Tanzanite Mining @ Jewel Info 4 U
By: Neelanjana
The Mererani or the Merelani Hills
of
Tanzania are the sole Tanzanite
hub of the world. The sensationally
attractive and new born mineral in
the world of gemstones owes its
birthplace to Tanzania where it was
discovered way back in the 1960's.
The Merelani Hill area located just
16 kms south of Kilimanjaro Airport
is another 70kms south-east from the
district of Arusha, situated at the
foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro. Some
also have the idea that Tanzanite
was discovered in 1967 in the Umba
Valley located in the Usambara
Mountains in Tanzania.
This rare mineral was christened as
Tanzanite in the year 1968 by
Tiffany & Co. and its rarity has
played a major role in its
popularity in the market today.
Infact the considerably large square
mile area in the Merelani Hills is
the only source of Tanzanite, and
unfortunately this mineral is
limited to this area alone. This
tri-colored mineral with brilliant
hues of Blue, violet and purple was
discovered some 30 years back by the
Masai tribesmen.
According to a
local myth, the escorted a
gentleman called Manuel D'Souza, a
tailor by profession to this area
enriched with blue stones, who was
on a trip in search of Sapphires in
Tanzania. It is claimed that a brush
fire which was caused due to
lightning, spread over a
considerable area of land at the
foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro,
caused brown zoisite crystals to
transform to a deep blue purple due
to the emerging heat from the fire
that burnt them. However, though the
discovery of open Tanzanite mines
seemed like a jackpot to the tailor
D'Souza, he was unable to hold on to
this treasure. This was because the
government of Tanzania took
possession of the mines in 1971 and
later handed them over to the State
Mining Corporation in the year 1976.
Image Courtesy:
Jewelry Muse
In Tanzania, this gemstone is mined
in four areas which are categorized
under A, B, C and D blocks
respectively. The B and D blocks are
where the local mining takes place,
whereas the remaining A and C blocks
are restricted to foreign
investments. The "Wana-Apollo" is a
local term for small scale Tanzanite
miners in Tanzania and they employ
hundreds of local tribes in the
mining process of Tanzanite. These
tribes carry out extensive
excavations to locate Tanzanite from
their respective blocks. On location
of a Tanzanite vein, the miners
implement a process called 'Bing'
and the groups of Wana - Apollo
jointly put in the effort to exploit
the discovered vein. There are a
total of 430 plots and the
small-scale miners of the Merelani
township utilize local hands for
Tanzanite mining in these plots.
Merelani Hills are basically a
township for small scale Tanzanite
miners.
A tragedy hit the Tanzanite mines on
the sacred day of Good Friday in the
year 1998, when a torrential
downpour of rain flooded the region
for days together. The water from El
Nino blanketed the entire area,
taking the lives of more than 160
miners. Water engulfed regions in
the mines up to 1000 feet deep,
outside the Mbuguni township,
located in the Merelani Hills,
around 25 miles south-east of Arusha.
Several safety measures have been
implemented in the mines post this
tragic flood incident and around 14
new regulations were set up. Roofs
have been constructed in place of
mine tailings in the entrance areas.
The usage of modern amenities to
mine has also been enhanced as
compared to the past. Tanzanite is
believed to have been mined with
very primitive concepts and
methodologies and though the use of
safety equipment has been increased,
there seems to be a lot of scope for
further improvement.
In 2005 a foreign private company
called "Tanzanite One Ltd", took
over the C block for Tanzanite
mining and earned themselves repute
in the trade, just like the "De
Beers" who earns the brand name with
diamond mining. The C block is
infact the largest Tanzanite mine
amongst the four blocks. The miners
representing the foreign company,
Tanzanite One Ltd have already
excavated to a depth of 1000 feet
and there is a concern is building
up about the drying out of resources
of this precious gemstone in the
future decades.
Image Courtesy: jeff-o-matic
However, parallel with this fear
Tanzanite has indeed been a great
discovery in terms of beauty and as
well as utility in the fascinating
world of gemstones.
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