2009-post Tucson show; cutting time in the shop

Picked up about 15 pieces of Tsavorite Garnet in Arusha. This is the first one faceted from the parcel. Classic emerald cut shape - one of my favorites.

Umbalite is a variety closely related to Rhodolite. The color of this one is of the finest color - and it came from Mark Saul's rough stock.

Only picked up a few Chrome Tourmalines, but this one turned out quite nice.

Of the Scapolite rough I purchased, this stone was cut from the smallest piece. Some of them may end up over 20cts.

2009-Jan 17th buying rough in Arusha

Early in the morning we were escorted by our broker to the building that contains many of the local gem merchants. We spent the first hour looking through and purchasing goods from our broker. Then, on our behalf, he solicited numerous dealers, miners and diggers from the Arusha area to visit with us in his office. As you can see from the photo below, they are kept at bay until it is "their" time.

Systematically, we worked through every man’s parcels, setting aside anything of interest and making offers as they waited. This worked sufficiently to our advantage as we ended up with some very nice facetable goods.

I must note though, that buyers are expected to take the parcel – or split it with someone in the group. Selecting just one piece of rough, which is usually the finest in the parcel, will escalate the price to be about the same as purchasing the whole parcel. So under this scenario, selection is futile.

Some of the items we were shown were: Chrome Tourmaline, Pink Spinel, a range of Garnets including Rhodolite, Almandite, Spessartite, variable colors in Grossular including some very fine Tsavorites, facetable Moonstone, several Ruby pieces and mixed colors of corundum from Winza and a new location that only opened up a few weeks ago. The name of the new location is not being verbally conveyed, but I believe the locals know of it.

Late in the morning, after we finished with the stream of local merchants, we were brought to the offices of Swala Gem Traders. They happen to be in the same building. Eric and Mark Saul are the owners. At this time, Eric was away in Europe, and so Mark was able to graciously take the time to share with us his inventory. Swala specializes in the Garnet family, but often has other species available. But today, we focused primarily on his fine selection of Rhodolites. We spent an hour or so working his parcels and came away with a nice selection. Mark is seated in the lower right in the photo.

I believe the find of the day though, were two pieces of Clinohumite. They were clean, chunky pieces that resembled fine reddish-orange Spessartite. And, it seems they are often mis-identified as Spessartite in the field. I can’t wait to facet them when I get back.

2009-Jan 16th Tanga to Arusha Tanzania

Today the crew is separating into two groups. One group of five is going on safari to see the animals at several game parks. We will not see them again.

The second group of seven (including me) is off to Arusha to work the gem market. As a surprise to us, we landed on the ‘stop-at-every-bus-stop’ bus, again. It is moderately comfortable, but no air conditioning. Normally, the drive to Arusha on a direct commercial bus is 5 hours. But we were able to enjoy the ride for 8 hours.



Our broker showed us the way from the main bus station to position us in a local hotel. After check-in, he prepares us for what will happen in the next few days. We are ready, and excited. It can’t come to soon.


Our home for the next few days. Only served breakfast, but they washed our clothes and handled many small details for us, though it was a little 'rustic'. I'm sure if my wife came with me we'd be staying somewhere else!

2009-Jan 15th mining camp to Tanga, Tanzania

Today was our transition day from mining to buying. Some of the crew went back to the pits for one final opportunity in the morning – in hopes of finding another Sapphire. The balance of the team showered, packed and organized their travel items because later today we would make the rough and sometimes uncomfortable drive back to Tanga.

The local mineral show....
At the end of our time at the Umba site, all the locals from the camp and surrounding villages were invited to show up under the main canopy to play show-and-tell. In addition to the miners and their families, the nearby Maasai village came with their finds as well.

In just over two hours we reviewed every stone and parcel. Unfortunately, many of the items were not suitable for faceting.

I was fortunate as one of our local miners took pity on me and performed translation, as I am insufficient in Swahili for this type of fast activity. Well…. fast may be an understatement.

Each one of us would be singled out, and then surrounded by the sellers. At any given time I may have had 15 to 30 locals around me all reaching forward shoving their open hands towards me, each hand containing their offerings. In minutes, and sometimes in seconds, we had to decide if there was any interest on our part.

Once concluded that the offering was something I could use, the bidding began (with everyone in ear-shot listening). Usually it was short-lived, maybe 10 to 15 seconds. There was only a few that walked away hoping to get more than I offered. And then, sometimes they came back.

It is possible, and likely, that man-made or synthetic material may be filtered into the offerings in a scenario such as this. And so the bidding must be adjusted to offset any losses we may incur.

As the session came to a close, we began seeing some of the same pieces again that were offered earlier. Only now, it would be offered by someone other than the owner. I can’t blame them for trying, as we may be the only source of income this week, or month. It was fun, and a challenge, and I would do it again. Though I would say it is not suitable for someone who is uncomfortable in close quarters.

