Thanks for such an excellent documentary. I am Sri Lankan, Sri Lankan Media channel never did this level of documentary before about this industry. Media channels are just licking politicians' shoes and showing their Nonsense to citizens. Hats off to Business Insider for the fantastic documentary. 👏❣
It is nice to see the locals speaking up for a safer mining industry.. Hard to see AND hear about the tough and unfair practices.. May God Bless Them All.....
How's this buyers fault😂. Its like you getting blamed for buying at a supermarket where the owner benefit 50% more compare to the stock provider, which is mostly farmers that get exploited. Which most of the population know nothing abouy@@Asapsim
Thank you for making this short doc. Helping to unveil the Lives of these rural Sri Lankans who are living in extreme poverty , but work in the multimillion dollar industry. I hope someone will make a shot about tea plantation workers too.
They claim to care soo much about slavery that happened in the PAST, but are so quick to aid companies in exploiting foreign workers TODAY. These people are living in conditions worse than many slaves, yet nobody talks about it? Just goes to show who is really in control… big businesses with 0 ethical concerns. The amount of profit they make of this deadly industry is disgusting, yet they sleep sound at night knowing they’re exploiting thousands. How do people like that exist and operate freely in our country without consequence? We need to hold them accountable, and demand change from the politicians they literally bribe.
Pure exploitation, sad to see. You could hear the frustration as the miner talked about the gem dealer who lives in a multistory house while many miners don’t have a house at all.
@@TheDogGoesWoof69 I work in this industry and at face value it would seem like that but in reality there are also very few local middlemen that have a lot wealth ... the biggest problem in gem trading is the locations. The europeans would love to create factories to improve the workers working habitat but it is nearly impossible to get the resources there to do so. There is also regional controllers and ambassadors and thrifty license procedures that spike up the cost ( more than the stone itself ) to export the stone. Security is a must , even if youre carrying nothing but a mobile phone. Anytime you can be abducted for ransom. Generally you need to bribe the local policemen to drive you down, but unless you add the peace keeping elders inside the van , your risk( with security or police ) is still very high. If youre lucky to not be killed by bush gangs and make it back to your workshop, you need to spend 4 weeks polishing it by hand because there is no electricity. Then you need to go on the open market, deal with cutoms officials & bank accounts. At the end, if it arrives in the west, the stone is most of the time moved around from hand to hand and everybody makes a little off each time it is handed over. ONLY renowned jewelry houses and a few odd people make a lot of money from jewels ( which is also in decline due to the latest negative social perspective towards wealth ). ALSO - Keep in mind that the chances to find worthy stones ( jewelry grade diamonds for example) is a rarity. Miners might spend years digging without success. This business goes hand in hand and its wrong to assume that millions are made , as simple for example , as stock markets or new innovations. Work of passion generally never makes millions.
@@HawkinaBox Exactly - these people are quite literally slaves. Capitalism enables legal slavery. If these people had other options, this job would pay SIGNIFICANTLY more than it does.
@@marcusmiro7481what? I agree with the notion that the USA should no longer outsource the majority of our manufacturing overseas. That USA should cut off all trade with china, because they use literal slaves and their citizens have zero human rights. That has nothing to do with capitalism being bad though. That’s just called being against slavery and human exploitation. It’s upper class college educated liberals that don’t want to see that happen. They are the ones that laughs at factory workers or truck drivers and tell them “learn to code”. They don’t want to pay more for their products and services- like house cleaning, hiring a carpenter, landscaping, and yes the price of food. Stop immigration into the USA if you want to see living wages for poor people, that is a perfect example of the left sabotaging capitalism.
It's unbelievable what kind of work some people do for a living, I admit that I could never do this kind of work myself & I know that that's the case for 99.9% of people out there so those few who do it deserve respect & *higher* salaries... I mean when you are doing such a dangerous job where you can lose your life at any time you need to be compensated adequate, right?
And who is going to decide what a "fair" salary for those miners is? You? Or some other group of people shouting and protesting about the "exploitation" of miners? No, the best judge of adequate salary is the free market. These miners are being paid exactly what they are worth. Your worth on the job market depends on how easy you are to replace. If these miners had important rare skills, they could protest and strike and walk off the job until they got a raise, but they don't because if they protest or walk off the job, they will be replaced quickly. And if they are so easily replaced, then their labor is not that valuable, meaning they are paid exactly what they are worth.
@@thebellcurve3437 Aah yes, a fair and effective system of free market. No corruption, no inequality, no structural poverty, no discrimination againts less-educated. Just a fair and square system of free market.
Everyone hates the middleman and thinks they're cheating them. In reality, middlemen exist because there is a disconnect between the original seller and the ultimate buyer which can only be changed by altering the way you do business. Often it is the buyer who refuses to deal with the seller for cultural reasons, or the seller is not making his product attractive to the buyer. If you want to cut out the middleman, look at what is causing these barriers to exist. Some commenters are saying they will buy the stones directly. In some cases you can do that, but you run the risk of buying synthetics, even from miners at the mine site itself. Edit: People replying to my comment need to do some research on what middleman gem traders actually do, the risks they take and the knowledge and capital they need to have before they have a chance at being successful at this trade.
@@apair4002 middlemen resell the gem. It's not our fault they sell at such a low price, that then someone can turn around and be millionaires. They don't own the mine, they work it. In what world does an employee make the most? Use ya head.
My grandfather used to be a gem dealer and he frequently travel to Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India, Africa and Brazil these are countless I remember. Gems/jewelry are given as a gift instead of cash. But either mines were closed or gem quality stones are becoming rare and decided to just focus on jewelry making and repair. I’m just glad to see how gems are mine.
