Artisanal and small scale miners experience dangerous working conditions every day. Miners and gem cutters are particularly suseptible to a lung condition called silicosis.

Silicosis is a disease brought on through inhaling crystalline silica dust. It causes irreversible damage to the lungs and often leads to premature death. Tanzanite mining is prone to it because of the geology of the region and the largely underground, enclosed mining practices, which occur without sufficient ventilation. Providing miners with proper masks and filters can prevent inhalation of silica dust. 10% of the proceeds of our sample sale will go directly to providing rated masks to prevent silicosis.