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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. |
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tons of emerald have been extracted from this area within the eighties. |
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as it is the case with most of the mines, a small quantity of them were |
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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 to reach
the |
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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)
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The
emerald occurrence from the East coast, provided |
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quality
stones since 1975
until 1993. Their professional
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| exploitation began in the
middle of the eighties.
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| 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
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| magnesian serie results in gneisses more or less |
| migmatic, with
diopside, garnet, calcite, sphene, and |
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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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