Ruby Mine in Madagascar

Ruby Mine in Madagascar

Madagascar mining or childhood underground.

in the mines of Madagascar, thousands of children dig for sapphires, some of the workers are not even six years old. The boy in the right picture is 14 years old,  he works in a blue sapphire mine at Manombo in Madagascar every day since 2 years now. 

Madagascar Ruby Mines

He sleeps outdoor and works from 6 am in the morning until early evening he pulls bags after bag up the deep hole his uncle dug twelve hours a day.

For lunch, he eats yams or cassava, but not every day, others have nothing to eat at all. On ropes, the mine children move down the hole to dig the sand, bring up the sand and gravel from which the sapphires are sifted. 

At Madagascar two-thirds of the population live below the poverty line. The large blue sapphire deposits in the south of Africa's Island state attracts kids and others to try to get a bit from the "cake".

Ilakaka and the village of Manombe are the main gem markets 

Sapphire ruby and other gems are sold on regular and black markets it is more rustique than Chanthaburi in Thailand. Many red stones from Africa find their way to Bangkok and Chanthaburi in Thailand because there are the main market. When the gemstone frenzy in the biggest island off Africa started Thai gem dealer invested heavily because of the insecure situation in Myanmar Burma Although African Ruby and Sapphire have a much lower quality then Myanmar Burmese gemstones because of much less clarity.

According to the last official study in 2009 about 19,000 children worked in the mines in this region. In Madagascar, officially, young people are allowed to work only if they are 15 years old, but no one cares.

Some kids in the mine are even only six years old. 

Estimates put the amount circulating in the precious-stone market each day at more than $1.4 million: a staggering sum in a country that had a gross domestic product in 1998 of $234 per person. Here is a comparison to a Myanmar ruby mine in Mogok.

Most of the gemstones in Madagascar are 'harvested'  by artesian means.
Since no much investment capital is available in Madagascar due to the political instability Since a clan with strong connections to France is ruling the country. If you want to know more various precious stones have a look here, Chanthaburi in Thailand is the main trading point on precious stones in Asia, most people just don't know it. 

This people who are on power in Madagascar control almost everything which brings money via export. Resources of semiprecious and precious gemstones are not exploited at large scale and practically no downstream business like excellent modern style jewelry is done locally. 


That means the real money with all kind of  jewelry is made outside the country. Today Myanmar and Madagascar only function as a natural ruby gemstone supplier mainly to Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore manufacturer.There they manufacture all the beautiful engagement rings, ruby and diamond rings, pendants and pretty natural jade jewelry.