisfy buyers’ appetite for rubies.

Hot commodity

While the pandemic has brought significant changes to the gemstone sector, traders have noticed a release of pent-up demand in recent months for medium- to fine-quality rubies in all sizes and origins due to shortages on the market. With Covid-19 restrictions starting to ease, Rohit Naheta — managing director of gemstone dealer Ders International — has seen a backlog of client requests.

“It’s been a great few months,” he says, since his company has been selling off its existing inventory. “Now it’s harder to replace the goods, as large manufacturers are charging much higher prices than before.” Prices for rough rubies are also high, he adds, noting that many manufacturers have closed their operations, and the cost of labor has gone up.

The scarcity of better-quality goods in particular is driving up prices for fine-quality stones, observes Jeremy Hakimi, director of New York-based gem supplier Colorline.

“Rounds, square cushions and heart shapes in 1- to 2-carat sizes are our best sellers,” he says. “In larger sizes, ovals, cushions and heart shapes are in strong demand. Emerald cuts sell very well, but they are limited in supply due to the weight loss required to make the straight edges.”

The majority of parcels available are ovals and rounds due to the nature of the rough stones, says Catherine Brooks, managing director of Thailand-based supplier Peter and Brooks. “Baguettes and square cuts remain very sought-after, especially in high-end goods, as demand outweighs supply. Many jewelry and watch pieces are designed with these shapes in mind.”

In the past six months, Nicolas Valentin — commercial manager of Paris-based gemstone manufacturer Maison Piat — has seen an increase in demand for calibrated rubies. Particularly popular are rounds measuring 1.5 to 3.5 millimeters (about 0.15 carats) and ovals of 5 or 6 millimeters by 4 millimeters (about 0.65 carats) that have top red color and are eye- to loupe-clean.

Phuket Khunaprapakorn concurs that calibrated stones are in demand. The managing director of manufacturer Gemburi has observed consistent orders for such stones below 1 carat, as well as in the 1- to 2-carat range.


Beyond Burmese

The political conflict and trade embargos surrounding Myanmar’s recent military coup have made Burmese rubies highly controversial. Since the February 2021 takeover, Western countries have imposed economic sanctions, leading to a shortage of Burmese rubies in the market. The pandemic has also contributed to supply shortages; since the outbreak began in 2020, Khunaprapakorn has noted a 20% decline in new ruby rough coming from Myanmar.

Faced with a dwindling supply of Burmese stones, the industry is turning its attention to gem-quality rubies from Mozambique and other regions. Prices for Mozambique goods are notably lower than for Burmese. “Although the hues are a bit different between them, some of the finer Mozambique rubies come quite close to the color and quality of the finer Burmese rubies,” says Hakimi.

With production down and fewer stones in circulation, many of the Burmese rubies on the market today are older ones that come through the secondhand market. These are often set in jewelry and available at a discounted rate, Hakimi reports.

Sometimes, says Naheta, if an older stone has value, “we tend to repolish the chips and remarket it.” However, “a lot of the time, we don’t recut the stones, as clients prefer the style of older cuts.”

Sustainable alternatives

Sustainability, traceability and transparency continue to be priorities in a post-pandemic world. Many large jewelry companies have stopped buying and selling Burmese material due to the political insurgencies. But despite the resulting rise in demand and prices for Mozambique goods, ethical challenges remain. Miner Gemfields’ Montepuez deposit in Mozambique has been the subject of severe human rights allegations in recent years, complicating jewelers’ sourcing efforts. Other notable ruby producers include Afghanistan, Tanzania, Cambodia, Vietnam, Madagascar, Tajikistan and India, but their current output is sporadic and too limited to meet market needs.

“There is a systematized way of buying Mozambique rough rubies, [and it] is controlled by mining companies,” states Naheta. “The supply of ruby has become more controlled, making it difficult for regular dealers to get hold of rough.”