@@paulphoenix8673 of course, it’s always the Chinese’s fault ( and stupid people like you thinks all asians are Chinese) everything they do are scam and illegal that’s why they’re millionaires and you? Educate yourself and stop feeding your head with your stupid stereotypes it won’t make you rich like these Chinese lol.
I bought a rough blue tanzanite from sir lanka, the thing is about the size of a AAA battery and was only like $7 (might have been like $12 but still) as well as small peices of opal that are truly mesmerizing. These miners deserve better for their hard work, these stones are beautiful and many are willing to pay good money for them, the ones bringing them to fruition should get a fair share of the profits. But alas, that's in a fair world, and we live in anything but
How? Tanzanite only come from Tanzania not Sir Lanka. And there are lots of Sir Lanka people scamming tourists. Even for professional gemstone dealers often got scammed, what they get from the market isn’t what they were told.
Tanzanite from SriLanka? The size of a AAA battery for 7$ - very questionable. You know what they say if it sounds too good to be true? Small loss though
The saddest truth. We are living in a land of gems, but that's our harsh lives. Thank you for this video. It shows the truth. Watching this video make me emotional
8:46 Experts : “Miners remove native vegetation” Video : shows only an living room area that has removed vegetation Me : “confusion compare to what I saw in western modern mines”
@@damianxavier7343 typically it should be around 2000 - 2500 LKR per day for labor. I feel like these miners may have some profit sharing arrangement with the owners for daily wage to be so low.
it is not natural to find blue saphires, ruby and emerald together, os this place Ravanas buried treasure chamber and you belive that ravan existed and is he a part of your culture, asking this because here in India everyone says it is just a story written by someone which pisses me off.
This video hurts during the profit part for me. The miners are being exploited pretty much with their lives being constantly put on the line and they earn so little compared to the traders. There are many cruel jobs like this around the world.
They agreed to work for the salary they are being paid so where is the exploitation? Do you even know what that word means? Consenting adults conducting business is not "exploitation", it's just people doing business. Stop calling any difficult job "exploitation" because it isn't.
@@thebellcurve3437 you didn't get the OP's point here, what he meant by exploitation of those workers is in terms of being paid less when those gems actually cost more. The market where they are selling them is a big mafia in its own. The buyers buy for a lower price and then sell them at higher prices to the customers later. they do this to make more profit and it is the exploitation of the laborer's hard work because they've been doing this for years and they are being paid less meanwhile the middle men are a living luxurious life with the profit they made by exploiting. This happens everywhere around the world in trade markets and it still goes on like this. what they need to do to solve this issue is to make the miners sell their gems directly to the customers instead of these middle men but in order to do that the miners need to have more connections with clients/companies which they don't have.
It's because there's so many people who need to do it. If one group refuses and demands higher pay, there are so many more who would gladly take their place for the low pay. You don't tackle this problem by targeting the industry, you tackle it by making labor more valuable in general, which will drive people away from the mining business, which will by necessity raise the pay in the mining business. The issue is population. Too many people = labor is cheap
This is very illuminating as someone who just opened a crystal shop. I do try my best to make sure I don’t support bad practices with what I buy for my store, but this makes it clear that the issues run deep. I hope these miners and the country in general sees a better future!
These miners need to get some kind of way to get on the internet and sell these gems to people around the world who will pay what they are worth and cut out these local middle men! Get on eBay or whatever! Then they will have the big 🏘...seriously. Elon Musk needs to send free starling to these people😮
I’ve been involved in small scale mining for nearly 2 decades now. Those bags they carry out of the mine shafts are not weighing 40 lbs, but at least 45 kgs or more, because anything less would equate to loss of valuable time and effort, as miners work in 8 hour shifts and have to clear all their harvest before the next shift comes in. It takes a lot of resolve and grit to be a small scale miner working in make shift mines that dot Asia and Africa. Whenever I see a worker in the mountains, be it for logging or mining, I have to admire them for their inner strength and resolve, if nothing else. Staying and working in the mountains is not for the faint of heart and mind. City bois wouldn’t last 3 days where I usually operate.
The people responsible for digging these gems live in stick and stone houses, covered with leafs. The executives of these companies selling the gems live in luxury houses. That's just insane but that's how it works. Unfortunately
Happens in most parts of the world.. the most miserable, back breaking and effort consuming jobs will yield infinitely less than paperwork. And they say feudalism is dead.
Have you read through some of the comments from people with Indian/ Sri Lankin sounding names; mind blowing and infuriating! That's part of the problem right there. Though it's illegal the caste system still prevails.
Can we talk about the elephant in the room that is the gem buyers paying next to nothing to the miners who risk their lives every day? That’s disgusting.
Israel's biggest export is diamonds and they have zero diamond mines. Let that star your journey down the rabbit hole not just with jew-elry but with how our society is structured. Slavery never ended it just changed forms but the same masters stayed in charge.
Mining is always risky, when u have limited resources, salute to all the miners of the world who brings treasures to the world in a dangerous way, love from a miner from Pakistan
Very nice documentary. Being a Crystal Collector in India, I totally understand how difficult it is to be underground for such a long time & doing tedious tasks there. Sadly, the miners doesn't earn the real value of the gemstone. Thank you for this video. Love from India 😍
I take my hat off to these brave men; i could never face this kind of life. And i sincerely pray that God will shower them with beautiful crystals for their efforts. Good luck!!!!!!!
I also got this experience when i was 20 years old. Now I'm 32 . So that was very hard and nice experience for my life. Frankly speaking i was very lucky to find jems. So i earned lots of money those days.
