Production of sapphire in the village Ilakaka

In 1998, in the village of Ilakaka Madagascar, passing near the river channel were found large deposits of sapphires. Hearing about this brought to this village, which formerly inhabited 40 people, thousands of new residents. Today we tell you about the business, which employs the whole family of local residents. Four sapphire next to a stack of banknotes in the jewelry workshop where the buyer gems of Sri Lanka estimates sapphires mined by local prospectors of sand and gravel in deep mines nearby.





Prospectors are selected from sapphire mine near the southwestern Madagascan town Ilakaka to go home.



Two prospectors carefully removed the bag of gravel from the depths of the mine near the river, where they are with the rest of the workers are looking for sapphires in Anzanakaro Ilakaki near Madagascar.



A group of workers for payment podёnnuyu digging sand and loose soil on sapphire quarry near the town of Ilakaka in southwest Madagascar.



Young miner grip on the rope dipped in a deep hole in the ground at the site of the mine in the near Ilakaki Anzanakaro. Local miners and numerous members of their families working in narrow deep mines, where piles of gravel and sand are looking for sapphires.



Miners working on a sapphire mine. In the background is seen the city Ilakaka, which has grown rapidly since the influx of illegal miners in October 1998. They came here in search of fortune after the discovery of large deposits of sapphires.



Five men watching a group of miners that extract gravel and sand from a large sapphire mine near Ilakaki.



Dieudonne Laja demonstrates gems that he, along with other miners got two days digging the ground and washing the gravel in the river near the village near the Anzakaro Ilakaki. Gravel selected from deep pits, carefully washed and filtered in a nearby river, and in the meantime the other miners scrutinize the rocky bottom of the mine in search of sapphires.



Mandraisara (right) and her friend Tafitasoaniana (left) near the mountains of sand and gravel dance and sing the song they heard on a local popular radio station. These piles of sand dug from their parents sapphire mine near Ilakaki.



Prospectors complete shift from the mine and returned to their families in the village Ilakaka (visible in the background).



Prospectors washed gravel on the sieves in the river in search of sapphires Anzanakaro Ilakaki near Madagascar.



View of the town Ilakaka September 15, 2008. It has grown rapidly since October 1998, when here in search of fortune to the newly discovered large deposits of sapphires crowds flocked illegal miners.



13-year-old Donna sits beside his father while he makes coffee during a break from the extraction of sapphires Anzanakaro Madagascar. Donna is no longer goes to school, but dreams of one day becoming a doctor.



Nushad Hadzhirva from the island of Sri Lanka (left), an experienced buyer of precious stones sapphires considering that it offers the local miners in the village Ilakaka Madagascar. Many buyers of local stones as Hairva, arrived here from Thailand and Sri Lanka to engage in business.



A female miner waits patiently for her partner will tighten the rope into a deep shaft near the river in Anzanakaro Madagascar.



Worker carefully consider sapphire at a local jeweler in Ilakake. Local miners working in narrow deep mines, where they dig in the sand in search of sapphires and good luck.



The miners working on the territory of the field pitted pits, doing searches sapphires near the river September 14, 2008 near Ilakaki Madagascar.



A local prospector, along with other workers waiting by the window in Ilakake jewelry workshop with the hope that buyers of Sri Lanka, who was interested in him with stones, will want to buy them.



13-year-old Donna watching older miners who are sent to the river to wash the gravel, which they extracted from deep mines in the ground in Madagascar Anzanakaro September 14, 2008.





Prospectors to climb the walls of the sapphire mine located near the village of Ilakaka. Yes, crusher rotornayaim clearly would not stir.



The miners working at the top of a large sapphire mines in search of precious stones around Ilakaki Madagascar.



Sapphires different colors on display at a local jeweler in Ilakake in Madagascar.



Group diggers excavating gravel and sand on a hilltop near the sapphire mine near the village of Ilakaka.



10-year-old Francois Rantonirina carries a shovel and a home-made sieve, through which she and her mother in the search for sapphires morning sifted gravel mined from the ground, in Manombo BBC about Ilakaki. According to official statistics, 19 out of 21 thousand local children engaged in physical labor.



The wind carries sand from the sapphire mines in the direction of children, who play not far from the city Ilakaka mine in Madagascar.



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