Statement regarding the way in which crystals and gemstones are acquired.
Who We Are
Self & Others is a small company based in London that specialises in the supply of crystals and gemstones to individuals.
It is owned and operated by a certified gemmologist (Cert GA) through The Gemmological Association of Great Britain (Gem-A)
Our Partners
We work with crystal and gemstone partners who can provide us with information about their preferred producers. Understandably, this is a large and vast global network.
Our gemstones come predominantly from: Brazil, China, Madagascar, Morocco, India and South Africa. We occasionally receive supplies from other locations, for example, some of the best specimens of Pyrite can be found in 2 specific regions in Spain.
Majority of our partners hold personal relationships with established producers in their own sectors of the globe. In some cases our partners have visited the producers personally and in others, visits have been done via an agent on their behalf.
Current Geopolitical Concerns
Due to the current geopolitical landscape, we have chosen not to purchase certain materials from specific regions where conflicts, human rights concerns, or funding of armed groups may impact the mining and trade of these resources. Below is our list of restricted materials, along with the reasons for their inclusion.
While we strive for thoroughness, it is not always possible to know precisely when materials were mined or if they predate conflicts.
Afghanistan
- Emeralds: Mined in regions under Taliban control, where revenues may support armed groups.
- Kunzite: Potentially sourced from conflict zones or under regimes with human rights issues.
- Lapis Lazuli: Extracted in Taliban-controlled areas, with sales potentially funding conflict.
- Spinel: Often mined in militarised regions, potentially supporting armed groups.
Myanmar (Burma)
- Emeralds: Tied to human rights abuses under military governance.
- Jade: A significant source of military funding, often mined under exploitative conditions.
- Rubies: Linked to military funding and severe human rights abuses, including forced labour.
- Sapphires: Ethical concerns around military funding and lack of transparent supply chains.
- Spinel: Sourced from militarised regions, potentially supporting oppressive regimes.
Russian
- Alexandrite: Avoided due to international sanctions and ethical concerns around sourcing.
- Charoite: Exclusively mined in Russia; restricted due to sanctions and ethical concerns.
- Diamonds: Affected by sanctions related to ongoing geopolitical conflicts.
- Emeralds: Restricted under international sanctions.
- Malachite: Restricted due to geopolitical conflicts and sanctions.
Human Considerations
Mining is hard, physical work and inherently dangerous. As a responsible supplier, we work with our partners to try and ensure that the gemstones we provide to you are mined under safe conditions and workers receive fair wages. We would never knowingly supply goods from a partner who does not work with trusted producers across the globe to ensure these working conditions.
Certain countries have well documented issues with the use of child labour. As a responsible supplier we must ensure that child labour is not used in our supply chains and to act on any information we receive. We would never knowingly work with suppliers or producers who make use of, support or condone child labour.
Most producers in the gemstone business are small (often family-based) operations or independent owner-operator led companies. Large corporations are not involved and as such, profits generated by the business go directly to the workers, diggers, and the local community.
Environmental Considerations
There are environmental impacts associated with any mining activity, but the environmental impact from crystal extraction is relatively small.
The mines involved vary from hand collected specimens to hand dug pits and larger quarries but no large scale industrial extraction or chemical processing is used.
Once a pit has been fully utilised, it is filled in and covered with the original soil which was removed.
Carbon Footprint
Lack of machinery in the crystal extraction process means that the carbon footprint at source is quite low. Transport of gemstones is a major portion of the carbon footprint - this is both from source to final consumer. This is because it is “multi-modal” with several different modes of transport used.
Sea-freight is generally used for transport over the largest distances in the supply chain and is generally accepted as having the lowest impact on the carbon footprint, helping to mitigate environmental impact.
Packaging is another factor. All of our packaging is cardboard, acid-free paper and printed with water-based inks. All easily recyclable.
Plastic tape and some bubble wrap is used for larger or more delicate pieces to ensure safe delivery. We will always look at ways to improve our packaging in the future.
Gemstones themselves have an extremely long “shelf life” and if looked after can last for many years and very often are passed on, donated or resold. Unlike other sectors, such as fast fashion or food, there are no expiration dates or high levels of waste.
Consclusion
It is admittedly difficult to know exactly what the situation is in so many different parts of the world and with so many individual operations. As a responsible supplier, we will continually assess on the considerations outlined above.
However, the nature of the gemstone business and the small companies that dominate it are fundamentally different from the large multinational corporations responsible for the majority of the extractive mining activity worldwide.
In the end, it is up to each of us to decide for ourselves the level of impact we wish to support. For example, if you add a natural crystal as an adornment to your mobile phone. The crystal itself has a lower impact (extracted by a small family operation) compared to the mobile phone's production chain and battery (which has a much higher impact).
We are here to help make sure the choice is an informed one and to put positive effort into respecting the Earth so that the energy circles back our way.