According to the statements of M&M, they do not use any child labour, and for safety reasons, the miners must have regular training, which is reassuring for those concerned about ethical jewellery. The following information about the producing process is taken from their website.
Unlike traditional mining, gemstone mining involves the use of non-destructive, selective methods. For that reason, no explosives are used and all the extraction of gems is carefully done by hand. The manufacturing process begins by sawing the stones, followed by pre-forming, which is done by hand as well. During this process the stone gets its special shape. After that the stone receives its faceting and in the end the polish, which gives it its brilliant shine.
Traditionally, the Ametrine is cut into rectangular shapes, trying to divide the yellow and purple colours into two halves. A more modern, experimental style is to blend the citrine’s honey and the amethyst’s lavender in order to have a mix of colours, “where purple and yellow appear randomly throughout the stone” (Ramiro Rivero). It is also quiet popular among artistic cutters and carvers, who love to work with colours in a more playful way, to create landscapes shining through the stone. In addition to these designs, it is getting more and more common to add a checkerboard pattern at the top of the gem to make the most of the glittering reflections.
Independent of size, modern or traditional style, with or without checkerboard: At the very end of the procedure of mining, processing and carving, all of the specialized workers involved have created a unique piece of jewellery art.
The popularity of the gem seems to extend all over the American continent. Due to its range of colours, its availability in different sizes and styles, more prizes for gems have been awarded to the Ametrine over the past few years at the American Gem Trade Association’s Cutting Edge and Spectrum competitions than any other gem stone.
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