English : • Tanzanite from Tanzani...
Deutsch : • Der Tansanit aus Tansa...
French : • La tanzanite de Tanzan...
Italian : • La Tanzanite dalla Tan...
Spanish : • La Tanzanita de Tanzan...
Chinese : • 坦桑尼亚的坦桑石紀錄片Patrick Voi...
Russian : • Танзанит Танзании доку...
Japanese : • タンザニアのタンザナイトのドキュメンタ...
Millions of years ago, at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, the earth gave birth to a very rare blue-mauve stone: the precious Tanzanite.
At this unique site, this gem is extracted in extremely precarious and primitive conditions.
This film will take you on an adventure into the bowels of the earth with the miners who go down these endless tunnels. These serpentine labyrinths wind their way in graphite over several kilometres. Some miners stay their 18 hours at a stretch, enduring temperatures of nearly 50°C.
The gems found are collected by the proprietor of the mine and it is the Massais who go there to buy them. They have the monopoly of the tanzanite trade between the mines and the counters of Arusha where they re-sell them.
After cutting and improving some of these stones, a handful of foreigners who have settled in this town sell and export them to major commercial destinations like the United States, Europe, India and other Asian countries. In this film you will follow every stage of their journey.
Today, the exploitation of tanzanite accounts for the wealth of Arusha; Massais have even constructed buildings with their profits. Some of them, in high spirits, throw wads of notes from the top of their buildings to celebrate their success.
Soon after its discovery in 1968, the New York jeweler Tiffany began commercializing this gem world-wide, till it ranked as the second most sold blue stone in the United States after the sapphire.
You will discover Tiffany’s creations made with this fascinating stone - the tanzanite.