That doesn’t mean they aren’t trying, though.

“We are committed to finding alternative solutions for our clients,” says Brooks. “Transparency is the only way forward.” Larger luxury groups are leading by example, and Brooks — whose company is a member of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) — sees this having a positive effect on the upstream supply chain. “Working with trusted partners for raw-material sourcing and having our in-house manufacturing gives us the transparency to operate within and supply the jewelry and watch industries in the long term. The more your organization is vertically integrated, the better you can guarantee responsible practices and sourcing.”

Independent jewelry designers are making the effort to conduct due diligence, sourcing rubies from respected and trustworthy suppliers. One example is New York designer Angie Marei, who creates bold and striking collections featuring marquise- and pear-cut rubies in clustered arrangements.

“While I do not mine the stones myself, I take the time to get to know the suppliers I work with and learn about their processes,” she relates. “My suppliers have close personal relationships with the miners and have worked together with mining villages and families for many generations. Artisanal mines are traditionally less harmful to the environment and provide income for the locals. It’s important to me that we support small artisanal mining communities.”

Group projects

In that vein, out of traceability and ethical concerns, Maison Piat has partnered with Moyo Gems — an organization that works with female artisanal miners in Tanzania to bring their goods from mine to market. Piat’s Valentin appreciates that Moyo is “audited by an external NGO such as Pact. It’s the future of our business and a main concern [for] our clients in Europe and the US. Asia has started to show interest in these concerns, too.” His company has “also planned to find new partnerships in Sri Lanka and Madagascar to help improve traceability and ethics [for] our main sources of gemstones.”

Another nonprofit group working to bring equity to the supply chain is Virtu Gem, which aims to support mining communities in Zambia, Kenya and Malawi. During the pandemic, it connected jewelers with artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM).

“Currently, Virtu Gem is offering ruby cabochon mined and cut in Zambia,” says country coordinator Chiko Manda. “The color is fantastic, with mostly deep pinks and some bright reds. We offer designer cuts like long, thin briolette pairs for earrings and big, skinny, high-dome ovals for cocktail rings.” Sales of these rubies will help the miners achieve official status as a mining operation.

Virtu Gem also has a reliable source of cabochon material in Kenya. Malawi isn’t as far along yet in the ruby department, though for other gems, the group has ongoing projects in all three countries.

“We are not buying ruby in Malawi, as there are no known legal mines in production,” Manda explains. “Malawi has two ruby mining places, namely Namizimu forest reserve in Mangochi district and in Ntcheu district. Both of the mines are in the border area with Mozambique. The Chimwazulu mine is the one which produces gem-quality ruby, while the [material] produced in Namizimu forest reserve is cabochon-quality.” Only Chimwazulu is legally registered, however, and it’s not currently in operation. “We don’t know when they will resume production. That was the ruby mine that was previously exporting to the US, and the only mine that was producing a substantial amount of ruby in Malawi.”

The synthetic option

Some jewelers are turning toward synthetic stones as an alternative. One of them is Massachusetts-based designer Chris Ploof, who takes advantage of the lab-grown material’s lower cost to experiment with spherical and other unusual shapes that would be expensive to attempt with natural ruby.

“You don’t see many spherical gemstones, and the color and refraction is incredible from a sphere,” he says. “Although I love natural stones, synthetic stones are really beautiful and a cost-effective option. This industry is all about trust and verification. I tend to work directly with the top people in a company to establish a relationship, and keep an open line of communication and continue to audit their practices.”

However, the majority of jewelers prefer to work with natural rubies. “I don’t use synthetic rubies, as I feel no connection to them,” says Marei. “While synthetics can come in beautiful colors, they do not have the life, personality, or unique characteristics of natural stones from Earth.”

Flora Wong agrees. The director of Hong Kong-based jeweler Forms selects rubies based on “the characteristics of their natural inclusions, how they reflect light and emit different hues. These are great creations from mother nature, and we inspect each of them in different lighting and angles to bring out their best characteristics in a design.”