The mineral show came to an end, we all said our good-byes, and then packed into the bus to drive back to Tanga. For the way back, it took us 7 hours, which placed us at the bus station long after it was closed. And so I am still without luggage and learning to get by with much less. Some of the crew stated that it is a good life lesson. Sure.

One of the many bus stops along the way....

2009-Jan 14th-continued

Since we are close to ending our time here, the mine owner promised we could look through his personal collection of minerals. After our lunch break, we met him at the sorting tables where he laid out his collection. Here we had daylight – and it was brutal, so we placed ourselves under the canopy to avoid direct sunlight.

Michael (the jeweler from Bern Switzerland-shown below), and I were the first to review his rough. There was a greater range of minerals than I had anticipated seeing. We first worked our way through red Garnets. He had kilos of small goods in the one half to 2 gram sizes. Of no interest to me, but may work for others. Next was a parcel of larger Garnets in the 5 to 10 gram sizes. Even though these were the premium sizes, I did not take any, as they were a little dark for me and this was something I have surplus of in my cutting shop. Michael is weighing up his selection.

And here, are two massive examples of Sphene. I reveiwed several of what I thought were larger pieces in Madagascar last summer, but these two put them to shame. Too bad they are not transparent enough to be faceted!

The review of the owner’s rough came to an end in mid afternoon. It was time for a short rest, shower, and then prepare for the camp party this evening. Everyone who had contributed in any way during the week was welcome and encouraged to come. In the late afternoon, as daylight came to an end, two goats were slaughtered, prepared and barbecued. Other food items were brought to the party for all to enjoy as well as beer and soft drinks.

2009-Jan 14th Umba River mining camp

As you have seen from the photos, alluvial mining is hard, physical work. For the local miners who perform this work year-round, their bodies are accustomed to the demands. For the rest of us, this is painful work… and so it is for me. However, the natural excitement of reaching into the iron-stained red dirt and pulling up a Sapphire is too enticing and keeps us from stopping. Yes.... we're gem junkies!

A typical sized pit for a group of four to work was roughly 2 metres wide and 3 to 4 metres long. If you were lucky, you may hit the gravel layer in less than one half metre, but usually not. Three to four hours working time for each pit was a good average. Usually a team would complete two pits per day. Like this:
The sorting process was performed at the site only a few metres away, just far enough to avoid the dirt being thrown from the pit. This is not scientific sorting like what may be found and a diamond-bearing claim. It is basically using your eyes to review the gravels for anything that may stand out as something other than granite type gravel. We look for flashes of light and anything shiny. Hubie and Monika looking up to the sun to review what was just pulled up from the rubble.

This is the pit that Sherris and Amy were working. It is much deeper than the areas Hubie and I were prospecting -- and very fortunate for us.

2009-Jan 13th Umba River mining camp

Since we had a reasonable outcome the day before, several from the team decided to purchase the next days’ truck haul to be placed through the washing plant. Fred, Beatrice, Michael, Thomas and Monika joined together to purchase the next batch from the wash. The balance of the crew continued to work their existing pits, or chose new locations.

As daylight was coming to an end, the cut-able’s from the days’ machine wash were now separated on the sorting tables for all to see. They did well, much better than our take on Monday. The photo below shows their selection from the wash. A nice batch of rough.... I'm a little jealous!

Today, from my pit, there were several nice crystals. The batch including a larger light blue Sapphire over 2 grams and several red Garnets over 3 grams, plus a dozen or so of smaller Garnets. Several green Tourmaline pieces were also found but were probably not cut-able for me.

The view from here is.... "are you sure there's something in there worth keeping?" Well, after cleaning the rough, washing it actually, the workable goods become more apparent with shiny surfaces now exposed.

2009-Jan 12th Umba River mining camp

After a few hours in the pits on the day before, we are better prepared for the following days. As we now know what we are up against as far as working time, energy expended, and expected outcome (which seemed dismal at times). The missing piece though, is how tiring the work is. It is hot (roughly 30*C to 35*C) and humid and we have expended ourselves. The miners though, have been doing this for years and so seems less effort coming from them.



As a group, the mine owner made the team an offer. We would have an opportunity to purchase a dump truck sized load of gem gravels – which would be moved through his huge ‘washing machine’. Seen here:



Only the heavy minerals would survive – those with the higher specific gravity. The price seemed steep, but considering the conditions, this seemed like a reasonable opportunity. Even though there was no guarantee that the batch from the machine would produce anything useable or not, it was a risk. So Tom, Lisa and I opted to purchase the first run and split the outcome. We began working the wash in the afternoon session. It was laborious work, the sun was hot, and we were hopeful.




Above is Lisa Elser from Vancouver leaning over the sorting table.

2009-Jan 11th continued; Umba River Valley

Here's the main guy who worked our pit.... shamed me very badly as he moved more dirt than I could have imagined.

They began working the space with pickaxe’s to break up the hardened surface. Then, methodically shoveled off the overburden until the ‘contact-zone’ containing the gem bearing gravels were reached. In some pits, this may have only been 1/4 metre, and then in other locations it was over 2 metres.

