Interesting feature recently made available via Eddie Fernandes' GoanVoiceUK. FN
*Supplement to Newsletter. * <http://www.goanvoice.org.uk/printerfile.php> *MANUEL D'SOUZA* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Contents* 1 <http://www.goanvoice.org.uk/supplement/ManuelDSouza.html#1>. Discovery of Tanzanite. 2 <http://www.goanvoice.org.uk/supplement/ManuelDSouza.html#2>. Indian merchants lose grip over trade in rare blue African stone. Arab Times. 20 July 2003. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Peter C. Keller's in "Gemstones of EastAfrica" 1992, writes that the first report of tanzanite was made in July 1967 by Manuel d'Souza, a Goan tailor from Arusha, Tanzania who was prospecting for rubies and was shown some unknown blue stones by a Masai tribesman. He staked the first claims, then the secret was out. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *GEMSTONES* Source:http://www.iliosjewellers.com/internet/learning_g_tanz.htm ** Tanzanite is one of the more recently discovered gemstones. In July of 1967 a tailor named Manuel d'Souza from the Indian province of Goa prospecting for rubies was led to a deposit of blue stones by Maasai tribesmen. (Granted, this means the Maasai discovered it, but few places or things are considered "discovered" until a foreigner names, promotes and markets them.) D'Souza initially believed he had stumbled upon sapphire, but found that the material was too soft to be corundum. Laboratory investigation showed that the stone was a previously unseen variety of zoisite, already known in its green form. He registered four claims with the mining office. Hot on his heels was a former Greek army officer named Papanicholau who was already involved in several gem ventures in East Africa. The area, which became known as Merelani Hill, swiftly became riddled with mines. D'Souza was unable to maintain close control over his claims and by his own estimate up to 80 percent of his gems were stolen from him before he even set eyes on them. Undiscouraged, he hooked up with an African mine owner named Alli Juyawata, and shortly after they were joined by Papanicholau. This partnership was short-lived, ending in acrimony and court action. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *The ABCs of Tanzanite* Source: http://www.mondera.com/learn/abctanzanite.asp ** No recent gemstone discovery has had more of an impact on the world gemstone market than tanzanite. Portuguese prospector Manuel d'Souza discovered this gem in Tanzania in 1967 while searching for sapphire ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Indian merchants lose grip over trade in rare blue African stone* Source:http://www.arabtimesonline.com/arabtimes/breakingnews/view.asp?msgID=2076 ** NEW DELHI, (AFP) - After tapping a fad sparked by the film "Titanic" in Africa's rare blue Tanzanite stones, Indian gem and jewellery artisans are likely to lose out on a chunk of its global trade. Tanzania, the only place where Tanzanite is found, is no longer keen to sell the rough stones to Indian firms which cut and polish them and sell the sparkling gems at a higher price in the world market. Instead, Tanzania wants to set up its own processing centres to get a bigger share of the trade. This will cut off a major portion of the business for Indian merchants who first put Tanzanite on the world's shopshelves -- cashing in on demand triggered after Kate Winslet wore a blue stone pendant in "Titanic" symbolising her love for Leonardo DiCaprio. Until now, almost 90 percent of the 16 million dollars in exports of rough Tanzanite gems from Tanzania were being sent to India for cutting and polishing. "Negotiations between the Indian government and their government are under way," said Sanjay Kothari, chairman of India's Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC). "What India has been suggesting is that since a manufacturing base cannot be set up overnight and has to be done by-and-by, India will train the people until they are ready." Indian trade officials have suggested to Tanzania to continue exports until its domestic base is ready as blocking shipments of rough stones without having a setup for cutting and polishing would crash their market value. "It would definitely harm their industry as miners will not want to mine them at all if there is no demand for cut and polished stones," said Bakul Mehta, vice chairman of GJEPC, who visited Tanzania last week to discuss the issue. He added that setting up an entire cutting and polishing stone industry based on a single gem would be risky. "The strength we have here is we deal in a variety of stones -- emeralds, sapphires, rubies, diamonds and Tanzanite." The arguments seem to have cut ice with Tanzania as they have dropped a proposal to stop the exports of rough Tanzanite gems altogether from July and now are thinking of exporting only a portion as sparkling stones, according to a letter received by Indian traders. The missive was in response to a letter written by India's famed jewellers and gem cutters from the northwestern state of Rajasthan's capital Jaipur, for whom the stone accounts for around a quarter of their exports. Jaipur's artisans have come to rely heavily on the Tanzanite business as they were the first to promote the gem in the international market. The story here goes that the association with India began after an Indian entrepreneur from the coastal state of Goa struck fortune in Tanzania after Masai tribesmen led him to a deposit of the stones in the 1970s. After he cut and polished them, they glowed with a rare blue fire equalled only by sapphire. However, the stone remained in low demand in the world market until "Titanic" was released in 1997 and spurred a run on blue stones. Experts say that Tanzanite is a variant of a more commonly found green-coloured stone called Zoisite. India's trade in the gem had hit a rough patch once before when several years ago media reports alleged that funds used out of the sale of Tanzanite were being funnelled to the al-Qaeda terrorist network. "That was all rubbish. The total market share of Tanzania in the world market is peanuts. It was cleared by the US State Department and established that there was no such link," said Rajiv Jain, convenor of the GJEPC's gemstone panel. Since then, the controversy has died and trade picked up to normal levels, jewellers said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *<< Back <http://www.goanvoice.org.uk/>* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
