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 Sapphires
 I am writing this on my laptop computer from a comfortable and
well-equipped base camp in the remote reaches of northern
Madagascar, where the natural resources are very plentiful but almost
completely undeveloped. The country was under control of a dictator until
just a few years ago. Now, like many other mineral rich countries free
from the iron grip of communism, and eager to catch up with the western
world, this country is allowing mining exploration companies to
locate and help develop its very rich resources.
This country is very poor; especially in the rural areas, where much of commerce, and even people, are still being transported around on wooden carts being pushed or pulled by barefooted men:
 Wooden Cart
The weather here is very, very hot. Blistering! I am sure to lose the
skin off the back of my neck from several hours of exposure today, even
with my safari hat on. The natives work directly in the hot sun all day,
every day. It does not seem to bother them.
This country has never been explored for mineral resources with the
use of modem technology. Most of the natives are not even using shovels!
Most often, they use small metal salad bowls to excavate the
sapphire-rich gravels from their digging holes. The gravels are loaded
into burlap bags and carried long distances to the nearest water for
processing. Sometimes water is miles away. Some miners process less than
a cubic foot of gravel per day. Yet, they have bags of rich blue sapphires
to show for their effort.
 This morning, our guide took us out to a small digging area close to
this camp. There has been a substantial rush of Malagasy miners into this
area because of a very recent sapphire discovery of huge proportions. As
the discovery continues to be defined and developed over the coming
months and years, it will likely evolve into one of the largest sapphire finds in
history.
We are fortunate to be here right at the beginning. No other western mining companies are here, yet. There are presently an estimated 10,000 (and growing) Malagasy hand-miners working in the field. But, the deposit is so large, they have not even scratched the surface. And because the truly-rich stones come from deep diggings, these hand-miners will need to settle for the surface deposits, which by themselves, are enormously rich.
Here follows an explanation of the commercial potential by my longtime personal friend and mentor, Sam Speerstra:
Commercial Potential
The small area we went to this morning was being dug by hand-miners less than a meter below the surface. They were turning up lots of nice blue stones, some of them large in size. The excitement was felt everywhere. Even young children were digging and pulling blue stones. It was explained to me that it only takes one good stone to support a local family for a year or longer. Such stones are being found every day by hand-miners. A truly good stone can set a family for life. These turn up often. But the best stones are found deep, where only heavy equipment can go. The largest sapphire found so far was discovered near here only several months ago! The native who found it, and all his heirs, are set for life.
Check out this video sequence that I captured during one expedition we made into the sapphire area. It shows how these simple and friendly people are pulling so much wealth from the earth:
Local Sapphire Miners
While they also do the mining activity right alongside the men, it is usually the woman that are selling gemstones to local buyers (who are also mostly women). Clearly, the women in these remote reaches of Madagascar have the most business savvy. I captured the following video sequence of a short buying transaction. Watch how firmly this woman holds to her (high) price of $4 for a beautiful blue stone, despite the fact that she probably had to sell it at any price to feed her children that evening:
Savvy Business Woman
 The local hand-miners are providing a very valuable service, even
though they are removing millions of dollars worth of stones from the
client's properties. Where local miners are finding great value at the
surface, mechanized equipment will turn up a treasure trove of the
highest quality material upon bedrock, several meters below. One small mechanized
operation has been recovering as much as 50,000 carats of sapphires per
day along the bottom in just one area.
My clients expect to recover 370,000 carats of gem-quality sapphires
out of just one small dig over the period of about a year. That is a
conservative wholesale value of 15 million dollars for one small dig. Yet
this is only a drop in the bucket. They are planning to launch several
simultaneous operations; but they admit that they will never be able to
effectively cover the vast rich deposits located on their concessions.
The deposit is estimated to cover at least 100 square miles!
This afternoon we visited a boom town that has recently sprung up in
this area. I would estimate this one town contains at least 5,000 people.