Once the gravel layer was located, the miners worked more cautiously, not wanting to throw into the massive dirt piles any valuable pebbles. The gravel layer was placed into hand constructed sieve boxes as shown below, and vigorously jerked back and forth so that the non-desirable dirt and small pebbles fell to a pile.

Here's Hubie workin' the sieve with a local miner. It was a messy business but we couldn't wait until it was finished to look over the gravels.

And then, every once in a while, we'd find something worthwhile. The larger is a Rhodolite, the smaller appears as a Malaya colored Garnet. Further testing will verify this was accurate.

Sherris, sitting next to her pile of pebbles. In the heat, we tried to find ourselves working the pile in some shade as it was borderline unbearable.

2009-Jan 11th Usambara Mountains, Tanzania

Shown here is a view from the bus window of the Usambara Mountains. From our hotel in Tanga, it is roughly a 6 hour drive west to the Umba River valley mining region.

The first two hours were on paved tarmac; the next two were on a graded but bumpy gravel road. And the final two hours were a single winding lane of sand and gravel. We experienced a constant ‘bobbing and weaving’ in our seats, which felt more like a roller-coaster ride.

We could see (and feel) where the road had been frequently washed out and this created some ‘craters’ that we needed pass over. From time to time we had to exit the bus to reduce weight and oversee the crossing of a chasm. Very interesting, but then ‘this is Africa’.

After introductions and room or tent assignments, we then rested for a short time. A hot meal was provided and then it was announced we still had over three hours of sunlight. So with that in mind, no time was wasted in changing into our most worn or aged clothing. Then, in groups of four [two travelers teamed up with two miners], we walked about two kilometres to the digging area.

As you can see it was a bit of a hike to get to the general work area.


As we went along, small groups of four split off into their own chosen digging spots.

Hubie shown below perusing the site where we will work for the balance of the day.

2009-Jan 10th Tanga, Tanzania

Today we begin our journey to the northern mining areas of the Umba River Valley. Though our final destination is the gem market of Arusha.

Sometimes there would be an impediment to our progress...

We were just happy to have paved roads, since we already had an understanding what it would be like later on.

On the way to Umba, we stop and spend the night in Tanga which is roughly a five-hour drive from Dar. Tanga is known as the major shipping port for southern and eastern Africa. Fortunately, the drive to Tanga was on paved tarmac and so it was comfortable for African standards.

2009-Jan 9th in Dar es Salaam

We are to visit "SEAMIC" for the day. "SEAMIC" is the Southern and Eastern African Mineral Centre. It operates out of Dar es Salaam but is supported by 8 east African countries.

Their vision is to supply support services to the mineral, and mining industries. They provide training, testing and consulting services to the mineral, petrology, geology, gemmology and geo-sciences sectors.

My long-time friend and gem carver, Sherris Shank, seated above.

Two other participants from the team, Monika and Beatrice from Switzerland.

Visiting SEAMIC

SEAMIC is the official sponsor of our trip and has oversight over everything we as a team do. So it is here that we begin our discovery of what Tanzania has to offer. The original plan was for all the participants to take part in two, separate, full day lectures performed by Dr. Nakara Matemu, the director of SEAMIC. Since I arrived a day late, I missed the first lecture that focused on geology, but was still able to sit in the gemology class on Friday.

In addition to offering two workshop/trips per year, SEAMIC conducts year-long training in gemology and the lapidary arts. Shown below is some of their equipment.

Above, a platform-style Japanese made Imahashi faceting machine.

Above, some of the lapidary machines and flex-shafts.

Shown seated above is Huan Toh of Singapore operating an Ultratec, which is a very high quality mast-style faceting machine.

Students are primarily Tanzanian, but are welcome from all over the world. Through my visit to the facility, I witnessed first hand what is available through their facility. SEAMIC, I believe, can be a catalyst in developing careers for young Africans. During my stay in Tanzania I will look for ways that I, and others, can assist the people of this developing country.

2009-Jan 6, 7, 8th Detroit to Dar es Salaam

Flights, and airports – mostly all of day one was wasted as we waited for an engine part for the AirBus 330. So my travel to Tanzania which ran through Amsterdam and Dubai - took me into day two and three.

The flight from Detroit was delayed 10 hours, which caused me to miss my connection in Amsterdam and then Dar es Salaam. I was re-routed the next day to Dubai. After a five-hour wait, I finally made it to Dar, though a day late. And, like the trip to Madagascar last summer, my main luggage did not arrive. But this time I was better prepared as I separated out my most important items and a small amount of clothing into my carry-on luggage. At least I knew I could get by now for a few days.

Hubert Heldner, the trip coordinator, met me at the Dar es Salaam airport, which gave us an opportunity to get to know each other and chat privately as we drove the 45 minutes to our guest house. Considering our first meeting, I can say that we will get along very well.

So now I’ve arrived and have an opportunity to meet the rest of the team. After several previous African adventures, I have experienced all manner of accommodations. I can say I am very pleased with our place considering how it could be – the food is excellent, and typical of a European standard with a Swiss flair.

