July 2004 Newsletter
This morning was a rather cold winters morning for us in South Africa. We had temperatures of -1 degree centigrade. (32 degree Fahrenheit) I know this is not cold for some of you living in the Northern Hemisphere but for us it was pretty cold. The rock business has picked up and we have been rather busy. We just lament the lack of good specimens. We have been chasing after rough mainly. I have also discovered a new source of gem rough and will persue this with a vengeance. Enjoy reading it.  This month we cover the following What is happening in the mineral world in Southern Africa - News Mineral of the month. Sapphire and pearl Our recent trip to Namibia. Why are prices so high? Be blessed as you read this newsletter. Gerdus

What is happening in the mineral world in Southern Africa - News I am directly in contact with all that is happening in Southern Africa and decided to start my newsletters with news from here. Kalahari Manganese fields. We make a twice monthly trip to this part of South Africa. The Kalahari has been rather thin lately. I bought some 110 flats of mine-run minerals which were stored in police custody. These items were confiscated by the police with the intention of making a case against one of the mineral dealers of Kuruman. It turned out to be tougher than they thought. The case was eventually thrown out. The charge was 'theft from the mine'. The mine does not officially sell minerals. They had a gemstone club that sold minerals on an auction basis. But this did not work well. The reserve prices was much higher than mineral dealers were willing to pay. At present we are seeing drips and drabs of poldervaartite from the seams that have already produced so much poldervaartite. And still they want the same high prices on the black market that they received some two years ago. Then it was new and scarce. Not I am afraid it is slightly overexposed. There was a flurry of fluffy bultfonteinite with poldervaartite. This was collectable but only in small miniature specimens. The small crystals 'fitted' better on the smaller matrix. There were a few hematites and mangano calcites but these were not so great. When you meet the miners you often get the minerals in duskmasks without any packaging protecting it. Needless to say it all comes out smashed. More on the Kalahari next month Boekenhouthoek Cactus quartz. The cactus quartz company that dominated the cactus quartz for the past year has closed shop. They came, conquered and then left. The issue with the other dealers is basically oversupply. You can only sell so many and then you stuff up the market. I was at the site last week and found some great specimens in an area where they are digging lavender pink crystals with long fingers. I bought one specimen of 1 meter tall that weighs 250 kg's. This might be the largest cluster ever from this locality. Less people are digging at the moment and they take more care where they are digging. I suspect that this quartz will once again be popular when the market has stabilized. I will keep you updated. Namibia. I visited Namibia two months ago and did a 6500 km trip through all the mineral producing areas. This is what I found. Aris quarry. More and more of the fascinating site is being discovered. Aris is a working quarry that has a blast every two weeks. If you have permission you can collect some of the rock and trim them down yourselves. I just bought already prepared minerals from guys in Windhoek. There were all in the micromineral collectors arsenal. Prices were steep. So I stuck to the smaller items. Erongo. I understand that there are now six guys with compressors mining aquamarine. Needless to say, this site is also being overexploited. The aqua is fine but can be very pricey for the top specimens. I only bought a few specimens here. Phenakite is a new mineral that was identified here. The crystals are up to 1 cm. Black schorl are still collected. I bought 100+ flats of fine crystals. These are sold wholesale by us. Tafelkop. This site seems to have had it's days as well. Especially the less interesting white crystals. I bought lots of good crystals and failed to get bids on these in our auctions site. www.bidonrocks.com I also found the going prices high and could not even double my prices after my trip. At present we have one guy blasting large holes and then extracting from this blast whatever comes out unscathed. This causes some damage to the area and the crystals that are extracted. More about this in another article further down. Brandberg. Some people are digging in the Brandberg illegally. I was told this while I was up there. Good dark purple amethyst associated with feldspar is found there. These are much sought after and this is why people will risk their lives digging in a declared protected area. I am against this. Okuruso. Okuruso is now actively mined for fluorite by Chris Johnson. Last year when I was there we saw the huge cavities that has been opened by the mining. I am glad about this because this way it will not be crushed as ore. I spend some time at the mine and spoke with Roy at some length. I now have access to any quantity of fluorite specimens. I clean these myself. This can be rather tricky because you never know how lustrous the fluorite will be under the goethite. You clean fluorite with hydrofluoric acid, and this is very dangerous stuff. The deposit is rather large, expect to see a lot of this fluorite in the time to come. Tsumeb. Tsumeb west mine is now reaching the waterlevel and this has everybody excited because minerals are starting to trickle out from there. Mostly grey Cerussite but they said that they found some color. I also bought a flat of small copper specimens here that was said to be from Kombat mine. Berg Aukas. People are still extracting fine descloisites from here but this might be clandestine mining operations. On the rough scene we have new finds of pietersite and sodalite that looks rather promising. I am on a quest for the source of more of the Botswana agate and new sources for this. The Republic of Botswana has now decided that all agates must be worked into