Mining without permission, mining in protected areas, and mining on the concession of another company without permission – all these are cases of illegal mining.

Illegal gold mining is responsible for the massive destruction of the Peruvian rainforest and the heavy mercury contamination of rainforest rivers.

We are buying all our silver and gold for jewelry production from legal sources and therefore avoid negative impacts on rainforest habitats.

We are refusing to make cash payments to stone providers. All payments are made via bank transfer and with a proper billing procedure. This way we make sure all our providers have a legal business.

Gemrock Peru is not engaging in nor tolerating corrupt behavior along its entire production chain.

Gemrock Peru does not buy or trade with Peruvian Amazonite, because the mines are located in the VRAEM, the valley of the three rivers Apurimac, Ene, and Mantaro, a “lawless” region overrun by “narco-terrorists”, where about 70 percent of Peru’s cocaine is produced.

Luckily Peru has enacted several laws strictly prohibiting child labor in mining operations and has implemented them. By avoiding illegal mining, we also avoid possible child abuse.

In general, Peruvian lapidary workshops are shadowbusiness. They are located on the outskirts of Lima. They are not registered with the municipality, the tax office, or the labor ministry. Workers are hired without contract for cash under abusive labor conditions.

To the best of our knowledge, Gemrock Peru is the only legally registered lapidary company in Peru. All our top-quality crystal products and jewelry is produced in-house by our own master cutters.

Over the last two years, the Peruvian government has started to close financial loopholes and crack down on shadow businesses. This allows us to work with a few selected workshops, helping them to become legal and changing the system from within, by competing in the bulk wholesale business. 

All our gem cutters have been trained from scratch in-house.

All our employees are hired with a real labor contract, registered in the Ministry of Labor, and receive all legally required labor benefits like health insurance, retirement funds, paid vacations, paid sick leave, paid leave for mothers and fathers when a child is born, etc.

We are paying more than just fair salaries. Untrained workers who start their gem-cutting training are paid already 27 % more than the legally required minimum salary. A trained master cutter in Gemrock earns 2.7 times the legally required minimum salary. Additionally, we motivate quality and efficiency with a financial success bonus every 6 months. Finally, our employees get a 5% share of the annual company profits.

We are making sure that our jobs are healthy and safe by implementing an internal Health and Safety Regulation that was approved and is supervised by the Peruvian government.

By buying our crystals you are fighting labor abuse and shadow business and support real stone artists and their families. 

The Gemrock staff is international. We have employees from several countries working together.

We have an Internal Regulation that strictly prohibits discrimination of any kind, be it the way one looks, religion, nationality, or gender.

We have a strict regulation in place to protect our workers from sexual harassment.

We do not tolerate any such inappropriate behavior.

We have an Internal Regulation to support our workers in case they suffer violence in their families, a common problem in Peru. 

We pay equal salaries for equal work independently of gender.