Of the team, I am already well acquainted with rough dealers, Tom and Lisa from Vancouver (www.custom-cutgems.com), and of course my friends gem carver Sherris Shank (www.gemscapes.com) and photographer, Amy Baltroup of Michigan. The balance of the crew is Swiss, with the exception of Huan Toh from Singapore.

On to Tanzania!

End of December 2008
I am now preparing for another buying trip - this time to Tanzania. Like the trip to Madagascar, I prefer to work within a buying group. And thus, we are working with a group of 12 participants, not including drivers, guides and our hosts. I know five of the participants personally and they are all involved in the gem trade in North America. The balance of the team are mostly Europeans.

We are hopeful that internet access shall not be a problem.... but we're talking Tanzania. So our expectations are not set high. If I do have access, I will continue to post my findings and stories here in the blog. If not, well.... it will be done as soon as I have internet access again. Hope you are able to follow along.

My flight arrives in Dar es Salaam on the 7th of January, returning to the U.S. roughly around the 21st. So we have about 12 days on the ground, with 6 of them at a mining camp in the Umba Valley. Here's what we're hoping to find:

This is Scapolite I picked up from Tanzania two years ago. Hoping to see some more.

From northern Tanzania, there is a relatively new find of Spessartites. While the Tanzanian goods may not rival the very fine Nigerian rough, they are still attractive in their own right.

One of my favorite gems to cut is Tourmaline. I am very hopeful to find some on this trip.

So now all we have to do is find the rough!

Adding new gems from Madagascar roughs

September through December 2008
Am working through the goods from Mada. Here's a few that were completed in the past several months.

In the rough, we saw many larger roughs in Sphene, though many of them were really 'cabbing' grade. So it was mostly the smalls that we were interested in since we were certain they were 'cuttable'.


Only picked up one piece of Apatite - and this is from a slice off one end of the larger crystal.

This was cut from a crystal we purchased as golden Beryl, but we knew it was Scapolite before we left the country. It was a fine piece nonetheless, and now enjoy the look.

Many of the larger Garnets had a purplish overtone, and given their Specific Gravity, they should fall into the Rhodolite range. But locally in Mada, they are all lumped together.

Back in Tana... more dealers

July 5th and 6th, 2008
After spending some fun time in Tulear, we flew back to Tana. It's roughly a 17 hour grueling drive and flying seemed so 'civilised'.

We're now back in the capitol. Our pocketbooks are a smidgeon lighter, but we are still interested in looking at more goods. We thought we had already seen everything this dealer had, but we did not count on his influence in the local market. There were goods shown to us on our final day [shown below] that we had not seen earlier.



Here's a full view of one spread. All Garnet, mostly Almandine - but really they just mix it all together - probably because it is all found together and is in the same color range.




Then, from time to time we are surprised again. We 'cherry-picked' some goods from the parcel.

Closing up in Illakaka and heading south

July 3rd and 4th, 2008

We're finished with our buying in Illakaka, and are now weaving our way through town. This photo shows a typical street scene as vehicles have to tangle with pedestrians and carts.

Sometimes bike travel is easier than autos.

As we are passing south, there are numerous small 'buying' shops along the way.

We are now leaving Illakaka, heading south towards the town of Tulear. The signs regarding Sapphires are on many signposts.

And then, just as we are leaving all hustle of the town, we see such a nice building set up for Sapphire buying. It seemed this was somewhat of an anomaly.

At this point we are on our way to the ocean. And then we are surprised again to find digging taking place in another river near a small bridge. The work continued upriver for several kilometres.

As you can see here, we are looking out at least 5 kilometres.

Illakaka - let the buying begin

July 2nd, 2008
We've now arrived at Illakaka, and are in the process of being introduced to the infamous, Jean Noel. Jean is revered in local legend as having been responsible for getting the sapphire diggings off the ground, [well, maybe into the ground!] and was involved from the very beginning of the mining project. Standing next to Jean is Jim Fiebig.


We are all now seated at Jean's home, having refreshments and getting to know each other. Jean has been very gracious even though we were suprise guests.


Seated behind me is one of Jean's children. They were very friendly and playful.


And now….. it was our time to begin buying at the famed Illakaka. While we were away surveying the mining areas, Jean Noel was busy spreading the news that buyers were in town. As we were seated at his home, we noticed the line of dealers wrapped around his compound waiting for us. Jean seated us in the central area of his simple home and screened the sellers before they entered.



Here's one of the first parcels offered up. As is tradition in his home, the rough gems are dropped into the dish. And then it is up to us to decide if they meet our desires or criteria. This parcel was a mix of different colored Sapphires varying in size from 3/4 gram to just over a gram.

This parcel was a mix of Spinels and Sapphires. Many of the local rough miners may not know or care that there is a difference in the two species. But we did, and bid accordingly.

This juicy parcel was a mix of Sapphires, Spinels, various Garnets and Zircons - all priced the same. I love this stuff and did very well with this particular dealer and parcel.

This is Lisa Elser seated next to me, as she is pondering some of the goods.