The stress on Piyaseeli's face at 12:13 is heartbreaking. It's so disgusting that someone makes so, so, so, so, so much off of their labor, and this woman and her husband have to make choices between food, medicine, and other necessities. Subhuman trash runs the world. These people deserve comfort and security. MILLIONS OF DOLLARS for some stupid rock and these people have never known what it's like to go to bed without being terrified of the future. And the cruelest part of all this is that if they could sell a single one of those useless rocks themselves, they would never need to work again. Our world is so sick and broken.
There are many urban legends about mine workers who smuggled gems out (often by swallowing) and got rich beyond imagination just by selling a single stone. 💎
Here in Philippines we called that "Patola" it's very delicious veggies and very common to be ingredient of Pansit bihon. Sometimes we can used it too to be rubbing for bath.😁
@@superfluous5162 it is not related to socialism or capitalism, rather it is related to the human nature, evilness. A sidenote, socialism has alredy lost as a system.
@@fidelcatsro6948 :) actually communism is not related to worker rights or something like that. You simply make all citizens gov workers, but the system becomes bulky and cannot produce efficiency, and collapses.
It's such heart breaking to see people working in these conditions. I have 2 to 5 caret Ceylon sapphires in My fingers and Now I know that their is great betrayal to the mining workers involved between the mines and our fingers
The sad truth is that the multimillion-dollar jewelry industry gives very little to the real hardworking people, but only the owners always win. People wear jewelry with pride, but it's very difficult to create it. It's an injustice to the real heroes.
These guys are busting their asses, so we in developed nations can enjoy a high quality of life. God bless them, and I wish that companies will make their supply chains more transparent in the future, so that consumers can decide what practices they want to support.
i want to go to sri lanka, buy some gems directly from miners, and donate to each of the families. its amazing how such a small amount of money could literally be life changing for these individuals
it just said they pay $3 for milk lol thats the same price we pay. theyre just MAKING small amounts of money, if we give them a small amount it wouldn't do anything.
I had a mining at Rathnapura.When every Jem is sold, a portion goes to the all workers, Example, land owner 20%, license owner 10% , The bearer of the expenses of the mine 30% or 40% all workers 30% If they get a gem with a very high value, they will become rich overnight, That is why they continue to do this job..
& they didn’t mention about how much they steal from and sold it to middle men as well.. and these middle men have corrupted the miners so they can buy for cheap.
Ummm...what expenses of the mine?? It's a hole with terrible conditions and the workers have to go out in jungle to get stuff to make it a mine...so what expenses...shovels? Please don't be so insulting to these workers they are the ones doing risking everything!
Videos like this really puts things into perspective… normal everyday life in the city is something they’ll probably never get …. Gotta b more grateful for sure🤝✅
I'm from Rathnapura, The life of the miner is sad. Gem businessmen of Ratnapura are very rich people. Our area is lush with gemstones, tea, rubber and coconuts. Therefore, no matter how many economic crises there are, no one will be hungry. Ratnapura is a hidden beautiful area where the tourism industry does not take place.
that gem that is worth 300m: theres 100k ppl in the mines, if you split it among them, each gets $3000. They earn about 3 $ per week. so this gem alone can feed them for 1000 weeks. thats 19 years. unfortunately, the money goes into a single wealthy pocket.
The miners should start their own collective to get fair prices for their gems and have the UN supplement payments to mines who refill in old mines etc
Pretty rocks certainly aren't worth death and suffering. No one should work this job. If you have money, give it to workers - help them out of their suffering - instead of enabling and enriching their employers so you can have a pretty rock.
This is a very nice video and thank you so much! ❤ But it is not true that mine workers get such a low pay. This weekly amount is given only for their weekly expenses. They are entitled to a share of the profit when they find gems. It is divided as a percentage. This is a customary law and this is how it has operated for generations. It is a gamble because if you don't find gems, this is all you get. There is no concept as salary in Sri Lankan gem trade. Only a very few workers work for daily labour and their daily wage is more than the amount stated ($3). Those who are paid weekly are usually shareholding workers. But it is very true that the middleman earns the most. Most of the time, even the gem mine owner doesn't make so much money compared to the middle man. And there are a few layers of middle men before the gems reach the final buyer. Most of the low layer middlemen nowadays started off as mine workers. So would appreciate it if you get the facts right about it. If you have any doubts, you are most welcome to visit again.
The owner doesn't get a share in his own property sometimes, and that's just the harsh reality of the world. Colonialists, The Corporate World, Capitalists, all the same - feeding on people like leeches while not giving them the share they deserve. I feel very sorry for these people.
True and it only getting worse. But how to fix the inequality seems insurmountable when there are so many greedy people out there bereft of a conscience with so much power and wealth.
I'm from sri lanka 🇱🇰.i love my country.our country is very beautiful country.there are a lot of resources here.but our country is exploited by our politicians.😢😢😢
Really people works hard to collect the jems. I am glad to have one Srilankan jems Ruby in my ring. Love you all for your dedication to your job. I love Srilanka and Srilankan.
If you love them so much, donate them some money, otherwise your words are empty. So, you're rich and have a nice ruby. Must be nice for you to be able to ignore the suffering of the miners so you can have a pretty gem on your finger. Shame on you!
If you have money, give it to workers - help them out of their suffering - instead of enabling and enriching their employers so you can have a pretty rock. Pretty rocks certainly aren't worth death and suffering. No one should work this job.
Always fascinates me how different often very complex techniques came about, some are easy to guess but others are not so easy to figure out. For instance the many steps needed to make papyrus and later Chinese paper.