The entire community has developed during the last several months solely
around the sapphire mining. Hustle and bustle and excitement are
everywhere. Big trucks and small vehicles of every kind and shape are
flowing into the town from other locations to bring necessary supplies to
support this activity. A lot of people are getting rich here. There is
lots and lots of gold jewelry showing. People display their wealth here.
Gold jewelry is almost unheard of by the working class in Madagascar,
where the prevailing minimum wage is less than ten cents per hour. But
there is a lot of gold jewelry in this boom town; it is around people's
necks, on their arms, at shops along the very crowded marketplace, which is nothing more than bamboo and rattan huts by the thousands. Fortunately, I had my video camera with me and was able to capture the following sequence:
Sapphire Boom Town Market
I saw one man tied to a tree with his arms fastened to his sides in
the central part of the boom town. I assume he was caught stealing or
jumping someone else's claim. Justice is dealt out harshly and swiftly
here. It is a good place to stay out of trouble!
 Sapphires were being shown and traded everywhere in this boom town
and elsewhere. In fact, I have not gone anywhere during the last week
where people have not flocked to me, asking if I want to see sapphires.
Because we are white, and presumably rich, people are literally attacking
us with their sapphires; handful upon handful of rich blue and green
stones. I saw some the size of cherries, and am told they are being found
much larger. I could have bought buckets full! At one point this
afternoon, I thought there was going to be a riot, or that we would be
crushed by the sheer force of people trying to sell us these beautiful
stones for pennies on the dollar of their actual worth. I was told to not
take any money out of my pocket, for fear of a stampede. Sapphire buying
under these conditions could be suicidal!
Some of the sapphires shown to me were absolutely breathtaking. Like
nuggets of blue, radiant, transparent beauty. Mesmerizing or hypnotizing,
these stones are really getting to me. I have felt gold
fever in my previous exploits. I was struck with
treasure fever a few years ago on a dig in Central America when we
uncovered a hoard of pre-Columbian gold treasure. But sapphire fever is
something else altogether. Maybe it was a combination of a number of
factors -- perhaps the high excitement level of all those people pushing
these incredible stones at me. But the way the sapphires radiate a
sea-blue color when held in the light creates a captivating lure which is
very hard for me to overcome. Every uncut stone is different, each with its own radiant life-light and individual character. Short of actually being there to experience it directly, this following video sequence is the best I can do to demonstrate how beautiful these stones are:
Beautiful Stones
Since I am here at the bequest of clients, I have behaved myself and focused on capturing some of the experience with my camera. I have to close now because we are getting ready to plan tomorrow's events, which, I'm certain, will be every bit as exciting as today. Tomorrow we will visit a place where several thousand hand-miners are digging their fortunes with nothing more than salad bowls!
****** Following day:
Tonight, despite my exhaustion, I cannot shake the excitement from
what we witnessed today in the sapphire diggings.
I thought the last few days were blistering! Today, to get to this new
discovery, it was necessary to hike several miles up a rather steep incline to
the top of a mountain plateau, where literally thousands of hand miners
are working a newly-discovered shallow sapphire deposit of enormous
proportions. It must have been 120o F in the shade!
Unfortunately, there was little shade to cover our ascent of this
mountain.
We were traveling light, though, compared to the hundreds of local
supply couriers who were hauling materials up the mountainside to support
the extensive mining activity happening at the top. I saw people carrying
huge loads, mostly of food and basic supplies. Even the younger, stronger
couriers were sweating today.
At the top, we found yet another sizable boom town of at least a
thousand people. There were restaurants and shops of all sorts. Three
weeks ago, there was almost no habitation here. This shanty-town has been
erected along both sides of the trail, just on the down mountain-side of
a big strike. Excavation pits are everywhere, all throughout the town,
and even along the narrow trail. My first thought was to make certain to
be off the mountain before dark. Some of the excavation pits had no
bottom in sight. What a shock to fall in one of those pits at night while
looking for the bathroom! What bathroom?