a finished product before it can leave the country. Zambia. Zambia is not known for it's specimen wealth. I communicated with a Zambian gentleman at some length to get specimens from up there. I was promised emeralds and dioptase and many more specimens. He did pitch up at my door the one day and I ended up investing in specimens that were rather mediocre. To breed and develop an understanding about specimens is a long term job. They do not understand that something that is poorly formed can not be regarded as a specimen. The Cuprosklodowskite and the Carrollite turned out to be good buys. Musina. We are still after Ajoite and Papagoite and might be unto something over there. Zimbabwe. The alexandrite deposits are now dormant. I was fortunate to get some recently. The largest cluster weighed 220 grams. Not much is coming out of Zimbabwe at the moment. This is due to the poor infrastructure, lack of fuel and degenerating political situation. I did get a good supply of cats eye Chrysoberyl in small pieces. I have 560 grams of this exotic rough. Contact me if you are interested. More on the different sites next month.

Mineral of the month  Sapphire Al2O3 Sapphire is the birthstone for September, symbolizing clear thinking, and the zodiac gem for Taurus (20 April to 20 May). In Thailand and Sri Lanka, Sapphires are treasured as a gem that brings peace of mind and protects devout Buddhists from poison, illness, and disasters. Buddhists in India also consider Sapphires to be the most precious protectors of all gems. It is believed that the Ten Commandments were carved in Sapphire. Sapphires became the symbol of Saint Paul during the Roman Empire, and later in the Middle Ages, it came to be worn on the fingers of popes and archbishops. Regardless of religion or culture, Sapphires are loved by devout believers. Prince Charles of England made the headlines with the sapphire and diamond ring he used to seal his betrothal to Lady Diana Spencer. Sapphire is the second hardest natural mineral known to science. The hardest mineral, diamond is still hundred and forty times harder than sapphire. The hardness of sapphire can be partially attributed to the strong and short oxygen-aluminium bonds. These bonds pull the oxygen and aluminium atoms close together, making the crystal not only hard but also quite dense for a mineral made up of two relatively light elements. The color can be white or colorless, blue, red, yellow, green, brown, purple, and pink; there are also instance of color zonation. Crystals are transparent to translucent. Sapphire's forms typical six-sided barrel shape that may taper into a pyramid, and ruby's hexagonal prisms and blades. Imitations of the sapphires are made by a flame fusion process and are so realistic that only experts can tell the difference. Synthetic sapphires are in great demand in industry, where they are used in movements of clocks, ballpoint pens and even in high temperature furnaces. Some natural gemstones that look like sapphires are; blue spinel, blue tourmaline and blue zoisite-also known as Tanzanite, discovered in Tanzania. They differ in hardness and are too soft to be mistaken for the real sapphire. Buyers must be particularly weary of the Brazilian imitations, which are made of clear quartz. "The Mysterious Sapphire", on display at the Kensington Museum in London, is a beautiful blue in the light of day, but in moonlight, it turns to purple like the color of an amethyst. Thus, it is said to symbolize the custom of the Polish Count Walitzky, the first owner of "The Mysterious Sapphire", and Prince Orleon (the nephew of Louis IVX) both believed the myth that the Sapphire will change color if worn by a woman who is unfaithful, so they used it to test their lovers. Jealousy has always been, and always will be the source of pitiful actions. The most Famous sapphires are the magnificent 563 carat "Star of India' and the "Star of Asia" of 330 carats. Pearls CaCO3 Cherished symbols of purity and perfection, elegance and affluence. If the diamond is king of the gems, the Pearl is certainly queen. Pearls are composed primarily of Aragonite. Among the mollusks (a family of creatures that includes clams, mussels, octopuses, and oysters), only the pearl oyster produces pearls of gem quality. There are two species, namely in salt water and freshwater. Natural freshwater pearls are seldom perfectly round or even nearly round, more often than not; they are baroque, slugs, or wings. Many pearls, both natural and cultured, have beautiful color and luster. Freshwater pearls are noted for their wide range of color, they can be found in white, silvery white, pink, salmon, red, copper, bronze, brown, lavender, purple, green, blue, cream, and yellow. Although white is the most common color, the most desirable are the pastel pinks, roses, lavenders, and purples. The different colors are a function of the mussel species, genetics, water quality, and the position of the pearl in the shell. Generally, pearls assume the color of the shell in which they form. Problems can arise in putting together matched strands because of the wide range of pastel colors. The pearls that come from the partnership between man and oyster are called cultured pearls. When an oyster forms a natural pearl, it means that a particle of sand or a tiny living creature has been drawn into the oyster's shell while the oyster is gathering food. The oyster then secretes a substance called mother-of-pearl around the foreign object and in this way a pearl is gradually formed. Cultured pearls are formed. Pearl in Latin means "unique" and is the birthstone for June. The oldest known natural pearl necklace is more than 4,000 years old.  It was found in the sarcophagus of a Persian princess who died in 520 BC.  This pearl is now displayed at the Louvre in Paris. The dawn of the Christian era saw the continued popularity of pearls. The bible refers to pearls several times, and the value still placed on the gem. It is believed that Roman women took pearls to bed with them to sweeten dreams. During the Classical Rome era, only people of certain "status" were allowed to wear pearls.