I feel so sorry for these guys... they do all this hand work, all this danger, all for some functionally worthless shiny rocks that have been assigned value by businesses and are only expensive thanks to artificial scarcity. This type of exploitation needs to end
Thanks for such an excellent documentary. I am Sri Lankan, Sri Lankan Media channel never did this level of documentary before about this industry.
Media channels are just licking politicians' shoes and showing their Nonsense to citizens.
Hats off to Business Insider for the fantastic documentary. 👏❣
👍👍👍
Not just in sri lanka it's the story of south asia
They won't brother no media will ever piss off rich people
Jada jut bolne ka nai bosriwala
You are correct. 🙏to buisness insider.
It is nice to see the locals speaking up for a safer mining industry.. Hard to see AND hear about the tough and unfair practices.. May God Bless Them All.....
Pure evil buyer.....
How's this buyers fault😂. Its like you getting blamed for buying at a supermarket where the owner benefit 50% more compare to the stock provider, which is mostly farmers that get exploited. Which most of the population know nothing abouy@@Asapsim
Thank you for making this short doc. Helping to unveil the Lives of these rural Sri Lankans who are living in extreme poverty , but work in the multimillion dollar industry. I hope someone will make a shot about tea plantation workers too.
Bureaucracy and corruption at every level is to be blamed.
I can make better curry than that in my sleep. Go home and be a family man.
Mutli billion dollar industry not millions
This is capitalism' fault plain and simple
They claim to care soo much about slavery that happened in the PAST, but are so quick to aid companies in exploiting foreign workers TODAY. These people are living in conditions worse than many slaves, yet nobody talks about it? Just goes to show who is really in control… big businesses with 0 ethical concerns. The amount of profit they make of this deadly industry is disgusting, yet they sleep sound at night knowing they’re exploiting thousands. How do people like that exist and operate freely in our country without consequence? We need to hold them accountable, and demand change from the politicians they literally bribe.
Pure exploitation, sad to see. You could hear the frustration as the miner talked about the gem dealer who lives in a multistory house while many miners don’t have a house at all.
@@TheDogGoesWoof69 I work in this industry and at face value it would seem like that but in reality there are also very few local middlemen that have a lot wealth ... the biggest problem in gem trading is the locations.
The europeans would love to create factories to improve the workers working habitat but it is nearly impossible to get the resources there to do so.
There is also regional controllers and ambassadors and thrifty license procedures that spike up the cost ( more than the stone itself ) to export the stone.
Security is a must , even if youre carrying nothing but a mobile phone. Anytime you can be abducted for ransom. Generally you need to bribe the local policemen to drive you down, but unless you add the peace keeping elders inside the van , your risk( with security or police ) is still very high.
If youre lucky to not be killed by bush gangs and make it back to your workshop, you need to spend 4 weeks polishing it by hand because there is no electricity. Then you need to go on the open market, deal with cutoms officials & bank accounts.
At the end, if it arrives in the west, the stone is most of the time moved around from hand to hand and everybody makes a little off each time it is handed over.
ONLY renowned jewelry houses and a few odd people make a lot of money from jewels ( which is also in decline due to the latest negative social perspective towards wealth ).
ALSO - Keep in mind that the chances to find worthy stones ( jewelry grade diamonds for example) is a rarity. Miners might spend years digging without success.
This business goes hand in hand and its wrong to assume that millions are made , as simple for example , as stock markets or new innovations.
Work of passion generally never makes millions.
They need to get paid a lot more.
There's a special place in hell for him if he doesn't change his ways.
Ppl who work on raw material extraction rarely do. @@RohitMReddy
They need to hold on to the gems until they can get more money. Sell them their self
it is heartbreaking to see them risk life for next to nothing while the jewelry shops around the world make the most out of it.
They could leave at any point, and get out of the industry. That would help drive up the cost of labor, but too many work the mines.
@@jackieboy1593 They can't get out of the industry when their survival depends on it. They might not have another job opportunity.
... AND THE CUSTOMER... NO CUSTOMER.. NO NEED... 🤔
@@HawkinaBox Exactly - these people are quite literally slaves. Capitalism enables legal slavery. If these people had other options, this job would pay SIGNIFICANTLY more than it does.
@@marcusmiro7481what? I agree with the notion that the USA should no longer outsource the majority of our manufacturing overseas. That USA should cut off all trade with china, because they use literal slaves and their citizens have zero human rights. That has nothing to do with capitalism being bad though. That’s just called being against slavery and human exploitation. It’s upper class college educated liberals that don’t want to see that happen. They are the ones that laughs at factory workers or truck drivers and tell them “learn to code”. They don’t want to pay more for their products and services- like house cleaning, hiring a carpenter, landscaping, and yes the price of food. Stop immigration into the USA if you want to see living wages for poor people, that is a perfect example of the left sabotaging capitalism.
It's unbelievable what kind of work some people do for a living, I admit that I could never do this kind of work myself & I know that that's the case for 99.9% of people out there so those few who do it deserve respect & *higher* salaries... I mean when you are doing such a dangerous job where you can lose your life at any time you need to be compensated adequate, right?
true even as a Sri Lankan first time I'm seeing this ,only heard about this. Bless them to be safe while doing such a dangerous job.
I agree 💯
Yes, that is right. We live in such an unfair and cruel world. May their karma keep them safe!.
And who is going to decide what a "fair" salary for those miners is? You? Or some other group of people shouting and protesting about the "exploitation" of miners? No, the best judge of adequate salary is the free market. These miners are being paid exactly what they are worth. Your worth on the job market depends on how easy you are to replace. If these miners had important rare skills, they could protest and strike and walk off the job until they got a raise, but they don't because if they protest or walk off the job, they will be replaced quickly. And if they are so easily replaced, then their labor is not that valuable, meaning they are paid exactly what they are worth.
