Asia and Africa ruby and sapphire fieldtrip report

[mogok]

Hello everybody,

As I''ve told you few months ago I went on a fieldtrip around ruby and sapphire producing area in South East Asia and East Africa to complete and update our sample collection at the laboratory in order to improve our services related to origin determination.
This trip was facilitated thanks to the cooperation AIGS had with Gubelin gem lab (Luzern, Switzerland) and ICA (International Colored Stone Association).

As I''m now back after my second trip in Madagascar (which was a great trip as I went there to help Richard Hugues) and I''ve completed my preliminary report.

The report is available on the AIGS Lab website:
Ruby and sapphire fieldtrip report

but you can also acces to it from my personal website which slowly begins to look like something I''m happy about.

Anyway AIGS and Gubelin gemologist will now work on the samples collected and we will work on some more specific publications after studying the samples carefully. I will continue to add some photos on my website as usual slowly on my evenings and weekends.

Hoping that you will find some interest or fun to read these pages,

All the best,

 

[Flawless]

Hi Vincent,

Excellent report. Very very interesting.
Felt like personally visiting all those wonderful places you went to. It must have been tough but enjoyable. I had visited some of those mines in Kenya and Tanzania in 1993 to 1995. Reading your report took me back in time when i was there.
Can you still buy ruby large size roughs in Lukande?
I am hearing many stories about Mahenge pink and red spinels. Is it possible to get big volumes? I heard many Thai buyers are looking for them but didn''t see many stones in Chantaburi or Bangkok markets.

All the Best and keep up the excellent work.
Congratulations on your website. Very informative and educational.

Flawless.

 

[MJO]

Date: 10/21/2005 10:45:50 AM
Author: Flawless
Hi Vincent,

Excellent report. Very very interesting.
Felt like personally visiting all those wonderful places you went to. It must have been tough but enjoyable. I had visited some of those mines in Kenya and Tanzania in 1993 to 1995. Reading your report took me back in time when i was there.
Can you still buy ruby large size roughs in Lukande?
I am hearing many stories about Mahenge pink and red spinels. Is it possible to get big volumes? I heard many Thai buyers are looking for them but didn''t see many stones in Chantaburi or Bangkok markets.

All the Best and keep up the excellent work.
Congratulations on your website. Very informative and educational.

Flawless.

Hello Flawless,

The Mahenge red spinels are incredable. I''ve been looking for that myself.

Regards,
Maurice

 

[mogok]

Hi flawless,

Thanks for your nice comments, I''m happy that this report please people like you who already visited the area. Did you went to Ipanko? I''m interested to learn more from what happened in the area in the ''80s and ''90s...

These days as i say in my report: Lukande is not a very active area... For pricescope visitors to locate Lukande: It is a jungle mining area in the jungle on the south east of Mahenge in the border of the Selous reserve in central Tanzania. It was very active in the ''80s but the arrival of the heat treatment using borax and the Mong Hsu material killed slowly the area in the ''90s as the prices for the material dropped.
During our visit to Mahenge we went to visit the Lukande area and had a short hike to the mining area. Few miners were working there but if we heard about several big stones we could not see anything bigger than 10 carats of poor quality. Currently there are may be 100 miners in Lukande, Chipa and Mayote. I will try to put soon some of my photos from the area online in priority as you looks interested by the area...

Regarding to Mahenge spinels, well the spinels are very nice but I you ask me to compare the best I''ve seen from Mogok and Namya in Burma and the best from Mahenge, Mahenge cannot really compete. Most of the Mahenge spinel are a little bit milky and lack the strong saturation and crystal of the Namya yummies. But may be I''m just too much a Burmese freak?
nevertheless I had the possiblity to see some beautiful spinels there. The most interesting were may be the purplish spinels coming from Mbaraganga which display sometimes a color change which seems to be less common in Ipanko which is Mahenge main and beautiful mining area. 2 days before we visited Ipanko a very large spinel crystal including a gem quality area of several hundred grams was found. It was sold later in Arusha before our return so sadly we were not able to see it...

All the best,

 

[AGBF]

Date: 10/21/2005 6:50:41 AM
Author:Vincent Pardieu
As I''m now back after my second trip in Madagascar (which was a great trip as I went there to help Richard Hugues) and I''ve completed my preliminary report.

Aha, mogok! I just heard from Dick that he was in Madagascar, so when I saw you had been in Asia AND Africa, I started to wonder if you and he were together! Now you are a pair of guys I would love to travel with through any area with colored gems!!! Did you talk politics? What language did you speak? I don''t know if Dick speaks French and I know you do speak English, but haven''t you both lived in Thailand?

(Forgive me my language obsession. I fell in love with my husband in part because he was such a polyglot!)

Deb

 

[strmrdr]

awesome reading about what sounds like a great adventure :}
someday you should write a book about them.

 

[mogok]

Hi AGBF,

LOL, thanks for these nice words...
I do not talk about politics: An old habbit from my former tour guide behavior. But believe me or not I can talk a lot. (Hi Dana! if you read me...) I can speak French and English and also a bit of spanish, Thai, Burmese and Vietnamese. (from the best to the worst!) But I had all my life a problem to learn languages. Thats why I try to practice my English as much as I can.
Regarding to the fact that both Richard W.Hughes and me have lives in Thailand, you are right as Richard worked 10 years at AIGS where I currently work. He did great job there. And he is for sure one of the main reasons that bring me in this field!
He does speak a little bit of French also, it was useful to him while on our trip to Madagascar.

All the best,

 

[mogok]

Date: 10/22/2005 12:17:05 AM
Author: strmrdr
awesome reading about what sounds like a great adventure :}

someday you should write a book about them.

Thanks strmrdr,
But when I read my favorite gemology books: "Ruby and sapphire" from Richard W.Hugues and "The secrets of the gem trade" from Richard W.Wise, I can see that I still have many things to learn before to be able to do something really good.
It''s not because you travel to most ruby and sapphire mines in the world that you become an expert on origin determination even if in my mind it can help a lot, and it is the same for books... Thinks have to come on time and first I''ve to train myself a little bit in the writting field and I know that I still have a long way before to do anything good as a writter.
All the best,

 

[AGBF]

Date: 10/22/2005 3:21:43 AM
Author: Vincent Pardieu
It''s not because you travel to most ruby and sapphire mines in the world that you become an expert on origin determination even if in my mind it can help a lot, and it is the same for books... Thinks have to come on time and first I''ve to train myself a little bit in the writting field and I know that I still have a long way before to do anything good as a writter.

All that talent, and modest, too!

Deb

 

[mogok]

Hi AGBF,
I dont think that I''m that modest but I know very well some of my limitations...LOL
For the talent, its nice to hear but I think that somebody really motivated and ready to work hard can do the same. All you have to do is to stick with the right people that are also motivated and hard working. It is sometimes not easy to find in Bangkok or elsewhere but it is possible to do it.
All the best,