One by one they came in and showed us their parcels. Some were a single stone lot, while others had major parcels for us to preview. Since these miners were not educated men, at least not educated regarding gem rough, it felt strange to look through a parcel and separate the Spinels from Garnets from Zircons. If they found them together, they showed them together. This is much different from purchasing rough at most any other venue.

As we have all been reminded from Richard Hughes’ books, the closer you are to the mine, the more likely you’ll find synthetics and imitations mixed in with the real goods. And so, it was also true here in Illakaka.

Seated on the left is Naomi Sarna. She is particularly interested in the larger roughs as the type of carving she performs does not lend itself to the smaller goods. Above and to my left is Alain who guided us all along the way through Madagascar.

Fortunately for us, we were buying as a team and we had the further scrutiny of Jean Noel as he grilled each dealer before they entered his home to remind them “that if it wasn’t real…. don’t bother to bring it here“.

After looking at rough for five hours the stream of dealers finally came to an end. We were okay with that since it is stressful for us as well. Every time you selected pieces, you needed to negotiate with them immediately to make a buy. If a conclusion was not reached in minutes, they came back later to take another crack at us to see how much we wanted the goods. As much as I normally do not enjoy the bargaining, there is a certain ‘game-i-ness’ to it. I believe it is something one must get used to as it is not something often seen in the western culture.

Illakaka - small village to boom town

Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Today was the day we were all waiting for…. entering the sprawling town of Illakaka, as seen in the photo below. There is a stream that crosses from left to right, at the juncture of the now paved RN7 roadway. This is the location of the 65 original inhabitants who were here when it all began in the early 90's.

Of course, this all changed due to the Sapphire rush. The town swelled to 65,000 at its peak, but is now somewhere in the 35,000 range according to government estimates.

The photo below is typical of the 'housing' in the town.

Illakaka has the appearance of a "wild-west-town" as seen in movies made about America's frontier times of the mid-1800's.

And then, right next door, we are reminded of the great value laying beneath the earth.

The 'Banque Suisse' moniker was in reference to its value to the region - as it brought in buyers from around the world.

We've now entered the famed 'Banque Suisse' property with Jean Noel-proprietor as our guide.

This is a vast dig covering several acres as seen in these photos.

Some view?

In the photo below is Jean Noel with Jim Fiebig.

Even today, there is a significant dig just getting started only 250 metres away from the original pit on his property.

This is a small operation with husband and wife working together just a few metres away from the original site.

Leaving the highlands for Illakaka

June 30, 2008
Time to introduce the crew -- starting from the left
1st-Naomi Sarna of New York City, gem carver
2nd-Lisa Elser of Vancouver, faceter and rough dealer
3rd-Tom Schlegel, Lisa's husband, and photographer
4th-the infamous Mr. James Fiebig of North Carolina, adventurer and team leader
5th-Roger Dery of Michigan, faceter
6th-Nancy Schuring of Wyckoff New Jersey, owner - Devon Fine Jewelry
7th-Debbie of Wyckoff New Jersey, lead staff person of Devon Fine Jewelry
8th-Joe Portale of Ridgefield New Jersey, dentist, photographer and marketing guru and lover of gemstones

Leaving Antsirabe and the central highlands this morning, our next objective is the town of Fianarantsoa - commonly known as Fianar. The drive from Antsirabe to the mining fields of Illakaka is really too far to try and attempt in one day - hence the stop over in Fianar. This stop is so that we may have a reasonable hotel and restaurant to take care of our basic needs.

As we were approaching Fianar, I took a photo of one of the many bus stops along the famed RN7. We all felt that Jim selected an awesome driver and guide - would hate to think we'd be using public transport in Mada.

Here's another bus stop, a little closer to the town.

And, then, if we really wanted some adventure..... looks vaguely similar to the rickshaws I used in India and Sri Lanka.

Just before we arrived in Fianar, we stopped along the roadway to stretch our legs. 'Out of nowhere' all these children arrive. So Nancy begins handing out gifts to each one.

After a day's drive we stopped at a park along the route to Illakaka.

Tourmaline mine!

June 29, 2008
Antsirabe, historically, was the hub of gem trade in Madagascar. But today it is relegated to third place behind Tana (where most anything can be acquired) and then Illakaka - where it is primarily about corundum, though other items show up as well.














Yes, it started out a leisurely path, then 2.5 hours later.















The hills surrounding Antsirabe are rippled with outcroppings - and this is currently where the majority of Madagascar’s Tourmaline is mined. The area surrounding the village of Ibity [pronounced “Ibeet”], roughly 30 kilometers outside of Antsirabe, is the source of anything worthwhile. And so that’s where we were headed today.















The area is peppered with hills all winding their way to about 6,000 feet where the mining is taking place.















From where the road ended where we left our vehicle, it was just over 2.5 hours hiking time. Some of the hiking was over indented double-tracks into the high grass, left behind by four-wheel drive vehicles. But most of the track was a bit more rustic....
















