corundum, Madagascar.12, gems

I heard about a sapphire rush taking place in the jungle near Abatondrazaka, Madagascar at the end of a 5 week long solo trip learning about its sapphires. I had had a great month visiting sapphire mining areas near Diego (North) and Ilakaka (south). At the end of my vis-it I was in Antananarivo (Tana), the capital, discussing my journey with Marc Noverraz, a Swiss Gem merchant based in Madagascar. He told me there was “a rush” and many people were travelling to Ambatondrazaka to find natural blue sapphires in large sizes from a new deposit. Like the Californian “gold rush” (1848) to which many miners and op-portunists travelled when they heard of the riches they could find, this “sapphire rush” was attracting the attention of people from all over Madagascar. Nearly a year after hearing Vincent Pardieu presenting “Rubies from Zahamena National Park” at the end of my gemological studies at GIA in Carlsbad, I was excited to be in Madagascar with the opportunity of visiting “a rush”. I wanted to find out more: to know the size, colour and quantity of stones found at “the rush site”. I called everyone I knew and gathered that there were around 5000 people working in an area accessible by a 12 hour walk from a village near Ambatondrazaka. I also heard that traders believe sapphires from this deposit have a similar chemical composition to Burmese. The idea of these Malagasy sapphires being mistaken for Burmese by labs issuing reports would surely be good news to traders who would expect it to elevate their value. I couldn’t obtain many more details or samples from the traders or gemologists I made contact with but they were all excited. I decided to go to Ambatondrazaka and answer my questions for myself.