I captured the following video sequence, which was taken at a water (mud) hole where women and children are processing the sapphire-rich gravels that are being packed in from miles away on the backs of miners:
Hand Processing Sapphires
We did not nearly reach the top before local miners started
approaching us with their stones. Local stone buyers were around
everywhere, as this is where stones can be purchased at the lowest price.
The miners came to us in hopes of receiving more money for their labor.
So we were slowed down a great deal by the scores of miners who wanted us
to have a look at what they had found. This did not conflict with our
mission, though, because we went there for the exact purpose of seeing
what the local miners are finding. There is no doubt the local miners are
finding impressive volumes of rich blue sapphires!
I captured the following video sequence of even children wanting to sell us handfuls of beautiful stones:
Child Gem Dealers
The diggings were so extensive that we could have easily devoted an
entire week up on that single plateau and not see it all. We picked only
one erosive canyon to explore on this day, and it kept splitting off over
and over again, with mining going on up every split that we saw. So we
only touched upon a small portion of the diggings.
Most of the excavations were small in size, with a bottom in sight. I think the reason for this is that the dirt and gravel must be packed out of the holes. At the point where the hole becomes deeper than three meters, the material needs to be taken out in buckets on ropes. This takes additional helpers. I am assuming the miners must have decided that it is more efficient to dig out of shallower holes. And digging they were, everywhere we went!
This arrangement makes my clients very happy, since the pothole method
assures less than a third of the surface deposits are being worked, and
almost none of the deep deposits, where the truly rich stones lie
waiting. I say only a third of the surface deposits; because in their
haste, the local miners shovel their tailings and waste material over
about two thirds of the ground while digging their pits. Then, rather
than dig through their own tailings again, they move on to a new location
once an excavation pit becomes too deep to work efficiently. There is no
shortage of new places to work. People were digging everywhere, with
everyone we saw having sapphires for sale.
Here follows just one of many buying sequences that I captured on video today. It shows world-class gemstone specialist, Tom Banker, pay a local miner what he was asking for a rich, blue stone:
Buying Stones
The upside for my clients is that they can follow up in the abandoned
diggings of the hand-miners with near certainty of making an easy fortune
using mechanized earth-moving equipment. Here, Sam Speerstra explains how the geology of the area has caused the sapphires to form rich concentrations:
Local Sapphire Geology
We did, however, see several deep digging operations today. One had miners down in a very deep hole, using buckets and ropes to get the dirt and gravel to the surface. We were told the excavation was over 30 meters deep. This group had the biggest and highest-quality stones we saw all day.
Here follows a video sequence showing Tom checking out one of the largest sapphires we bought today. I paid the full asking price of $100 for this stone. Tom says it will weigh 7 or 8 carats after it is cut and polished in Bangkok:
A Regal Sapphire
I saw one miner going into a deep, narrow hole with a lighted candle
in his hand to light his work area. He was smiling. Going down into that
small, unsupported crawl-hole, I would not have been smiling no matter
how rich the sapphires! My clients asked if I wanted to capture the
underground diggings. But fortunately, the batteries for the light to my
video camera were not charged. Too bad!
Another larger group of hand-miners had apparently tapped into some
kind of natural cave system, saying that they were excavating several
kilometers into the earth. They also had very rich stones to show
for their effort.
 Man, did we see sapphires today! Handfulls! Bucketfulls! And some big
ones! Beautiful, radiant sea-blue. I love sapphires! Never paid much
attention to them before. Now I want to have some for myself. Big blue
ones that radiate that special magic feeling...Check out this following video sequence, and I think you will understand what I mean:
Sapphires and More Sapphires
I am told this new area we visited today has sprung up over the past
three weeks. My clients surveyed this area a month ago, and say there
were only just a few miners, and no town existed there before. Now the place is crawling with
people. I am told this very same thing is happening all across a very
large geographical area.
This adventure is just beginning, and I look forward to future visits
to follow the development of this magnificent find.
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