@@thebellcurve3437 Aah yes, a fair and effective system of free market. No corruption, no inequality, no structural poverty, no discrimination againts less-educated. Just a fair and square system of free market.
No one should have to work in these sorts of conditions. My heart goes out to these people ❤️
Your words mean nothing
It's not that bad lol.
But you will go out and buy the jewelry
They chose to do it. No one forced them to be there.
They don’t have a choice prick.
When the miner mentioned about the middlemen living in luxury,it truly affected me
It hurt me in a way most likely the same as you.
Everyone hates the middleman and thinks they're cheating them. In reality, middlemen exist because there is a disconnect between the original seller and the ultimate buyer which can only be changed by altering the way you do business. Often it is the buyer who refuses to deal with the seller for cultural reasons, or the seller is not making his product attractive to the buyer. If you want to cut out the middleman, look at what is causing these barriers to exist.
Some commenters are saying they will buy the stones directly. In some cases you can do that, but you run the risk of buying synthetics, even from miners at the mine site itself.
Edit: People replying to my comment need to do some research on what middleman gem traders actually do, the risks they take and the knowledge and capital they need to have before they have a chance at being successful at this trade.
@@victoryoneable And why the middle man become millionaire and the miners poor af? Because middle buy it from miners very cheap af.
@@victoryoneable broker spotted on comment section
@@apair4002 middlemen resell the gem. It's not our fault they sell at such a low price, that then someone can turn around and be millionaires. They don't own the mine, they work it. In what world does an employee make the most?
Use ya head.
I feel anxiety. To drown in darkness or suffocate in tunnel collapse - those are my biggest fears in one place.
My grandfather used to be a gem dealer and he frequently travel to Myanmar, Sri Lanka, India, Africa and Brazil these are countless I remember. Gems/jewelry are given as a gift instead of cash. But either mines were closed or gem quality stones are becoming rare and decided to just focus on jewelry making and repair. I’m just glad to see how gems are mine.
of course. you damn chinese scumbags also smuggle gems not just illegal drugs.
@@paulphoenix8673 of course, it’s always the Chinese’s fault ( and stupid people like you thinks all asians are Chinese) everything they do are scam and illegal that’s why they’re millionaires and you? Educate yourself and stop feeding your head with your stupid stereotypes it won’t make you rich like these Chinese lol.
I am gem business man in Sri Lanka
@@RUclipsTookMyNickname.WhyNot He meant "how gems are mined" as in "how those gems are taken out from the mine"
@@RUclipsTookMyNickname.WhyNot I believe it's all his, any questions?
I bought a rough blue tanzanite from sir lanka, the thing is about the size of a AAA battery and was only like $7 (might have been like $12 but still) as well as small peices of opal that are truly mesmerizing. These miners deserve better for their hard work, these stones are beautiful and many are willing to pay good money for them, the ones bringing them to fruition should get a fair share of the profits. But alas, that's in a fair world, and we live in anything but
How? Tanzanite only come from Tanzania not Sir Lanka. And there are lots of Sir Lanka people scamming tourists. Even for professional gemstone dealers often got scammed, what they get from the market isn’t what they were told.
Tanzanite from SriLanka?
The size of a AAA battery for 7$ - very questionable.
You know what they say if it sounds too good to be true?
Small loss though
The saddest truth. We are living in a land of gems, but that's our harsh lives. Thank you for this video. It shows the truth. Watching this video make me emotional
Just boycott the mining industry until you get better pay
@@nutzhazel that's their only income. The mine owner will hire new people.
@@chamilajla Should impose government policies for a minimum wage for a gem stone miner
Im cameraman this documentary.
@@cutetiny6144 they care nothing for them .
8:46
Experts : “Miners remove native vegetation”
Video : shows only an living room area that has removed vegetation
Me : “confusion compare to what I saw in western modern mines”
Salary should be 1200LKR per day and not week as mentioned in the video.
so its about 100usd per month i see
Yea I was wondering as well as to how some one could live on 4800 rupees a month. 1200 a day makes much more sense.
@@damianxavier7343 typically it should be around 2000 - 2500 LKR per day for labor. I feel like these miners may have some profit sharing arrangement with the owners for daily wage to be so low.
@@fidelcatsro6948 typically around $ 120 - 150 per month.
@@Hasitha_Chandrasekara you can't expect good wages in a third-world country, my guy.
Sri Lanka is richer than other country if they sell this gem right 👍👍
Brave of the insider crew to head down as well
Yep for sure. I personally wouldn’t had the courage to go to a place like that, no matter the rewards I get back
probably trained and paid a miner 3 months equivalent salary for a 2hour shot with them filming themselves in the mines 🐱👍🏿
I’m from Ratnapura and I’m proud of my city... this documentary was very interesting and I appreciate who done it.. best wishes..❤
Why are you proud of your city?
@@Cody_Handsome maybe because of practicing slavery to this day..
it is not natural to find blue saphires, ruby and emerald together, os this place Ravanas buried treasure chamber and you belive that ravan existed and is he a part of your culture, asking this because here in India everyone says it is just a story written by someone which pisses me off.
@@Cody_Handsome for fool like you
@@Cody_Handsome what's wrong in being proud? Not every city is filled with rare jewels
This video hurts during the profit part for me. The miners are being exploited pretty much with their lives being constantly put on the line and they earn so little compared to the traders. There are many cruel jobs like this around the world.
