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A study of MADAGASCAR EMERALD |
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Take a tour of the amazing emerald forest, the green world.
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In the past as in the |
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future, Madagascar |
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remains proud to |
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protect its territorial |
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integrity and |
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its treasures. |
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| Discussing of emerald |
| deposits with an old |
| Madagascan involved in |
| the stone business since |
| colonial times. |
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| Mama Be died in 2001. |
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John in 1990 showing a noticeable green beryl. |
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Madagascar was previously called the " Beryl Country." |
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At the center of the picture, the village of Kianjavato is located near the emerald mines, |
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which are exploited behind the hills in the yellowish zone on the top of the image. |
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The forest is ravaged by fires traditionally used by farmers to make room to new |
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culture zones. |
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On his shoulder, the |
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placid John's friend. |
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Chameleons are endemic |
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animals there, but in the |
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rain forest they are less |
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rare than emerald, and |
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easier to catch. |
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Tracks in the rain forest are usable by four wheel drives only. |
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This one was quite rustic but very utile to reach some spots |
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resealing hidden treasures. |
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| In the morning, after an excellent meal the previous evening, the team is |
| buying some victuals before a long trek in the forest. |
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Alain inspecting an |
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association of rocks |
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often present with |
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emerald. |
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| We have to notice the abundance of gneisses and mica schists, heterogeneous |
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| migmatisation of épibolite type, in this region. |
| Several tons of emerald have been extracted from this area within the eighties. |
| But as it is the case with most of the mines, a small quantity of them were |
| usable as gem. Actually, many of them contain a white core visible in the |
| center of their axis of crystallization. If we want an untreated emerald, that |
| involve to saw the stones in small parts in order to keep the green material. |
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Bargaining emeralds in a ravinala wood |
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made house. |
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Crossing the |
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Mananjary river |
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which is infested |
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by crocodiles. |
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| Since their new discovery, the origin of the emeralds from this area remained |
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| unknown by the profession within several years, but they reached the |
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| international market steadily. |
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| Emerald crystal in pegmatite matrix. |
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An emerald mine mechanically worked. The hill has been scalped in order to reach |
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the precious material. |
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The occurrences of this area produce an exceptional emerald quality, comparable |
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with the best emeralds found elsewhere in the world. |
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Emerald mine located close to the Mananjary river, and visible on Google Earth. |
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| Emeralds from Morafeno and Ambodibakoly (East) |
The emerald occurrence from the East coast, provided |
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quality stones since 1975 until 1993. Their professional |
| exploitation began in the middle of the eighties. |
| The first listed discovery was reported in 1911 by the |
| geologist Levat. Then, during the colony, a settler called |
| Bourgeois discreetly exploited the green stones which |
| with the statement of the Madagascans made his |
| fortune. At the time of their departure, the settlers who |
| worked emerald mines in the area, warned the natives |
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against the bad spirits which could be in the holes. Thus, |
| The emeralds of this area are located in the geological |
the gems slept within 15 years. |
| group called Ampasary. (silico - aluminous and calco - |
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| magnesian series) note the abundance of gneisses and |
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The area of Kianjavato, village located near |
| mica schists, heterogeneous migmatisation of épibolite |
the emerald mines, is in what it remains of the |
| type. |
rain forest of the East coast. |
| The bed rock of the emeralds is a biotite mica schist |
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| crossed by talc and chloritoschist, metamorphized |
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| by the contact of a close mass of granite containing |
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| pegmatites. |
| These hyperacides intrusions gave beryllium oxide, |
| alumina and silica thus source of beryllium, they are |
| located near ultrabasic rocks in particular the |
| serpentine ones, green biotic schists, source of the |
| necessary chromium contribution. The calco - |
| magnesian serie results in gneisses more or less |
| migmatic, with diopside, garnet, calcite, sphene, and |
| sometimes scapolite, more rarely by pyroxenites |
| wernerites and limestone. |
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| The silico - aluminous serie is presented in the form |
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| of quarzites at sillimanite, with or without graphite. |
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| This serie is located preferably at the base of the |
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| group. |
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| © All of the pictures on this website have been shot by gggems.com Text written by Alain Darbellay. GEM ADVENTURE ( Novel ) |
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