What is Gemecology?

Gemecology – Gems & Ecology: balancing the benefits and the costs!

About Gemecology

Gems and the Environment is a project of Saleem H. Ali, Ph.D. and Sally Dickinson DeLeon conducted with generous support from The Tiffany & Co. Foundation and several research collaborators. We hope that the site will serve as an educational resource for those interested in improving the living conditions and quality of life of artisinal miners around the globe.

An “artisinal miner” is that little guy – the independant miner that is not operating with the backing of a larger corporate sponsor.

This site teaches about the people, places, and processes of colored gemstone mining around the world. Think about how the ancient practice of artisinal mining interacts with complex ecological and social webs in some of the places where the earth produces amazing pockets of rubies, sapphires and emeralds.