Upon arrival we were greeted by about 40 workers, mostly men but a few women as well. With the water source in the valley below, this is all hard rock mining. Let me be clear, this is difficult work.
















Generally, they are working in teams with either 2, 3 or 4 miners. A circular hole is dug roughly a meter or so across and this is their working space.















Then they begin the hard work following a seam into the earth. Some of the pits were as much as 30 meters deep. For the deeper pits, there would be a crudely constructed hand/rope/wood wench used to lower a person to the latest working depth, as seen here.















Difficult to make out in the photo below, but there is a miner being lowered into the shaft.
















These miners were carrying their hand-made sieve boxes to the site. It appeared to us the mining crews took their tools with them each morning and night - probably to prevent poaching of their sites.






























As gravels were revealed in the open pits using their hand tools, a reinforced style plastic bag or sack was lowered to the men in the pit. They shoveled the dirt and all it contained into the sack and then it was raised by rope to the surface.















They would dump the sack into hand fabricated sieves with rudimentary frames to hold the screen. This probably as low tech as it gets.













Once sieved, the crystal fragments or other potential workable items are set aside [that is, if there are any]. The balance of the diggings are dropped to another area that may have already been worked. Not exactly well executed re-claiming of the land, but this is better than what I witnessed in Namibia.














We visited with the miners for over an hour while we shared water bottles and viewed whatever rough they were willing to display. They allowed us to take some photos and then we headed back to Antsirabe. With roughly five hours total hiking time over difficult terrain, 6,000 feet elevation, warm temperatures and no cloud cover - we were burned out. Definately time for a shower, and maybe a beer or two.

onto Antsirabe

June 28, 2008
We left our confines in Tana this morning and headed four hours south to the Tourmaline mining areas and gem marketplace in Antsirabe - pronounced [ann-sara -bay].

This river flows from the centre of the country out to the Indian ocean.

But here, near Antsirabe, it is used for washing clothes amongst other necessary functions. The colors you see on the far bank are the cleaned clothes scattered amongst the bushes so they can dry in the sun.

The rolling hills of the Malagasy countryside were lush and beautiful. The landscape was painted with rice paddy outlines as far as one could see as we weaved our way through the hills and valleys, occasionally passing through villages where we witnessed poverty and happiness in the same breadth. This stark contrast is a constant reminder of how fortunate I am.

When they refer to market-place here, it does not necessarily refer to the gems we were searching for.

On arrival, we checked into our hotel - a former Norwegian hot springs spa built in the 1930's. I’m thinking, “we’re not doing too badly so far“…. hot and cold running water, showers and toilets I recognize, French cuisine; what could be better?

Yeah, it was tough....

We moved on to our next opportunity. Close to the hotel is a marketplace known as “the Circle of Mess”. Not quite sure what is its meaning, but there were about 40 small booths set up in a ‘L’ shape with a dealer (or two) in each one. Sometimes the children assisted or played nearby.

The majority of what we were shown were in cut goods, with rough taking a distant second place here. I didn’t find anything for me, though some of the crew were having fun with all the esoteric pieces and crystals. It was clear to all of us that we were not yet working with the local top tier dealers - tomorrow they said.

Seen here, Lisa Elser on the left and Naomi Sarna on the right.... negotiating for some specimens.

Another view

Nightfall set in and we headed back to our hotel for another fine French meal. Since I don’t read or speak French I had to guess what I was receiving for dinner - I can only presume that is part of the fun of travel? I did finally figure out Langouste, Crevettes, Poulet, Poisson and others.

the IGM school in Tana

Still in Tana... visiting the IGM school.














Prior to our heading south to Antsirabe, we visited the government run gemmology and lapidary school that was created several years ago with the assistance of Tom Cushman, Charles Carmona and several others. The school was recently moved into the building shown in the above photo. As our way of contributing back to the industry, we are considering sponsoring students who can not afford to go through the program on their own. As a rough estimate, it costs only US$400 for one student / per month for the lapidary section. This is not including room and board for the term though.

***and as a special note: Nancy Schuring of Devon Fine Jewelry has set up a special non-profit corporation to assist with funding for local Madagascan students interested in the gem or jewelry trade. Nancy, and the Devon Foundation, can be contacted here: 201-848-8489***

A photo showing the general set up in the faceting section. There was also a typical lapidary and gemmological area as well.

On one side of this room there was a series of Imahashi style dual set-up faceting machines. They use six inch laps driven on a pulley system - so they all run at the same speed. Each table consists of four faceters running off one central motor, powering both ends with students on each side, opposing each other. Each 'machine' has two platforms pointed toward the center-driven platen.

Here's a close up of one student. They are all trained to use loupes in lieu of the typical magnification visor used by many North American and European faceters.

Found this photo interesting.... seems they also use the software, 'GemCad', developed by Robert Strickland of Texas.

Oh yea.... for you gem cutters out there, they are primarily dopping with wax. I know... no one asked.

