In February 2017 in Bangkok, the capital of precious stones, rumors began to circulate about the existence of a new deposit of Blue Sapphires in Northern Ethiopia.
Since then, adventurous dealers, unconscious of what the conditions of the country could have been, have run to inspect the area.
The deposit was found in the Tigray region, precisely in the city of Aksum (also called Axum) about 35km south of the border with Eritrea. An area that in history had already been called “City of stones“, a meeting point for local dealers for the purchase of stones from those areas.
The main mining areas are located near Chila, about 25km away from Axum, where 5,000 people work in controlled conditions every day.
These are mostly secondary deposits, therefore sites destined for the origin of Sapphires and Rubies, but until the beginning of the year no Corundum had ever been brought to the market places.
In the first few months of 2017, a deposit seems to have surfaced that has aroused so much curiosity, and several researchers including representatives of the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) have started to study the first samples ofBlue Sapphires brought to Bangkok, allowing
the classification of inclusions within the crystals, thus adding another source for our archives.
Based on a short research period, we can conclude that the majority of the crudes found do not exceed 3 grams, even if the exceptions exist and are always present, and specimens even greater than 50 grams have been found. Generally those with larger dimensions are very included, and with many fractures, which make them become unusable for treatments and consequently … “Ideal for the bottom of the aquarium” (cit.)
Several samples of heating experiments were conducted on the samples arriving in Bangkok to verify how the material in question could react and there were no major differences with Sapphires arriving from other deposits in the world. From the analyzes conducted it can be said
only 5-10% of the material does not need any treatment to increase the color, therefore ultimately the quality does not excel.
The color of the crystals varies fromdark blue to light blue, and it can be noted that inside them there are always fine Rutile needles, and often also several stellar inclusions, the trapiche-like inclusion.
In some cases these gems exhibit shades of yellow or green, often combined with blue in two-tone Sapphires.
All the sapphires that the GIA has analyzed show a very strong pleochroism, which varies from blue to green.
Other main inclusions remain intersected growth lines, crystals of different origins, fingerprints, canals, and rutile bundles.
After the great race in Madagascar at the end of 2016 to discover the country’s new corundum deposits, we added an additional source of Blue Sapphires, bringing the number of active sites in the world to just under a dozen.
In addition to the now knownMadagascar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Australia and Burma, we have now added Ethiopia.
The price of Sapphires is not expected to drop, in consideration of the fact that the quantity of stones that reflect Gem standards remain a small percentage, and this deposit does not seem to increase the quantity of quality Gems in the market:
in any case, it is important for gemological analysis experts to know every aspect of these stones in order to immediately recognize their correct origin.