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The sapphire mines of Madagascar [PICS]

boston.com — The tiny village of Ilakaka, Madagascar had barely 40 residents before 1998. Then, a large deposit of sapphires was discovered along a nearby riverbed, and caught the eye of some Thai businessmen in the gem trade.

Who dugg this? Made popular Oct 3, 2008

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  • inactive, on 10/03/2008, -0/+31Gets Mr. Babyman through the day..
  • postitnote, on 10/03/2008, -0/+20I hate Madagascar. One person sneeze in Italy and the entire country shuts down.
  • KevinAce, on 10/01/2008, -2/+18The Big Picture...dominating as always.
  • Berkana, on 10/03/2008, -1/+16I feel sorry for them. Digging stuff out of the ground for a living sucks.
  • NathanCH, on 10/03/2008, -2/+15Reminds me of blood diamond.
  • JulioChavez, on 10/03/2008, -0/+13Did you see that one pussy wearing shoes?
  • sayoshinn, on 10/03/2008, -2/+10makes me glad I was born in the USA. my mom never repelled me down an abyss
  • CMA115, on 10/03/2008, -1/+8We are all pretty lucky to be born in a completely different situation then those people.
  • alex7575, on 10/03/2008, -2/+8That was a pretty good movie...

    Edit: I'll leave my early "pre looking at the pictures" attempt to humor.

    Those pictures where sad, specially the ones with the beautiful children in them. Very sad, in contrast to how beautiful those gems are...
  • regularsteven, on 10/03/2008, -0/+5man, doesn't boston.com feature some amazing photographs
  • selmer, on 10/03/2008, -1/+6This bums me out. Why is it that consumerism is defended as part of American culture, but those who pay so dearly for our consumerism are so often half a world away? We are never truly able to associate our purchases with the true cost of creating that which we buy.
  • andrewlotta, on 10/03/2008, -0/+5makes me glad I was born in Austria, my dad never repelled me down an basement

    oh wait...
  • ZincSaucier, on 10/03/2008, -0/+4No they are not. Sapphire's are.
  • ani625, on 10/01/2008, -1/+5Its "alluvial sapphire".
    Related:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own ...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilakaka
  • inactive, on 10/03/2008, -0/+3Some really hard working folks there no doubt.
  • inactive, on 10/03/2008, -1/+4If the economy isn't fixed anytime soon I can see a lot of Americans heading towards Madagascar.
  • Snowcr4sh, on 10/03/2008, -0/+3Damn. And I thought my job was hard...
  • Namco, on 10/03/2008, -0/+3http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=I ...
  • aimhelix, on 10/03/2008, -0/+3Those are some brilliant photography.
    I couldn't look at that set without feeling guilty. Materialism is all around us.. but I try: http://www.adpunch.org/entry/denver-water-ad-use-o ...
  • XZanatos, on 10/03/2008, -0/+3Its ironic, and I mean REALLY ironic, then that their situation exists because people in "our" situation who are providing the market for those gems. If there weren't rich affluent countries with nothing better to do with our money except buy silly shiny rocks for ridiculous prices then they wouldn't be crawling into pits to find those gems.
  • XZanatos, on 10/03/2008, -0/+3Scenes and situations like those make me ask, "What is the purpose of life? and "What is the value of life?" To see people spending years, if not their entire lives, crawling around in sand and dirt looking for useless shiny bits of rock makes me ask, "is that all that life is worth, just a few shiny baubles?" What is the point of it all? Thousands of tons of gravel and sand and dirt all for MAYBE a pound or two of transparent mineral? Never makes sense to me.
  • dlan4327, on 10/03/2008, -0/+3It's such a strange contrast. The pictures are incredible, both in clarity & content, & the sapphires are also beautiful but then you have the people in the images & your heart just goes out to them.
  • ks136, on 10/04/2008, -0/+2Photo #20 summed it up for me.
  • crazzy88ss, on 10/03/2008, -1/+3You're pretty much guaranteed great pictures from boston.com.
  • ZincSaucier, on 10/03/2008, -1/+3except without the forced labor
  • ZincSaucier, on 10/03/2008, -0/+2Sapphires?! With those I could open the Gate of Karesh!
  • cap11235, on 10/03/2008, -0/+1My Mom did. You missed out alot in your childhood.
  • thealsir, on 10/03/2008, -0/+1Very humbling.
  • ZincSaucier, on 10/03/2008, -0/+1no but your dad had to repel down the abyss to create you
  • CTRaiderThe1st, on 10/03/2008, -1/+2And just what else would these people be doing with their day? Surely I would rather have them being here in the USA making a good wage that they could send part of it home but unfortunately they are not. At least they are making SOMETHING in their country.
  • inactive, on 10/03/2008, -2/+3Shoveling dirt all day in the sun. Damn am I glad my job involve sitting in front of a computer.
  • inactive, on 10/03/2008, -0/+1That's a wonderful photo-essay.
    I lived in Madagascar for about 6-weeks. It was an amazing adventure.
  • animaetaeris, on 10/03/2008, -0/+1Don't even get me started on our food system, kthx
  • FurtThePirate, on 10/03/2008, -1/+2hell I wouldn't mind doing that for a living. get to work out all day in the sun. picking up rocks and selling them for somewhat of a profit. reminds me of being a kid.
  • phre3k187, on 10/03/2008, -0/+1Ah... we've found MrBabyMan's secret army of diggers...
  • sodade, on 10/03/2008, -0/+1If I could make the same money working outside doing simple tasks, I'd be all over it.
  • cam0man, on 10/03/2008, -0/+1I remember it having more zany talking animals...
  • Talkryn, on 10/03/2008, -0/+1It was mentioned somewhere. If you do a search in google maps for Ilakaka, Madagascar, and look at the satellite view. You can see thousands of holes all around the area. It is a bit crazy seeing that and realizing there can be 2+ people working each one of those holes.
  • OneLess, on 10/01/2008, -7/+8Doesn't it seem like if you didn't know better, this would be a great name for a location in a sci-fi/fantasy story?

    "He then took his hover bike to the sapphire mines of Madagascar so that he could earn some credits to buy food pills."
  • mastertrevor, on 10/03/2008, -0/+1Anybody notice the guys missing leg in photo #4? Photoshop or badass?
  • Myztry, on 10/03/2008, -0/+1It's kind of fun mining for hidden treasures.
    I dug a 20x2x2 metre trench in an old chinese goldfields dump. Found heaps of antique bottles.
    But then it was in the side of a hill (makes it SO MUCH easier) and I didn't have to do it for a living...
  • forceuser, on 10/03/2008, -1/+1What section has these stories anyway? I really liked the one about the Muslim day of fasting.
  • inactive, on 10/03/2008, -2/+2spot the fly.
  • prettyrock, on 11/11/2008, -0/+0Gorgeous photos!
  • nepidae, on 10/03/2008, -0/+0If they have a problem with their own country then I would rather them work on that than taking wealth out of the US.
  • Kral, on 10/03/2008, -4/+3***** you, two of my friends died from a virus with no symptoms.
  • scoot2006, on 10/03/2008, -2/+1"Alluvial" -- Ah, the memories of the geeky hot chick in Tremors.
  • Junior612, on 10/03/2008, -3/+2I guess there's nothing better to do there. Look... all sand. What kind of opportunities does sand present? Kitty litter?
  • aserer511, on 10/03/2008, -2/+1ballin'
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