Some come from large-scale industrial mines owned by companies with poor environmental records and a history of labor violations. These mines don’t exist for the purpose of excavating crystals; usually, they’re gold or copper or cobalt mines. But alongside the gold, miners often find seams of jewelry-grade crystals as they excavate huge swaths of land: profitablemining “byproducts.”
…For example, this large blue chrysocolla—a “supportive goddess energy stone”—is from the Tyrone Copper Mine, and this $48 pyrite stone to “promote positive thinking” is from the Chino Copper Mine. These are the two largest copper mines in New Mexico, and according to the environmental group Earthworks, they “will generate an estimated 2 billion gallons of acid and metals contaminated seepage every year, requiring water treatment in perpetuity.” The mines have also caused “severe surface and groundwater contamination, and the State of New Mexico and U.S. Department of Justice have filed natural resource damage claims against the company for damages to water and wildlife resources.”
At least these U.S. copper mines are subject to environmental and labor regulations. Industrial mines in many other countries are not. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, children as young as sevenworks the mines, and cobalt and copper mines in the country’s Katanga region are rich in minerals like tourmaline, amethyst, citrine, blue and smoky quartz—all coveted by healing crystal sellers. The website Minfind.com has dozens of listings of malachite (for “transformation”), cuprite (for “vitality”), and clear quartz (the “master healer”) from the DRC. This listing for a $150 malachite stone from the DRC promotes it as “one of the most important healing stones of the new millennium.” Another DRC-sourced stone is said to promote “wholeness and peace.”
Do You Know Where Your Healing Crystals Come From?
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