They agreed to work for the salary they are being paid so where is the exploitation? Do you even know what that word means? Consenting adults conducting business is not "exploitation", it's just people doing business. Stop calling any difficult job "exploitation" because it isn't.
@@thebellcurve3437 you didn't get the OP's point here, what he meant by exploitation of those workers is in terms of being paid less when those gems actually cost more. The market where they are selling them is a big mafia in its own. The buyers buy for a lower price and then sell them at higher prices to the customers later. they do this to make more profit and it is the exploitation of the laborer's hard work because they've been doing this for years and they are being paid less meanwhile the middle men are a living luxurious life with the profit they made by exploiting. This happens everywhere around the world in trade markets and it still goes on like this. what they need to do to solve this issue is to make the miners sell their gems directly to the customers instead of these middle men but in order to do that the miners need to have more connections with clients/companies which they don't have.
It's because there's so many people who need to do it. If one group refuses and demands higher pay, there are so many more who would gladly take their place for the low pay. You don't tackle this problem by targeting the industry, you tackle it by making labor more valuable in general, which will drive people away from the mining business, which will by necessity raise the pay in the mining business.
The issue is population. Too many people = labor is cheap
Same as most industry around the world. The workers doing the most makes the least and the worker doing the least makes the most.
Basically apply to everything we’re using but no one cares.
Its an amazing adventure to witness these hard working people so many miles away. Thank you for sharing.
This is very illuminating as someone who just opened a crystal shop. I do try my best to make sure I don’t support bad practices with what I buy for my store, but this makes it clear that the issues run deep. I hope these miners and the country in general sees a better future!
Hello were you from
@@ram-cstatus8500 Toronto, canada
@@minacadalso 🤩🤩wow i am from sri lanka do you know sri lanka
Okay 6th April 20th 2nd of all its free is the 8
@@minacadalso I'm from Canada too. My parents are from Sri Lanka.
The miners when find a gem , need to be rewarded financially better , plenty of money in the sell for this . Just greed prevents this .
These miners need to get some kind of way to get on the internet and sell these gems to people around the world who will pay what they are worth and cut out these local middle men! Get on eBay or whatever! Then they will have the big 🏘...seriously. Elon Musk needs to send free starling to these people😮
@@pamelagearhart9251 yes!! If the miners go on etsy and sell them through there i think they would make a good profit
I live in Africa and I used to think we had it bad till I saw this video. The Srilankans take the whole suffering thing to another level.
I’ve been involved in small scale mining for nearly 2 decades now. Those bags they carry out of the mine shafts are not weighing 40 lbs, but at least 45 kgs or more, because anything less would equate to loss of valuable time and effort, as miners work in 8 hour shifts and have to clear all their harvest before the next shift comes in. It takes a lot of resolve and grit to be a small scale miner working in make shift mines that dot Asia and Africa. Whenever I see a worker in the mountains, be it for logging or mining, I have to admire them for their inner strength and resolve, if nothing else. Staying and working in the mountains is not for the faint of heart and mind. City bois wouldn’t last 3 days where I usually operate.
its a bag of gravel not lead
Are you a Sri Lankan?
@@imchris5000 half of a bag of gravel can weigh about 35- 45 kg especially wet one
@@Pantelijator I have a stack of gravel in bags bigger than those little sacks they only weigh 50lbs each
@@imchris5000 ever mined anything in your life dude? A bag of 2% copper ore in the same volume as gravel is 3 times the weight
Fun fact: Ruby's and sapphires are the _same mineral,_ corundum.
Red corundum is known as ruby, every other color of corundum is known as sapphire.
The people responsible for digging these gems live in stick and stone houses, covered with leafs. The executives of these companies selling the gems live in luxury houses. That's just insane but that's how it works. Unfortunately
Happens in most parts of the world.. the most miserable, back breaking and effort consuming jobs will yield infinitely less than paperwork. And they say feudalism is dead.
Have you read through some of the comments from people with Indian/ Sri Lankin sounding names; mind blowing and infuriating! That's part of the problem right there. Though it's illegal the caste system still prevails.
It makes me sick that the people that take the most risk (their lives), get the least reward.
Can we talk about the elephant in the room that is the gem buyers paying next to nothing to the miners who risk their lives every day? That’s disgusting.
Israel's biggest export is diamonds and they have zero diamond mines. Let that star your journey down the rabbit hole not just with jew-elry but with how our society is structured. Slavery never ended it just changed forms but the same masters stayed in charge.
Really wonderful documentary about the Gem industry of Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 .Thank you for showing the real conditions of the mines and the industry.
I’m drawn to this poor man and his family. I’d like to come meet them
appreciated. You can come to Sri Lanka and meet them.
come to ratnapur and ask to meet the laborers bring some chicken burgers and coke
We will help you to find that person
Visit SL
Im cameraman this documentary.I can help you.
Mining is always risky, when u have limited resources, salute to all the miners of the world who brings treasures to the world in a dangerous way, love from a miner from Pakistan
A full documentary about this would be epic.
Very nice documentary. Being a Crystal Collector in India, I totally understand how difficult it is to be underground for such a long time & doing tedious tasks there. Sadly, the miners doesn't earn the real value of the gemstone. Thank you for this video. Love from India 😍
Are you interested in purchasing rough 💎
Since you know I hope you offer them a fair price when you buy your stones - so many do know and still don't offer a fair price to workers
It's a really hard work in under ground of a mine. I had about 10 years experience working at the rubby mines in Moegok,
Myanmar.
I take my hat off to these brave men; i could never face this kind of life. And i sincerely pray that God will shower them with beautiful crystals for their efforts. Good luck!!!!!!!
