Color Line Ilakaka

Excellent.

I went there because i’ve heard they offered tours of the mine (for 10’000 i think). I did the tour at the mine and then at the shop to see the cut of the stones (done on-site). I also wanted to buy a gift so they showed me their selections (it’s the only place where you can buy jewelry - not just raw stones like anywhere in ilakaka), very nice products, decent price (i’m not a jewelry expert though).
I’ve been “stuck” there for 1-2h waiting for a taxi-brousse to tolear so i got to talk with the staff (they even offered food 😉). I got the complete story of the region and lots of details of their business.
All the stones they sell are real and local.

About what you can hear about the working conditions of the miners, it’s not an easy job for sure, and people die working there (IDK if the statistics are higher than in construction for exemple).
And AST the town is one of the richest around and the % of kids going to school is much higher than national average.

As a jeweler myself I highly recommend you to use their services should you wish to get a nice and genuine gem or piece of Jewellery as a souvenir of your trip to Madagascar

Très belle boutique tenue par un Suisse.
Belles pierres plus ou moins précieuse, montées ou non.
Large choix, à tous les prix.
Visite sympa.

No good items. Nothing precipua. Too expensive if compare to the low quality