Introduction: In the gathering information about the artisanal gemstone mining sector, a European gemstone dealer emailed me with this comment. This post really isn’t directly connected to either Mohamed or Jim, yet I decided to include it anyway. It points to why we need some kind of new structure that will break the post colonial

Introduction: In early August, Mr. Mnzava posted a comment on the Madison Dialogue List Serve: “Foreign gemstones dealers notably from USA and Europe, Far East undermine miners and governments in Africa.” His post was in response to Jim Fiebig’s work in Madagascar. I followed up with this interview. This post is the fourth in a

Introduction: Here, Jim Fiebig responds to Mohamed Mnzava. Thanks to both for their permission to post which previously had been exchanged only in a private email. This post is the third in a series of six consecutive posts covering the issue of artisanal gemstone mining from a macro perspective of two people in the field.