I also got this experience when i was 20 years old. Now I'm 32 . So that was very hard and nice experience for my life. Frankly speaking i was very lucky to find jems. So i earned lots of money those days.
The stress on Piyaseeli's face at 12:13 is heartbreaking. It's so disgusting that someone makes so, so, so, so, so much off of their labor, and this woman and her husband have to make choices between food, medicine, and other necessities. Subhuman trash runs the world. These people deserve comfort and security. MILLIONS OF DOLLARS for some stupid rock and these people have never known what it's like to go to bed without being terrified of the future. And the cruelest part of all this is that if they could sell a single one of those useless rocks themselves, they would never need to work again. Our world is so sick and broken.
There are many urban legends about mine workers who smuggled gems out (often by swallowing) and got rich beyond imagination just by selling a single stone. 💎
Why swallow when you can use your prison pocket
Real Men here it takes a heart to go down for this❤🇰🇪
May they always be guided and protected 🙏🏻😇
zoo kp
In KT ko
K
M
Make nations reconciled
O
It I
it k
KT Jt o
One dozen oaklo
ooi
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L
On
All
I
It'so
Tip Tuck k
lll
Thank you guys ,its not easy doing this kind of job. God bless you for bringing these precious stones above ground, for the world to enjoy. ♥️🌹🙏👍
Just boycott the mining industry until you get better pay
What a cop out! These people need help not your disingenuous comment. Obviously, you are bereft of empathy for the plight of these people.
Pretty rocks certainly aren't worth death and suffering. No one should work this job. It shouldn't be blessed.
@@janececelia7448 exactly.
@@nutzhazel If we boycott, they get lower wages. Use your brain!
I wish him that he'll find more jems often so he can educate his children and happy and relaxed life in his years to come ❤️💙💜
Tears ,sweat and hardwork behind the every single gems 😒
The work is extraordinary, friends... Greetings, gold prospectors from Indonesia🙏🏼👍👌✌️💖🇮🇩
Insider is such a cool channel bringing us these gray stories!
Here in Philippines we called that "Patola" it's very delicious veggies and very common to be ingredient of Pansit bihon. Sometimes we can used it too to be rubbing for bath.😁
Scary conditions to work. Yet the miners are deceived by the merchants for peanuts.
Side effect of socialism , they need company .
@@superfluous5162 it is not related to socialism or capitalism, rather it is related to the human nature, evilness. A sidenote, socialism has alredy lost as a system.
not unless they swallow them out of the mine
@@fidelcatsro6948 :) actually communism is not related to worker rights or something like that. You simply make all citizens gov workers, but the system becomes bulky and cannot produce efficiency, and collapses.
It's such heart breaking to see people working in these conditions. I have 2 to 5 caret Ceylon sapphires in My fingers and Now I know that their is great betrayal to the mining workers involved between the mines and our fingers
The sad truth is that the multimillion-dollar jewelry industry gives very little to the real hardworking people, but only the owners always win. People wear jewelry with pride, but it's very difficult to create it. It's an injustice to the real heroes.
7:14 Surely that can't be right? That translates to 4,800 per month which is way below the minimum wage.
These guys are busting their asses, so we in developed nations can enjoy a high quality of life. God bless them, and I wish that companies will make their supply chains more transparent in the future, so that consumers can decide what practices they want to support.
i want to go to sri lanka, buy some gems directly from miners, and donate to each of the families. its amazing how such a small amount of money could literally be life changing for these individuals
it just said they pay $3 for milk lol thats the same price we pay. theyre just MAKING small amounts of money, if we give them a small amount it wouldn't do anything.
It looks like you failed
I had a mining at Rathnapura.When every Jem is sold, a portion goes to the all workers,
Example,
land owner 20%,
license owner 10% ,
The bearer of the expenses of the mine 30% or 40%
all workers 30%
If they get a gem with a very high value, they will become rich overnight, That is why they continue to do this job..
Wow looks like the miners didnt tell us entirely about the icing behind the cake left on the cats fur!!
☝
💯 correct
& they didn’t mention about how much they steal from and sold it to middle men as well.. and these middle men have corrupted the miners so they can buy for cheap.
Ummm...what expenses of the mine?? It's a hole with terrible conditions and the workers have to go out in jungle to get stuff to make it a mine...so what expenses...shovels? Please don't be so insulting to these workers they are the ones doing risking everything!
Watching from Greece.hi everybody.
Very interesting video.
Netflix: Still watching?
Somebodys daughter: 10:19
bruh
Thank You Very Much For This Valuable ❤ Documentary. Highly Respect You ❤
ආඩම්බරයක් 😍 proud to be sri lankan 🇱🇰 ❤
5:00 the dude looks like he cant breath then they cut to a clip of the tube with a kink in it wow
I love how well these are made
Videos like this really puts things into perspective… normal everyday life in the city is something they’ll probably never get …. Gotta b more grateful for sure🤝✅
It's terrible these guys risk their lived for gemstones that go for so much money but never get to see the fruits of their labor
9:55 imagine finding that stone and not knowing its worth $300mil lol, i hope that guy got a raise
I'm from Rathnapura, The life of the miner is sad. Gem businessmen of Ratnapura are very rich people. Our area is lush with gemstones, tea, rubber and coconuts. Therefore, no matter how many economic crises there are, no one will be hungry. Ratnapura is a hidden beautiful area where the tourism industry does not take place.
that gem that is worth 300m: theres 100k ppl in the mines, if you split it among them, each gets $3000. They earn about 3 $ per week. so this gem alone can feed them for 1000 weeks. thats 19 years. unfortunately, the money goes into a single wealthy pocket.
