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   MADAGASCAR                                MADAGASCAR GEM SAFARI 2
 

Andranondambo Sapphire Discovery

  The story

Sapphire from Maromby in a metamorphic marble. ( Andranondambo area.)
   Looking for sapphire on the ground in 1992.
  Sapphires from Andranondambo,  discovered in 1991. ( South-East of Madagascar )

   

       In 1658, Flacourt, the governor of Fort-Dauphin, mentions

       sapphires in the south of Madagascar.
       In 1808, Barthélemy Hugon writes that in the valley of
       Ambolo there is a so beautiful stone and so rare that his
       lapidaries have not  been able to recognize it and it was
       above of all that is not diamond. ... In 1991, at the time of
       the great dryness in the south, sapphire samples are found,
       several centuries after their first discovery. The son of Mrs.
       Dauphine, innkeeper in Tranomaro, main village of the
       valley, was among  the prospectors.
       Actually, one of the most beautiful sapphire quality in the
       world is just leaving ground.
          
                      
   The area of Tranomaro is characterized by an
  extreme calcic and magnesian paragneiss abundance
  gneiss with diopside, plagioclasites, pyroxenites,
  wernerites, wolastonite marble, with varied
  leptynites, generally with garnet, kinzigites, quarzites.
  One finds there rather frequently syenitic gneisses
  or lamboanites.  Gneisses of injection are very
  frequent.
  The typomorphic minerals are:  basic diopside,
  scapolite, calcite, plagioclases,
  wollastonite, garnet, cordierite and corundum.
  East of Tranomaro, arteritic and eyesys injections
  assign gneisses at leptynites. Cordierite gneiss bands
  are deeply injected bed by bed, the injection has
  introduced magnetite in abundance.
  Wollastonites form ptymatic lenses with
  Marohotro, 8 km. south from Andanondambo.   folds very tortured at the middle of the limestone.
    The sapphire on the left comes from Ambandanira, and   Note:aluminous anorthites or sakenites.
    that on right-hand side from Maromby
    (area of Andranondambo)
                                         
          
Sapphire from Behataza plateau (Andranondambo area)

                                         

     ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sapphires from Ilakaka.         One of the various holes in sandstone forming
( South-West of Madagascar )         the deposit of Ilakaka discovered in to 1998.
       
Blue sapphires , pink and violet, Ilakaka area.
       SANDSTONES OF ISALO.
       The white sandstones of Isalo present imposing
       stratifications intersected with gravel beds and
       small conglomerates.
       These soft sandstones resisted to erosion and taken a 
       ruiniform relief because the presence of braces siliceous
       veins.
       The mineral-bearing deposits include : a deposit of generally
       classified gravels, the richest part and larger elements
       being at the base of the bed - rock.
         MORE ABOUT ILAKAKA
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
       The far-south of Madagascar, semi-desert, does not present
Polychromatic sapphires from Iankaroka discovered in 1990.
       any asphalt road yet, dust and trepidations are the daily
       lot of any traveller. Sunsets and the natural life of its
       inhabitants offer an appreciable compensation.
      
Rubies from Ianavoha. (South of Madagascar.)
       
Ruby from Andranomilitsy (Vohitany)        Syenitic-nephelinic vein of rubies in Andranomilitsy.
      
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Soamiakatra, rubies were sold with sunglasses.  

      The Mayor of Soamiakatra in 1989, (East of Antsirabe.)

     

           Rubies from Soamiakatra in the highlands.

           Here, rubies are always found in alluvium.

                             MADAGASCAN CORUNDUMS

   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BLUE SAPPHIRE NATURAL COLOR           
Sapphire from Analafady ( Ambondromifehy ) North.

                                      

       The alluvial deposit of Ambondromifehy is exploited since
       1996.  It is located in a Jurassic limestone, but the origin of
       sapphires is in alkaline basalts from the close volcanic zone.
 Mahatsara ( Ambondromifehy)
                                   

    

                         ¦  PAKISTAN GEM SAFARI  ¦  MADAGASCAR SAFARI 2  ¦  MORE ABOUT ILAKAKA  ¦ »» 
 
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