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New Opal<br />
Collection<br />
GEMSTONE ORIGINS<br />
S/S Doublets & Boulder Opal<br />
NUMEROUS DEALER OFFICES WERE SEEN IN CHILA. ON SATURDAYS<br />
MANY OF THE ADDIS ABABA BUYERS WOULD COME TO TOWN AND BUY IN<br />
QUANTITY FROM MINERS. IMAGE COURTESY ANDREW LUCAS/GIA<br />
colour and quality, and sizes ranged from 10 to 20 grams. Other<br />
colours produced include yellow and green, but the most are blue.<br />
With the size of the deposits and variety of qualities, mining is<br />
economically viable for the local artisanal miners. Demand from Sri<br />
Lankan and Thai buyers seems to remain strong and prices offered<br />
by miners and dealers firm. The sapphire deposits have definitely<br />
transformed the economic nature of the local communities and the<br />
town of Chila, that can be observed with the small town going from<br />
one bank to new ones opening up constantly.<br />
IP8488N-RGP<br />
www.ikecho.com.au<br />
The Ethiopian Government looks to work with the country’s gem<br />
trade to achieve the greatest potential from their sapphire deposits,<br />
as well as other gem deposits in their country. They are looking to<br />
brand Ethiopian gemstones and hoping to bring in investment<br />
and training to better exploit their deposits and bring new skills<br />
so the people of the country can move up the value chain into<br />
manufacturing in the future.<br />
Ethiopia’s government and industry want to tell the story of their<br />
gemstones themselves to the global industry. For this purpose<br />
they are working with international organisations for research<br />
and training. This up and coming gemstone producer is proud of<br />
their gem wealth and looking to capitalise on it for the future<br />
of the country. i<br />
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS<br />
Andrew Lucas is Manager of Field Gemology for GIA in Carlsbad. Wim<br />
Vertriest is Supervisor Field Gemology for GIA in Bangkok, Thailand.<br />
Daniel Girma is an analytics Technician for GIA in New York. Teweldbrhan<br />
Abay is a director for the Mineral Marketing and Value Chain Directorate<br />
within the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines Petroleum and Natural Gas in<br />
Addis Ababa. Biniyam Bekele is a geologist for the Ethiopian Ministry of<br />
Mines Petroleum and Natural Gas in Addis Ababa.<br />
IP767-ERG<br />
This article was first published in Summer <strong>2018</strong> edition of InColor<br />
magazine: incolormagazine.com<br />
Reprinted with permission from International Colored Gemstones<br />
Association: gemstone.org<br />
+61 2 9266 0636 +61 2 9266 0969 enquiries@ikecho.com.au
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