Dear all,
I'm happy to invite you to discover a new field video on "Field Gemology by Vincent Pardieu". During a field expedition in July 2018 we visited the Longido ruby producing area in Tanzania, (the oldest ruby mine in Africa) in order to collect reference samples for the "Bahrain Institute for Pearls & Gemstones (DANAT)".
Rubies were discovered in Longido it seems a bit before the first World War. Longido became soon famous for its "Ruby in Zoisite" specimen and carving material. But recently, in 2016, after 100 years of mining mainly for carving grade material, some significant production of cabochon and even faceted grade were found. The main mining company there Mundarara has as policy to give away the production waste to the local community, mainly Massai people, who for many of them made a fortune out of it as we could see. Few years ago Mundarara village was barely composed of few huts, now it is a small town with more than 100 stone buildings.
Many thanks to all the people we met in Longido and Tanzania during that field expedition for DANAT and a very special thanks to Justin Mmbaga and Mark Saul from Swala Gem Traders for their welcome and friendship.
Enjoy!