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Look who made it to the top of Kilimanjaro this week!
Tanzanite -
December 16th 2007.
Those of you who have climbed Mount Meru will have noticed, on
that final nighttime push to the summit, a large, brightly lit area far in the distance
on the Tanzanian plains below. This is actually a tanzanite mine, and the only known
source of the precious stone.
Tanzanite has a violet-
Tanzanite’s discovery is attributed – at least by the stone’s
various public relations departments – to a Masaai tribesman who in 1967 spotted
something glittering in the sunlight in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro while
herding his livestock.
Within a year tanzanite had been brought to the attention
of Tiffany & Co. It was they who named it tanzanite after the only country on earth
where it has so far been found.
The main player in the tanzanite mining industry
is TanzaniteOne, who has the concession to mine approximately 60 square km – 50%-
Overall, the outlook for the future of tanzanite
looks pretty healthy. With the demand for diamonds slipping slightly due to last
year’s film Blood Diamond, which looked at the often ruthless and bloody industry
of diamond mining, many are now looking for a ‘kinder’ alternative precious stone.
Given that emeralds are found in both Colombia and Afghanistan, rubies come largely
from Burma, Kashmir and Tadjikistan – countries with less than sparkling reputations
– it’s difficult for consmers to find precious stones that have been mined without
undue suffering!
Which is where tananite comes in. However, there are one or two
clouds on the horizon. For one thing, the Merelani mine is going to be exhausted
wihin a decade; and that means, of course, that in a few years time there will be
no new tanzanite coming onto the market. Good news for those who have already brought
some of the stone, of course, and who will see the price of their stone increase;
but bad news for everyone else. Currently, one carat of tanzanite costs around $800,
though that figure is expected to rise as sources are depleted.
The second possible
problem facing the tanzanite industry is the resentment many of the smaller mining
operations at Melenani feel towards TanzaniteOne. Just last week the Arusha Times
last week carried a story in which concern was expressed that small-
With
thousands of locals now unable to eke out a living digging for the stone, they have
been forced to return to cities such as Arusha, swelling the ranks of the unemployed
and leading to an increase in crime in urban areas.