Our name
First light is the light that touches the stone as it leaves the ground.
That geode was sealed for millions of years. Nobody ever saw what was inside. When the face frees it and it opens, there is an instant when light enters those crystals for the first time — and today everyone misses that instant except the five people standing there.
First Light exists to broadcast that instant and sell the stone right there, without the three or four hands that normally stand between the miner and whoever will keep it at home. When a mineral's value depends so much on its provenance, hiding the provenance is strange. We show it live.
How it started
- 2024
One geode and an uncomfortable question
We bought a Uruguayan amethyst at a European fair for nine times what the mine had been paid. Nobody in the chain could say which mine it came from.
- 2025
Six months in Artigas
We lived the season in northern Uruguay, learned how the basalt is worked and tried the first broadcasts with a phone and a tripod.
- FEB 2026
First joint venture
Catalán Grande signs the first JV: a share of the final sale, not a mine price. The first live sold 12 lots in 40 minutes.
- HOY
Three mines, four markets
31 lives, 412 lots sold and shipments to 18 countries. The network opens to mines in other countries from this year.
How we work
Three commitments you can check
- 01
The mine shares in the final sale
Between 45% and 60% of the price the buyer pays, not a mine price we set. It's in every JV contract.
- 02
Every piece has a name and a date
Mine, coordinates, day, time and miner. If we can't document it, we don't sell it: there is no lot without a certificate.
- 03
No hidden treatments
If a stone was polished, cut or treated, the spec sheet says so. Most of them ship exactly as they came off the face.
The team
- B/W portrait
Rodrigo Duarte
HOST · MINER · ARTIGAS
- B/W portrait
Mariela Ferreira
MINE OPERATIONS
- B/W portrait
Name pending
MINE PARTNERSHIPS
- B/W portrait
Name pending
INTERNATIONAL TRADE