Our Moyo ring was made with a very special garnet from the Moyo gemstones program.
image © Michael Goima via Pact
This amazing project is an ethical gemstone collaboration bringing responsibly sourced gemstones from the female artisanal miners of the Umba Valley, Tanzania. We remember working with Umba sapphires in our early collections and these beautiful gemstones, including rubies, tourmaline, amethyst and garnet – as well as sapphires – are all tracked and traced from mine to market.
The program aims to empower women – and male – miners to work in a safe environment with better conditions, to have improved financial security and knowledge of the value of their stones, and to create stable and equitable markets for fair trade. It is a great example of local and global collaboration between gemstone companies, including our friends at Nineteen48, the NGO Pact, the Tanzania Women Miners Association and using Everledger blockchain technology to ensure traceability.
Look up @moyogems on social media for more and you can meet the miners here