I’m from Ratnapura and I’m proud of my city❤❤
MASHAALLAH khub valo video documentary....!
The miners should start their own collective to get fair prices for their gems and have the UN supplement payments to mines who refill in old mines etc
Excellent idea.
Respect to these beautiful and hardworking people.
I’ve been to a Sri Lankan moonstone mine before
Menakjubkan🎉
Dengan permata yang indah dan cantik❤
I love these gem 💎 lovers. We all live off of God's stones if you sell or mine precious crystals.
Sounds like you kind of missed the point of the video.
Pretty rocks certainly aren't worth death and suffering. No one should work this job.
If you have money, give it to workers - help them out of their suffering - instead of enabling and enriching their employers so you can have a pretty rock.
6:58 please tell me I’m not the only one that heard him say my niqqa? Lmao still a great documentary!
He said "maenika" .. which means gem😂
Gem industry has made a disastrous ecological issues in Rathnapura area. That city is always flooded even a small rain falls down.
This is a very nice video and thank you so much! ❤ But it is not true that mine workers get such a low pay. This weekly amount is given only for their weekly expenses. They are entitled to a share of the profit when they find gems. It is divided as a percentage. This is a customary law and this is how it has operated for generations. It is a gamble because if you don't find gems, this is all you get. There is no concept as salary in Sri Lankan gem trade. Only a very few workers work for daily labour and their daily wage is more than the amount stated ($3). Those who are paid weekly are usually shareholding workers. But it is very true that the middleman earns the most. Most of the time, even the gem mine owner doesn't make so much money compared to the middle man. And there are a few layers of middle men before the gems reach the final buyer. Most of the low layer middlemen nowadays started off as mine workers.
So would appreciate it if you get the facts right about it. If you have any doubts, you are most welcome to visit again.
Watching this video and videos like it I realize my problems are nothing compared to what these people go through.
I am so happy at my job after seeing how hard they are trying to make a living.
I very much loved this!!! and this was both, a bit sweet and sour news.
Beautiful people
Big Salute for real heroes behind every gemstone... 🙏🙏🙏
The owner doesn't get a share in his own property sometimes, and that's just the harsh reality of the world. Colonialists, The Corporate World, Capitalists, all the same - feeding on people like leeches while not giving them the share they deserve. I feel very sorry for these people.
True and it only getting worse. But how to fix the inequality seems insurmountable when there are so many greedy people out there bereft of a conscience with so much power and wealth.
It's 2 am here and this are the type of interesting videos that usually pop up when am about to sleep😩...now let me finish it.
That's a lie. Unless that water is brine( unlikely) it'll only make the farmland richer. I call bs.
شكرا لهذا التقرير الجميل بصراحه تعرفت عن جزيرة راتنابورا التي لم ولن اعرفها لولا بفضل هذا الفيديو دمتم بكل خير
Well heck, slipping a gem or so into your pocket every month won't really change the bottom lines for mine owners.
The thing is even if they do that. When they go to sell it the buyers hold the pricing power
You still have to find somebody to sell it too. And I think they all work together.
@@ajithpremaratne6103 You don't, horde them and let your kid deal with the laundering hassle.
i like you!
youd make a great revolutionary leader like me someday 🐱👍🏿
Respect from Sri Lanka 🧡
3:00 goddamn the bitchy way she says this has me rolling 😂
The push towards net zero won't be kind to the poorest of people
Thats why we need more Fidel Castos!
but it will benefit the biggest players new green industrial complex, nice government sunsidies if you can get them
Worst ever economic crisis? That's impossible. What about all the WEF articles claiming they would make Sri Lanka rich by 2025?
I'm from sri lanka 🇱🇰.i love my country.our country is very beautiful country.there are a lot of resources here.but our country is exploited by our politicians.😢😢😢
There are many men exploiting these miners, not just politicians. The gem sellers and jewellers should be so ashamed of themselves.
Respect to the wonderful people of Siri Lanka from Pakistan
Really people works hard to collect the jems. I am glad to have one Srilankan jems Ruby in my ring. Love you all for your dedication to your job. I love Srilanka and Srilankan.
If you love them so much, donate them some money, otherwise your words are empty. So, you're rich and have a nice ruby. Must be nice for you to be able to ignore the suffering of the miners so you can have a pretty gem on your finger. Shame on you!
If you have money, give it to workers - help them out of their suffering - instead of enabling and enriching their employers so you can have a pretty rock. Pretty rocks certainly aren't worth death and suffering. No one should work this job.
Thank you for Visiting Sri Lanka 😊
May God bless them all ! ❤❤
I am really love this kind of video, thanks for your sharing
I was born in Rathnapura ”The Gem City” even my garden can mine for gems.
Your voice is amazing. And video was great.
I have some sapphire n rubies from srilanka, this type of mining is also happening in my home country indonesia
So, what are you doing about it?
@@janececelia7448 I am buying some of the high quality gem they bring out of the earth n making jewelry out of them 😊
Construction looks better than most old gold mines in early days in the US
ලන්කාවෙ කෙනෙක් ගෙ comment එකක් නේද හොයන්නෙ 😂😂
Onatharam thiyei bn commnet
@@chanudsandil9258 naa naa bn sinhalen type karapu ekak
😂
Always fascinates me how different often very complex techniques came about, some are easy to guess but others are not so easy to figure out. For instance the many steps needed to make papyrus and later Chinese paper.
I feel so sorry for these guys... they do all this hand work, all this danger, all for some functionally worthless shiny rocks that have been assigned value by businesses and are only expensive thanks to artificial scarcity. This type of exploitation needs to end
Crux : artificial scarcity.