Jungle-Gems.com July Newsletter
Newsletter for July
Hello from Rondonia, and Minas Gerais, Brasil. This month’s newsletter of gemtrade-related news, gossip, and rumors brings you all the news from both of these mineral rich Brasilian States. If you have any questions or would like more information on any topic covered in our newsletter, please contact us through the website.
The biggest thing happening in Brasil this past month has not been gem related, but the World Cup Soccer Finals. Brasil ended up winning it all, and being here was really something to experience. Every time Brasil played, the country came to a halt. Even the banks and public services would close. Every time Brasil won, the people had to celebrate of course, and celebrating Brasilian style is a world class event. The photos below will give you an idea, but while looking at them you have to imagine everyone yelling, horns honking, music blaring, fireworks popping… and of course, Samba dancing in the streets. It was a blast…
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“Headline: Gem Find of the Month”: An alluvial stone of rich hot-pink color with purple zones arrived in our Ariquemes office shortly before writing this report. We are unsure at this time what the stone is, but have sent it to our main office in Teofilo Otoni, Minas Gerais, for laboratory analysis. The result will be included in next month’s newsletter. Preliminary guesses include garnet, tourmaline, or corundum? Due to lack of any natural crystal faces on this alluvial stone, we will wait for a specific gravity and refractive index test to confirm our guesses. See photos below:
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Here in the Amazon region of Brasil we have spent most of this past month of June visiting various mining locations. The main topaz mines of Macangana and Caladinho are producing a significant volume of gem grade rough. We have also bought topaz rough from various small producers from new areas, which have a potential to increase production. Our new buying office and sawing facilities here in Ariquemes Rondonia are now completed and running smoothly. We expect no shortages of 100% sawn clean topaz in the coming months. We already have 11 workers insuring that all topaz passing through our hands is up to our strict quality demands, to assure 100% satisfaction to our clients worldwide.
Rumor update/Amazon petrified wood: Our would-be provider of Amazon petrified wood came in to talk with us this past month. He says the goods can only be reached by canoe in un-named upper Amazon River tributaries. He wants us to send 4 men w/supplies to undertake retrieving the first samples. We have the idea under consideration. Since we have no market outlet for petrified wood, we are not too anxious to get lost in the jungle. If any of our readers might have an interest in purchasing some samples, please contact us. Perhaps then we would be more inclined to pursue this rumor.
We have found a local dealer who specializes in Rondonian quartz. He has a nice variety of clear white, light smokey, and a darker smokey. There are no points, as all the material is alluvial. He has a very clean grade A, and his grade B is only slightly included. All the goods are hammered clean. Large quantities are available. Prices are based on under 500gr pieces, over 500gr pieces, and over 5kg pieces. Inquire at Jungle-Gems for further information. See photos below.
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Rumor update/Amazon tourmaline: We continue to get a phone call a week from various parts of Rondonia and Amazonas asking us how much tourmaline is worth, and if we want to buy it. We continue to reply that we have not seen any tourmaline produced in this region and would very much like to supply an appraisal if they can put the goods in front of us. So far, we have seen no locally produced tourmaline…
The newest rumor is aquamarine. We’ll let you know if we ever see it.
We have good news from the Amazon Opal mine. We are back in production and have many new items listed on our Amazon Opal Page of our website. We also have a very beautiful multi-colored chunk of 870gr available, and many other collector pieces soon to be seen on this site. Rough material includes yellow, and dark opaque reddish-orange slabs. We also have a limited amount of clear to white body color with lodolite and dendrite-like inclusions. We hope to have samples available in cabochons in the near future, and possibly rough later on. Throughout the coming months you will see new additions to the Amazon Opal page of this site, as we will be updating frequently.
At our home office in Teofilo Otoni, Minas Gerais, my partner Jeff Gale has been seeing many fine gemstones in aquamarine, andalucite, apatite, emerald and tourmaline. Many thousands of kg’s of Amethyst and Citrine rough have just arrived in Teofilo Otoni, produced locally in Bahia. There are a wide variety of sizes and colors, but it is mostly facet grade material at very affordable prices. Contact us for more info regarding quantities and prices. Included below is a sampling of some of the goods passing through our office lately, apatites, aquamarines, emeralds, heliodors, tourmalines,
some nice boulder opal and much more…
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News from Bolivia: Our nearby neighbors at the Anahi Ametrine mine, and other local ametrine producers, have been keeping in touch and making goods available to us. See last month’s newsletter for recent photos. Our good friend Joe Rott and associates have 60,000kg available for sale, mostly of amethyst color. They intend to polish the points and sphere the rough for this years Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. However, at this time the rough is still for sale.
We hope you enjoyed this month’s newsletter…
Prepared by Kirk “Tomas” Bond, pres. Jungle Gems
