Jeweller - August Issue 2018

GEMSTONE ORIGINS
Expedition to
Ethiopia’s sapphire
fields
t the 2017 Tucson Gem Show, author Andrew Lucas was approached
by Ethiopian dealers attending a seminar given by Shane McClure,
Global Director, Colored Stone Svc. They proposed to Lucas and
McClure to conduct research on Ethiopian gemstone deposits for
GIA. This led to correspondence between Lucas and Teweld Abay, director
of the Mineral Marketing and Value Chain Directorate over the next several
months to coordinate a joint project between GIA and the Ethiopian Ministry of
Mines Petroleum & Natural Gas. Tucson 2017 and 2018 were abuzz with interest
regarding Ethiopian emeralds and to a lesser degree Ethiopian sapphires. A few
Ethiopian dealers showed sapphires at the show that were obviously magmatic
in nature. Most of the gemstones were very dark blue and heavily included with
silk. There were some bright blue stones, however, that sparked a great deal of
interest. News of the sapphires had begun entering the gem trade in early 2017.
As much of the talk in the gem trade was of this upcoming source of gemstones,
GIA was compelled to conduct firsthand on-the-ground research. The Ethiopian
Ministry of Mines also wanted third-party expertise to be involved in joint
research on the Ethiopian gem deposits.
The decision was made for GIA to visit the main gem producing areas of the East
African country of Ethiopia, including sapphire, emerald and opal mining areas.
The expedition dates were set for the end of February 2018 through the
third week of March and the first mining areas to be visited during the visit
were the sapphire fields.
ETHIOPIA
Ethiopia is composed of over one million square miles with elevations that range
from 125 m below sea level to 4,550 m with a mean elevation of 1,330 m. The
terrain is dominated by high plateaus, which are divided by the Great Rift Valley.
The population of over 105 million makes it the second most populous in
Africa. Ethnically, Ethiopia is composed of several ethnic groups with the two
largest being Oromo (34.4%) and Amhara (27%). While the official National
language is Amharic, local states will also designate working languages such as
Oromo for the State of Oromia, Somali for the Sate of Sumale, and Tigrinya
for the State of Tigray.
Approximately 80 per cent of the population lives in rural areas and
this reflects that about 72 per cent of the workforce is involved in the
agricultural industry.
Approximately 43 per cent of the population is Ethiopian Orthodox Christian,
33 per cent Muslim, and 18 per cent Protestant. Many of the tourist attractions
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