Up and running - meeting with dealers

June 27, 2008 - Friday
This is Jim Fiebig - in the upper left with the black ball cap - our project leader. To his right is Tom Schlegel from Vancouver, who assisted in many ways, but was instrumental in tackling all the photography stuff for the trip. In front of Tom is his wife, Lisa Elser (with loupe in hand). Lisa is a faceter and dealer in faceting rough. Then, to her right is Nancy and Debbie from Devon Fine Jewelry of northern New Jersey. They were having a blast on this trip and made awesome travel partners. Today, everything broke loose. Jim had been working the phones the day before to arrange for a gathering of the local dealers, and they showed. From 2pm until sunset, the rough and cut stone dealers came to take their best shot. I lost count, but somewhere around 40 dealers came through our “special hotel balcony arrangement“ in a matter of hours. They were all vying for our attentions, and money. This is especially true now since there has been an embargo in place restricting the movement of rough out of the country since February 2008. They were hungry to show us anything and everything.

It was at this event that we worked on sharpening our negotiating skills. Technique here is very similar to what I’ve experienced in Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, mainland Africa and South America. They, of course, started very high - so high that it was laughable. Then, we responded with ridiculous offers that surely would have embarrassed us back home. And so, back and forth we went until somewhere in the middle it reached an equilibrium to everyone’s agreement; though not necessarily everyone’s satisfaction.

Dealers were very eager - as you can see in their faces. He is holding a large Aquamarine specimen.

As to be expected, there were some mishaps too. Not every stone turned out to be what it was purported to be. In one parcel of large Aqua’s there were two Aqua-colored glass imitations. Surprisingly, they were offered by one of the “big hitters” in the local Tana market. Really, we were in one of the poorest countries in the world, and the local dealers had the skills and the ability to take advantage of anyone who made themselves available. Fortunately for us, one of our team picked these two simulants out of the batch. Always handy to have some gemological tools with us.

So here’s a short list of some of the items acquired, or wished we acquired….
1-The finest pink color Morganite that I have ever seen - and at first we thought is was Tourmaline. Way too included to be faceted stones, but may work for some cutters as cabbed goods. Cost at $400 to $500 per gram - and they were large pieces, 10 to 80 grams each.

2-Golden Scapolite… though first presented as Golden Beryl, it was still interesting and in reasonably good sizes.

3-Lots of richly colored Amethyst with many in sizes that would produce 10 to 30 carat size stones. The same goes for Citrine, though it was the golden color only.

4-Very little Ruby, rough or cut goods. But that is pretty much what we’d heard would happen. The only goods we were shown were glass-filled Ruby rough just returned from Chanthaburi.

5-Bags of blue Sapphire rough, but it was only good for cutting melee and smalls. There were only a few pieces of larger roughs but as they were being sold as singles it would be about the same price as buying them already cut. So we didn’t bother. Most looked just like Sri Lankan goods.

6-Sphene, lots of it. Included goods were in abundance, none were selected that day. [though we did buy some at a later date]

7-Tourmalines, mostly in the ‘green range’, but not quite a green that I would find attractive, or could be able to sell.

8-Rose Quartz - nice goods were available, though none were selected. I am sure we were all thinking this is something that could be picked up most anytime, whether here or in Tucson. So there was no urgency to fuss with it.

Well that is the bulk of what we saw today - as we know it will change as we move about to the different markets in the country. Time to rest our eyes, have a few beers and chat about today’s finds.

Takes a big personality to take a picture of one's self and hand it off for distribution.... this is Tom Cushman who assisted us as we pursued rough dealers throughout the country.

Immersed in Mada

Hi all,
Internet access is skimpy at best here in Madagascar. In the internet cafe's they have a simple 56K telephone line that is shared with four or more computers, and sometimes more than ten! So it is slow going.

A 'light pipe' is being installed on the ocean floor from Mozambique but they say to not expect hook ups until mid-2009. Oh well....

As for the country, it is beautiful, scenic and exotic, hilly to mountainous, the food is awesome and the people are friendly usually offering a quick smile anytime one's eyes meet. As expected, poverty is rampant, street beggars are everywhere - though primarily in the capitol and will hardly leave you alone.













This is our first major buying opportunity on our arrival. We are looking at rough and cut stones. The dealers, even though they were informed to only bring rough, figured they may as well show everything they have.

In the above photo I am chatting with Naomi Sarna, a gem carver from New York City as she works through her decisions.

In the background, is Julie a close friend of Jim Fiebig's [the project organizer]. Julie's day job consists of working in a bank conducting international transactions - she has been instrumental in her assistance to the team. That is, in addition to all the languages she is fluent in!

That is all for now, have to go meet up with the team. More later....

1st day - the whirlwind tour of city centre

June 26, 2008
Jim Fiebig, our advisor, took us around the city centre for four hours today so that we can ‘get our legs’ for the country. We learned the capitol’s full name, Antananarivo, literally means; “cannot be defeated by 1,000 warriors“ -- though I have no way of knowing whether this is true or not, but we had great fun with it anyway.

This photo was taken during their annual holiday celebration.













