The Belmont Mine is located in the small city of Itabira, countryside of Minas Gerais state, Brazil.
A nearby railroad worker, with some knowledge about emeralds spotted the minerals and convinced Mr. Ribeiro to allow him to collect and sell some of those stones. At that moment Mr. Ribeiro had no idea what those stones were as his experience was rendering transportation services for the world's largest producer of iron ore and nickel, Vale Mining Company.
The railroad worker later brought Mr. Ribeiro’s the results of their arrangement which showed Mr. Ribeiro the true value of what lay beneath his soil. And so, the Belmont Mine was born.
From its beginning up to this day, the mining activities of Belmont takes places in a family-cherished property where many ancestors were born and raised. Hence the respect for the environment and the quest for a sustainable mining operation have been embedded in the company’s principles since its very foundation.
For 40 years, Belmont has grown to become a benchmark for the industry, operating from mine to market, with state-of-the-art technology. All emeralds are polished in-house by the hands of skillfully trained professionals and by using the most current machinery for cutting precious gemstones. At Belmont 99% of the labor force is local, 75% of its lapidary are women and the company spends over 400 hours each year in training its professionals.
The Company supports and runs several initiatives for environmental preservation and to promote the education and the social development of its community.
After successfully supplying responsibly-sourced emeralds to so many celebrated brands worldwide it was time to bring Belmont’s history and value to light directly to consumers. And so, the BelmontSparkle.com was born.
Then
Emeralds being sorted by hand, a technique still widely used in the industry.
Now
Pioneer Technology of Belmont that sorts emeralds through a computerized optical system.
