Sourcing, and ethics

Are crystals ethically sourced

Some crystals are ethically sourced and some are not, and for any single stone the answer depends on how much is known about its path from the ground to the shop. Most crystals change hands several times along the way, and details like the exact mine often get lost. That is why a shop's honesty about what it knows matters more than a vague promise.

What ethical crystals mean at geoslut

Ethical crystals, at geoslut, mean four promises we can keep:

• Every piece is hand selected.
• Every label names the mineral and the locality.
• Every photo shows the exact piece, as is, in daylight.
• Every treated or coated stone, like aura quartz, is labeled as treated or coated.

Treated and coated stones are always labeled

Treated and coated stones are always labeled as such, with no exceptions. Common treatments in the crystal trade include heating amethyst until it turns orange and sells as citrine, irradiating clear quartz until it turns black, dyeing agate and howlite, and bonding a thin film of metal onto quartz in a vacuum chamber to make aura quartz. None of that makes a stone fake. It makes it treated, and you should know before you buy.

Hand selected and photographed as is

Every piece is hand selected and photographed as is, in daylight, so the photo shows the exact stone that ships. That includes the dings, the matrix and the odd inclusion, because a one-of-one piece deserves a one-of-one photo.

What an ethical crystal shop owes you

An ethical crystal shop owes you the facts it has, and no invented ones. We will not dress up a stone with a mine, a supplier or a certificate we cannot back up. When a locality is known only to the country, the label names the country and stops there, like the cactus quartz from South Africa. Questions about where a piece came from go to hi@geoslut.com.