Jungle-Gems Newsletter for November 2002
HP1010113.JPGain from Ariquemes Rondonia, Brasil, with this month’s update on gem trade rP1010110.JPGand rumors.
October was a hectic month for us with a P1010112.JPG travel. I flew back to Minas Gerais to spend a couple weeks at our Teofilo Otoni P1010111.JPG made the questionable decision to drive back to Rondonia with my partner Jeff Gale. It was 3500km/2100miles of adventure across the entire country from east to west. Took us a week of pushing hard to make it. We took the “Interstate Highway” (a 2-lane road, somewhat blacktopped) through Minas Gerais, Goias, Matto Grosso, and on to Rondonia near the Amazon frontier. We passed through many wonderful hills, vast agricultural plains, and the northern edge of the “Pantanal”, the world’s largest swamp. There were stretches of highway so bad, we thought we had made a wrong turn. There are world class potholes, so big that we spent 5 hours crossing 200km/120miles… in 1st-gear! At some points, we had to come to a complete stop to study the depth of the potholes to judge if we could get through them. Twice we had to back-up, and try a different path because we felt we wouldn’t make it. All this on the Interstate?
Click Pictures To Enlarge
But all in all it was a beautiful drive. After finally reaching our preliminary destination of Ariquemes Rondonia, we paused for a couple of days before setting out for our Amazon Opal Mine. It is always an adventure getting to the mine, 250km/150miles of torturous dirt/mud “trails” winding through the jungle. At the end of this trip is a 50km/30mile side trail that ends at our mine. Below are a few photos from the trip through the jungle out to the mine. Fallen trees and flat tires seem to be commonplace. Yes, those are 2 beautiful red/blue macaws in a tree on the side of the road (above), and some of the many butterflies found in the jungle (below). We drove through the Pantanal region without seeing any anacondas, alligators, or piranhas, to our relief.
Click Pictures To Enlarge
Click Pictures To Enlarge
Well we made it driving across Brasil of course, and Jeff Gale has already returned to our main office in Teofilo Otoni, Minas Gerais. We have begun looking for more goods that we will take to our ONLY appearance in the USA: The Desert GRaimundoAquaMVC-010S.JPG Show in Quartzite AZ from Jan 1 thru Feb 20th-03. So far we have found some bright crystal laseRaimundoAquaMVC-011S.JPGported in last month’s newsletter), some bright quartz clusters, and some bright quartz cRaimundoAquaMVC-014S.JPGtend to get. We will also have our 2-year collection of quartz scepters and elestials available RaimundoAquaMVC-015S.JPGreally good stuff we are saving for a surprise at the show.
Click Pictures To Enlarge
Click Pictures To Enlarge
Amazon Opal updates: We have many kg’s of rough continuing to come out of the mine. We are currently studying stability of the goods, and we will not be marketing any production until the February 03 Tucson Gem & Mineral Show. We will have both rough and cut goods available. The majority is white to lite-yellow, with smaller quantities of intense yellow and lite-orange. We are still anxiously awaiting the gorgeous Amazon Red Opal to come out. We have also extracted some nice “veined in matrix” pieces and some bi-colored pieces that we plan to polish for ornaments or use for carvings.
Click Pictures To Enlarge
This month we changed over all our equipment at the mine. We obtained a large 6-cylinder 150HP-diesel motor to run a new 6” dredging system, all mounted on a new floating barge. This will drastically increase our ability to move the overburden dirt and mud, hopefully increasing our production substantially.
We will continue our mine report in the coming months for all of you who are awaiting the Red Amazon Opal material. Please check back for future newsletter updates.
Amazon Amber update: My partner Jeff Gale has been working with various cutting shops in Teofilo Otoni, Minas Gerais, to turn out many fine polished pieces of our new find. We have many excellent pieces with insect-inclusions, and our insect-free pieces have an excellent color and polish which is highly suitable for jewelry settings. Our entire collection will debut at the Quartzite Gemshow in January. It is beginning to appear that there may not be any further production of our Amber. The miners have been unable to extract any more goods, and we have not found anything else in the area. Our supply is limited, which will keep Amazon Amber in the category of rare material. When our few hundred pieces are sold they should retain value, or rise in value, during the coming years due to their rarity.
Click Pictures To Enlarge
Click Pictures To Enlarge
The local Rondonian Topaz production continues strong. We continue to saw rough 100% clean for export and will have samples on hand for the Quartzite Gemshow in January. We only accept large volume orders of over 100kg, priced at 10% above local market rates. We believe we have the best price on the world market and the supply is constant and year round.
For price quotes contact us at: jungle-gems@superior-sites.com
We continue to see large volumes of clean quartz here in Rondonia. The colors range from white to smokey, all very clean. Perfect for carving, or even cutting. Sizes/prices vary and are classified and sold as under 200gr/pc, under 500gr/pc, and over 500gr/pc. This material is only available in large quantities. Contact us for quotes and availability.
A friend of ours, Sr. Silveiro, is about to introduce his new stone: “Bahian Jade”. The mine is in Bahia, hence the name. This material is such a nice translucent green that it looks like jade at first glance, but we had it tested at GIA and it came back “Aventurine Quartz”. It is very lovely material, perfect for cabs or carving. It also comes in a pretty blue color, multicolored green and white, lavender, and beige. It is priced as aventurine, not jade. You can contact us for more info…
Political update: The final elections took place on Oct 27. Our candidate for Governor of Rondonia lost the election. We were hoping “our guy” would win and complete his promise to open some of the rich diamond producing areas to commercial exploitation and generally relax mining conditions. Now it appears that the diamond trade in our area will remain a clandestine and illegal activity. The illegal mining situation going on within Indian Reservation Land continues. (see earlier newsletter for more details)
The presidential election saw Ignacio Lula win, representing the Labor Party. Lula’s inauguration is set for Jan 1-03. Many pundits predict an unstable economic environment under the newly elected administration. We are all wary here in Brasil after the recent economic chaos in neighboring Argentina. But, in my 18+ yrs here in Brasil I’ve seen the government knock-off 3 “0’s” from the currency, 3 different times… and one could always still buy 2 beers for US$1. So we remain optimistic that the gemtrade here in Brasil will continue to be stable.
See you next month…
~ Newsletter prepared by Kirk “Tomas” Bond and Jeff Gale, Jungle-Gems.com
