Colombia To Host World Emerald Symposium in October


colombian-emeralds

Colombia is to hold the first gathering of the world emerald industry, and is inviting all emerald producing countries to take part in the event in Bogota from October 13 to 15. The conference will be followed by a visit to the famous Muzo emerald mine.

The countries invited to attend the conference include Zambia, Brazil, Russia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Madagascar. In addition, all relevant players are being invited, including governments, the private sector, civil society and all sectors of the emerald mining and manufacturing industry.

The conference will provide a comprehensive analysis of all elements of the emerald industry, including geology, mining, resource management, laws and regulations, manufacturing, treatments, marketing, nomenclature, labs and certification, education, origin and traceability, harmonization of the sector at the global level, relations with consumers, jewelry, branding and overall supply chain integration from mine to market.

The issues will be addressed by high-level experts from governments and the gemstone industry from a range of relevant countries, and there will also be discussions and working groups looking at the promotion of emeralds and addressing industry challenges.

The official program of events, debates and discussions is due to be released shortly. The overall aim of the conference is to boost the image of emeralds as a valuable stone and to deal with a wide range of issues, including safety in mine production and transport and emeralds as a leading global precious gemstone and store of value and to enable the global emerald industry to have a common language and unified approach.

An organized visit of delegates to the emerald mine in Muzo and surrounding area will take place on October 16.

The official organizers of the conference are: the Ministry of Mines of Colombia; Agencias Nacional e Mineria ANM (National Mining Agency); Fedesmeraldas (the Colombian Emerald Federation); ACODES (the Emerald Exporters Association); APRECOL (the Colombian Emerald Miners Association); and ASOCOESMERAL (the Colombia Emerald Dealers Association).

Source : gemstone.org/

A look at the emerald trade from rough crystals to gemstones and how the offices work in Colombia

 

R._holding_a_rare_crystal

An exceptionally large, finest rough emerald crystal from Muzo. This was offered at $45,000 wholesale price in Bogota’ in 2004. It cut two stone (match pair) of squares 7 cts. each.

emerald_louping

Viewing an emerald rough with loupe on the famous Catorce or emerald market in Bogota.

Emerald Buying

Many of the brokers are women. My best stone during that trip, an exceptionally clean Muzo stone, heart shape of 5.65 ct. was purchased from a beautiful, female broker…nothing new about this selling tactic…except that it works well for the seller.

Emerald check

Checking emeralds. To know emeralds quality and price takes a lot, lot of experience. Checking emeralds under special loupe. A careful, close-up examination is very important. There are many synthetics offered to foreign buyers.

Sorting emerald clean parcel

A fine parcel of emerald crystals is examined. Technician checking more emeralds at a typical office. A master cutter, initializing the cutting process of an exceptional emerald crystal. This process is thought through very carefully before the cutting begins.

Emerald cutter

The master cutter’s wheel and examining the emerald crystal and try to decide how to get rid of the included section (whitish portion in the emerald crystal). Probably that occurred when the crystal was broken away from the rock host (matrix).

Muzo pair fine gota de aceite 8.50 cttw

Here is the final result: Finest color, top clarity and awesome cutting for this finest match pair, 8.5 cttw. from the Muzo crystal seen previously. In Colombia, top emeralds are called “gota de aceite”, that means “oil drop”. Were offered for sale in November 2004 in Bogota for several thousands of USD per carat.