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.