n the beginning was Are, the great creator god of the Muiscas, who fashioned a divinely beautiful woman named Fura and her husband Tena to be the guardians of life on Earth. Their sacred mission was to preserve Nature and teach love and respect for life to human generations. Fura, who was kind and generous, one day allowed a young stranger to climb the sacred mountain. Captivated by the man’s youth and vitality, she cheated on Tena and this infidelity unleashed the wrath of the gods.

As punishment, the gods condemned Fura to weep for eternity. Her tears brimming with remorse and purity fell on the mountains and turned into sparkling green emeralds. Loyal to Fura despite her betrayal, Tena was turned to stone alongside her on the mountain, forming the twin Fura and Tena peaks overlooking the Muzo Valley in Colombia.

Fura Gems is named after this legend in Muica culture and its legendary mountain in the Andean region of Colombia that is home to “the most precious gems, the most venomous snakes and the most enchanting butterflies”.

The Fura mine in Colombia

Ultimately, isn’t jewellery essentially a declaration of eternal love and aren’t coloured stones perhaps its most powerful symbols with their varied hues evoking a range of changing emotions? Specialising in the Big Three (emeralds, rubies and sapphires), Fura Gems began its journey in 2017 with emeralds in the Coscuez mine, one of Colombia’s most iconic. Since then, it has established itself on three continents with operations also structured in Mozambique for rubies and Australia for sapphires.

Although younger than its major competitors such as Gemfields, it has the ambition of bringing often artisanal mines up to international standards, notably by investing in mechanisation, traceability and local social programmes. In Colombia, where it all began, Fura Gems operates on a large scale: 14 kilometres of 4x4-metre tunnels where trucks can travel up to 700 metres underground – a unique infrastructure in the Colombian emerald sector.

This makes safety issues, as well as environmental preservation and local community development, all the more important and "an integral part of Fura Gems’ overall strategy”, according to its head of marketing and communications, Gianluca Maina. We caught up with him at the GemGenève trade fair, where he was visiting his direct customers and gemcutters, as well as end customers for his company’s stones. These include some of the biggest names in jewellery and watchmaking, notably some of the most prestigious European houses in these categories.

Europa Star: What is the current state of the coloured stone market?

Gianluca Maina: Whereas the luxury sector in general is experiencing a slowdown in 2025 after the post-Covid boom, coloured stones are suffering less than other precious stones such as diamonds and remains a thriving market with sustained demand from the major jewellery houses, particularly in Europe and Asia. It is important to note that, until a few years ago, brands tended to build up large stocks of gems in advance, without necessarily knowing exactly where they would sell them.

We work with gemcutters and intermediaries who purchase our rough stones at our auctions (aka “tenders”) and then offer them to major jewellery and watchmaking houses. At the same time, we maintain close relationships with these brands to keep them informed of our progress in the areas of traceability, sustainability and more broadly, our ESG initiatives. In recent years, while brands have begun to make greater use of their accumulated stocks – which also explains this overall slowdown – the underlying market momentum remains very positive in the medium term.

Australian sapphires

What are Fura Gems’ specificities in this market?

We are the only producers of all the “Big Three” coloured gemstones on three continents: namely emeralds, rubies and sapphires. This integrated positioning is unique in the industry. We have mines for emeralds in Colombia, rubies and pink sapphires in Mozambique, as well as sapphires of all colours in Australia. In addition, we have an exploration project for a sapphire mine in Madagascar that is nearing completion.

We are Australia’s largest sapphire producer, accounting for 95% of the country’s production. Before we arrived, this sapphire was known for its dark colour, but today we are able to extract several colour ranges, from deep blue to light green and highly sought-after pastel shades. It is a very attractive source because it is extremely secure in terms of business and environmental risk, thanks to a stable regulatory framework and highly controlled open-pit mining.

Fura Gems mines in Australia

How did your company come into existence?

Fura Gems is a young firm that was founded in 2017 with the acquisition of its first mine in Colombia, named after the Fura mountain. According to local legend, it was the tears of the goddess Fura that turned into emeralds, which can be found on her mountain. It was a small-scale mine and we secured the rights to it. Our vision is to acquire sites and bring a more industrial and professional approach to all of the Big Three. We use the latest scientific technologies to understand the real potential of the mines and new mining techniques to optimise their yield, while ensuring enhanced safety and reducing environmental impact.

