The purpose of this paper is to highlight the challenges intrinsic to fieldwork in mining environments of pit extraction of precious and semi-precious stones, focusing specifically on Colombian emeralds and Mexican amber. From a methodological perspective, this proposal is based on sensory geography, with the aim of understanding sensory perceptions in the shafts and thus describing in more detail the experiences of ethnographic work in both mining contexts. Artisanal mining, also known as livelihood mining or informal mining, operates outside of state regulation and is carried out with low-quality tools, in unsafe environments prone to crashes or collapses. This activity lacks basic labor rights such as overtime pay, fees, the right to health, and severance pay, among others. Although both emerald and amber mining share these characteristics, they differ in their commercial impact as precious and semi-precious stones, as well as in the cultural conceptions, meanings, and impacts that gems themselves possess in each region. These aspects will be detailed in this presentation.