The city centre is located in a central valley - with hundred’s of steps leading down to the main square often referred to as L' Avenue. The center section is a walking district with many shops, restaurants, money-changers and store fronts with roadway circumnavigating the area. Today, the 26th of June, is the country’s national holiday similar to what July 4th is in the USA. So the town square and local streets are filled with families walking here and there, enjoying their time off from work.

Before we started working with the dealers, we took a drive in the hills area above the city. As you can see in this photo, the city stretches for quite a distance. Yes.... that is smog, not just a hazy day.













We took lunch around 1pm, and then set up tables on the balcony overlooking the festival on the streets below us. Rough and cut stone dealers began to show up around 2pm or so. As a team, we spent the next three hours immersing ourselves into ‘buying mode’ with our nifty collection of gemological tools and our new dealer friends. Seems everyone came away happy as all of us spent some money, and the dealers left a little lighter.

After the day-and-a-half flight to get to Mada, my body requests rest, so I’ll try to write more tomorrow.

Arrival in Tana

June 25th; 2008
We arrived very late in the evening on our AirFrance flight from Paris to Ivato airport just north of Tana, the capitol. The flight was on time, but my checked bag did not arrive with me, so I’ll have to scramble a bit to line up clothes and such for the next couple of days. Everyone else on the trip arrived okay. The only mishap was that Naomi Sarna [the gem carver from New York] broke one of her toes prior to our arrival [she arrived a week early to work the fossil markets]. She’s hopping about some, but seems she will be okay soon.

and, as a FYI...
***Broadband connections do not exist yet in Madagascar. So please be patient for photos and postings as they may be intermittent, or not at all, until my return***

Prepping for Madagascar - summer 2008

Working today on packing all the goods necessary to make the passage to Madagascar. Am currently just *over the limit* for weight on international flights with my stowed bag as well as the carry-on. Not worried though, because this time I am seated in business class so they probably won't make it an issue. I may even sleep on the way over.... a novelty!

I fly on Tuesday evening, the 24th. Have a short layover in Amsterdam, shuttle flight to Paris, then late in the morning we fly AirFrance to Tana, the capitol of Madagascar. It happened to work out that six of the seven of my trip-mates are all on the same AirFrance flight to Tana. Very convenient, I thought. Will give us a chance to become acquainted with each other prior to our land-based travel. We are going to have a blast.

Home

Hi, my name is Roger Dery and my wife Ginger and daughter Rachel own Spectral Gems, Inc. of Royal Oak, Michigan USA.

I am a precision faceter working on a wide range of gem species. That isn't how I started in the gem trade, but it is an interesting story for another time..... For now though, I'd like to give you an idea of my faceting style - which is often referred to as 'classic' gem cutting.

Shown below is one of my favorite gem species to work on.... Scapolite. While this one is golden, they also occur in a lively purple color.

Since 1981, we operated as a loose-gemstone supply firm holding an inventory of calibrated loose stones and pearls. And, due to the width and depth of our inventory, it precipitated us having to provide a catalog with pricing, information, and of course - several employees.

However, in 2001, sensing the winds of change in our industry, we chose to sell off all of the smaller goods and pearls to a single firm located in Midland, Michigan. They were accustomed to processing client projects and performing service work for the jewelry industry - and so it was a good fit. From this time forward, we focused our efforts on custom-cut, precision faceted gemstones like the Tanzanite shown below.

The majority of the gemstones we sell today are faceted by me or my daughter. This ensures a client is receiving a well-made gem, from natural gem materials that came out of the ground, that may be suitable as part of a family’s heirloom.

Here's one that Rachel faceted.... a Bolivian Amethyst with a final weight of 15.04 carats - which is the largest she has worked on to date. She was 13 at the time.

Shown below is a partial list of the types of gem materials often found in my bag. Some you will recognize instantly, while others are considered more rare or obscure.

-Ruby and all the colors of Sapphire
-Zircon, most all colors and especially my favorite - the blues
-Scapolite - both purple and golden
-Spinel in a range of colors
-the Beryl family including Aquamarine, Morganite, Golden and Emerald
-Precious Topaz, full range of Tourmalines including bi-colored
-Peridot, Tanzanite, Kunzite and Apatite
-the Feldspar group including Orthoclase, Sunstone and Bytownite
-most all the Garnets species including:
Spessartite, Malaya, Rhodolite, Grossular, Demantoid, Tsavorite, Hessonite
and some of the location-specific colors such as:
Umbalite, Tanga, Maralambo, Merelani, Mali and others

There are many other more unusual or rare species that I've worked on, but the list above makes up the majority. The 'Asscher' style emerald cut shown below is one of my favorite designs.

My design style is referred to as elegant and graceful. My specialty is re-designing the classics; as a revival of the timeless designs from the past centuries and making them ‘come-alive’. I hope this gives you an idea of my work. Please feel comfortable in contacting us through the information provided in the footer.

Warm regards,

Roger, Ginger and Rachel Dery
Royal Oak, Michigan USA
spectralgems.net
248-545-3546 -- shop