Namibia, Why are specimens so expensive? I traveled through Namibia and found that the only way to get stones that you can supply wholesale is to go straight to the source. I was in a hurry and had to buy from the different mineral dealers. These are some of my recollections. In Windhoek I visited some of my friends in the rock business. They are working several sites at present. I was told that a blast of explosives set them back $ 5000. They then have to extract all that is usable. On the last blast they received an immediate return of $ 3000 according to their calculations. Upon further breaking down of the rocks they will make a profit. It all depends if you hit a pocket or not. In Outjo I saw someone for pietersite. Here I discovered that farmers have spend N$ 430 000 hunting down pietersite pockets. This was because they heard of the fabulous wealth that the Kleynhans family has accrued because of this stone. The few stones that are there were of such low quality that it was unusable. I had a 500 kg order but my integrity tells me that this type of quality stone is more trouble than worth. And when you give them a quote they laugh at you because somewhere they have have seen a website with high prices. Well I guess it is not easy to mine, cost are high. As a discerning buyer we are not happy with the second rated quality that you sometimes get. I also discovered another factor that gives rise to high prises. Exploitation of tourist. These are tourist with no idea of the real prices. Namibia is well known for their tourism industry. Especially from Germany. Namibia used to be a German colony. Small miners sometimes get away selling single crystals to tourist for higher prices than we can currently get at international shows. This then becomes the new price for the commodity. When we come along they say that they can get higher prices elsewhere. Another factor is high prices on some internet sites. Everybody now has access to the internet. The high prices on some sites becomes the new norm for determining your prices. I buy and sell most commodities at kg prices. And when you get to these miners I actually come and invite them to buy at my store where they will pay much less and still be able to make a profit. Well this concludes my debating on high prices in Namibia. I invite any feedback on this issue.

Paypal and their new policies.
Paypal had to clamp down on their user policies and in the process some countries were blackmailed. As a South African user I discovered myself on the wrong end of their policies. We were suddenly not able to receive money anymore. And this is after three years of dealing with Paypal and all our clients worldwide. We were forced to close our current Paypal account. This led to a search for alternative payment methods. We know we should get a merchant account. This is still in the process. Our search led us to Ikobo at www.ikobo.com This was the next best alternative to Paypal. We also do credit card transactions at our offices but these are done in Rands and the exchange rate conversion is sometimes a problem. We have not had any real problems. The difference is always only a few $$ this way or that way. This has been the cheapest alternative payment method.
UPDATES	Items in our shop We received our lamps from India and the brass antiques. I have figures in brass that measure one meter high in my shop. They are incredible. We bought a large geode for the shop. It has good display profile. I am always hunting down large display pieces for my shop. I wished that my shop was closer to all of you. Then I would have had you in my shop more frequently. Visit our updates page to see what we have been up to, we do a daily update when we are not out hunting down rocks. We try and do something to the site every day. www.mineralgallery.co.za/updates.htm Or visit our auction site where you are sure to get some of the best deals available anywhere. We have over 100 auctions running at the moment. www.bidonrocks .com or write to me at gerdus@mineralgallery.co.za Gerdus Brönn