Tanzanites

Factual Questions
1

I was just reading the thread about the real value of diamonds. It got me thinking about a beautiful gem I particularly like… the tanzanite. When I first saw a tanzanite about 9-10 years ago, they were not very common. Then they became more plentiful for a few years. Suddenly, a few years back, I started hearing from jewelers that they were scarce now, that the single mine in Tanzania that all tanzanites in the world came from had collapsed (or flooded, depending on who the story came from), blah-blah-blah. So of course the price of these stones skyrocketed. Now in the past 9 months or so, I am seeing more tanzanites on the market again, at (of course) much higher prices. Now the story about the “only mine” becoming unworkable seems quite bogus. Anyone have the skinny on this story?

2

According to this site: http://www.alrashidmall.com/jic/tanzanite-history.htm the problems with Tanzanite supply seem to be political.

Chava

3

Here’s a somewhat rose colored history of tanzanite production. In real life, the political struggle for control of the mining region has a large effect on the month to month production of stones. Of course what with 9/11 and all, now there’s supicions that al Qaeda could be involved in the tanzanite business.

4

Thanks, Chava. It would figure that this would stem from political decisions, fueled by others’ desire to grab and run. Isn’t greed a wonderful thing?

5

I believe that the connection was merely speculation shortly after 9/11 and was later proved untrue.