The company has grown significantly: we now have 1,200 employees and 600 contractors worldwide. We are aware that our presence at these sites is only temporary and that local communities live there and will continue to live there after we leave. We therefore take an approach based on sustainable development, generating opportunities that go beyond economic factors, such as access to education, healthcare, vocational training and reforestation. The aim is bring about lasting improvement in the local areas’ general living conditions.

Rubies from Mozambique

Ethical issues are increasingly under scrutiny in the mining industry. What is your response to this?

The core of this issue is traceability and transparency. There is growing demand from brands for traceable products, as their reputation is at stake and regulatory as well as societal requirements are becoming more stringent. One of our strengths is that all our products are traceable. We use Gübelin’s Provenance Proof blockchain (Editor’s note: see our article on this topic here) to ensure the traceability of all our stones, from extraction to sale.

We hold auctions twice a year for each of our gem categories, in Bangkok and Colombia. In the past, the norm was to sell large lots containing a wide variety of different stones. Today, we offer smaller, more targeted lots that are easier to trace and better meet brands’ quality requirements. In addition, we work systematically with several analysis laboratories – such as GRS GemResearch Swisslab, SSEF and Gübelin Gem Lab – which issue several certificates guaranteeing the origin and quality of the gems. We are also regularly audited by the jewellery brands themselves when they purchase larger quantities of stones from our mines, representing an additional form of control by the markets.

A year ago, we began the certification process with the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC), the most important stakeholder in this field. We are aiming for certification by the end of the year, which would make Fura Gems the first coloured stone producer to obtain this international recognition.

It is important to remember that the concepts of “responsible mining” and “ethical mining” are not strictly defined by any international nomenclature. This lack of a common framework can sometimes create confusion and even enable certain players to use these terms without concrete evidence. We consider that these concepts must be based on verifiable and measurable commitments, which is why we have implemented standardised procedures across all our mining operations, as well as regular audits and reporting in accordance with GRI international standards.

We also track specific environmental indicators, such as the CO₂ emissions index per carat mined, enabling us to demonstrate our progress in tangible terms. Our goal is to transform these principles into traceable data, integrated into each gemstone’s digital passport, a future development that we are actively anticipating.

Fura Gems mine in Mozambique

Can you give us some examples of the social, economic and environmental problems you face?

Certain issues are inevitable, as coloured gemstone deposits are rarely located in areas with straightforward geopolitical, economic, social or environmental conditions. Today, thorough understanding and control of the supply chain is a major strategic issue, as it can either strengthen or weaken a brand’s reputation in the long term. Fortunately, transparency is becoming increasingly prevalent in the sector and is indeed demanded by the major firms’ senior management, who then pass it down throughout the value chain. We are actively pushing to strengthen this transparency and share our progress.

By way of example, one of the most critical points is water management, as mining operations require large quantities of this resource, meaning that optimal wastewater treatment is essential both for the environment and for the surrounding communities. Another important issue is land remediation when a mine ceases to be operational. In Australia, for example, we are required to operate on limited areas – about about the size of a football field – and rehabilitate each area before moving on to the next site. This requires considerable logistical resources and in-depth expertise in soil management and preservation in order to restore the land to its original condition.

What type of customers do you have?

Both our direct and indirect clientele are very diverse and cover the entire value chain: from specialist gemcutters and intermediaries who purchase our stones at tenders, to major jewellery and watchmaking houses, with whom we maintain regular dialogue. This approach enables us to tailor our offering to their specific needs and keep them informed of our progress in terms of traceability and ESG.

Pink sapphires from Mozambique

Ultimately, are your stones used more for jewellery or for watches?

In volume terms, while we mainly supply jewellery, watchmaking is a strategic segment experiencing strong growth. Australian sapphires, for example, offer a much-coveted range of colours, particularly for technical applications such as baguette-cut gems. We still see significant potential in this sector for enabling brands to develop original and distinctive designs.

Could you tell us about your career path before joining Fura Gems?

After starting my career with the NBA and WWF, I began working in jewellery and watchmaking in the 2000s with Max Büsser, then at Harry Winston in its Geneva watch division, before being transferred to New York to take over as head of the group’s marketing and communications. I then did a lot of watch consulting work from the United States, notably for the Tourneau chain of boutiques. After that, I returned to Switzerland to work for De Grisogono, a company where my passion and fascination for coloured stones truly took root. It was an exhilarating, extraordinary, flamboyant jewellery experience!