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To say the least, supply chains for responsibly sourced goods and a consistent flow of colored gemstones into the marketplace are enormously challenging, which might be reason enough for large-scale manufacturers to shy away. Given the growing concern of consumers about the transparency of the products they buy, and respect for human rights and the environment, it is our responsibility to ensure the survival of our industry with a move toward responsible and sustainable mining and manufacturing. This is no longer a choice, but needs to be a standard operating procedure. It is also our responsibility to assure our consumers that buying colored gemstones is okay to do — consumer confidence is at the core of our businesses. We must remove the mystery but keep the mystique.

So complex is the colored-gemstone supply chain model, the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) only recently incorporated this category into its Code of Practices, allowing colored-gemstone miners to become members for the first time in July 2019. Greenland Ruby was quick on the uptake, and third-party auditing is currently being undertaken, making the company the first colored-gemstone mining operation member and leading the way.

Sustainable mining

The 2017 opening of a ruby and pink-sapphire mine in a remote region of southwestern Greenland presented a truly unique opportunity to bring a new source of gemstones to the world, with human rights, labor protection, sustainable environmental mining, and product disclosure practices considered along every step of the way. The license to mine, market and sell these responsibly sourced icy treasures was issued by the government of Greenland via the Ministry of Natural Resources, to which Greenland Ruby reports regularly to ensure thorough monitoring of sustainability, social responsibility, and Greenland’s stunning nature.

The Greenland Ruby mine at Aappaluttoq is approximately 180 kilometers south of Nuuk. The name is taken from the Greenlandic word for “red,” and with good reason — this is where centuries ago, local herdsmen out with their reindeer discovered red crystals in the rock in the icy, mountainous landscape, which is surrounded by majestic fjords. Today, the active open pit is located in a drained waterway, which was dredged 10 meters to expose the ruby-bearing rock. Crushing and optical sorting is done at the nearby state-of-the art processing plant. Tailings (residual from crushed rock) are put back into the lake. Monthly water and biological samples are gathered and analyzed for heavy metal and trace elements, and when we finish our work here, the waterway will be refilled, all equipment and buildings will be removed, and the site will be fully restored to its natural wilderness.

Transparency and traceability

Next stop in the route to market is Thailand, where all gems are sent for treatment. Borax is an industry standard process by which fractures leading to the surface of the gem are healed, ensuring stability of our stones. This treatment is irreversible and enables us to responsibly and confidently cut, polish, sort and sell our gems with little or no risk of return. All gems are tracked along every step of this journey and come with a certificate of origin.

Our customized inventory system was created to meet the demands of consumers — who are increasingly interested in route-to-market transparency — and traces each gem from the mine through processing, cutting and sorting. The structure of our numbering system allows an individual gemstone’s story to be told from the moment it emerges from the mine until it reaches its destination in a piece of fine jewelry. All this is approved by the Greenlandic government.

Social responsibility

The PinkPolarBear Foundation is a Greenland Ruby initiative and was founded in 2019 by the company to support international research into the effects of climate change. Greenland Ruby gives a percentage of proceeds from the sale of each gem to the foundation, and encourages our partners to do the same.

Most of Greenland Ruby’s workforce is made up of Greenlandic people. More than a third of our employees are women. Mining is a newer industry in Greenland and represents a much-needed viable alternative to fishing, which, along with tourism, is regarded as Greenland’s most crucial future source of income. Our local workforces enjoy all the protections and working conditions guaranteed by Greenlandic law, which is modeled on strict northern European standards.

With today’s customers caring passionately about the planet and human rights, Greenland Ruby provides beautiful rubies and pink sapphires that meet and exceed socially conscious shoppers’ expectations.

Hayley A. Henning is the chief commercial officer at Greenland Ruby. greenlandruby.gl; pinkpolarbear.org

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