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.