Gemfields has been educating community leaders and villages about the perils of uninformed mining (since they dig horizontally, the pits collapse, burying miners alive). Magnus, manager at Arkhe Risk Solutions (the third party which deals with security), “The number of ‘illegals’ in this area has drastically reduced today. For a country that has an AK-47 on their national flag, it is imperative to know what security looks like here, and how far big corporations can go when trying to curb the small-scale menace. I spotted herds of this kind patrolling the streets with pickaxes, spades and shovels. There are unoccupied territories of Montepuez that are open to illegal miners. Sometimes, businesses are only as transparent as they want you to perceive them as. Our objective is to make sure that the country gets all royalty and taxes, in a channelised and legalised way, and that the product doesn’t leave unaccounted,” says Shetty. Real traders are actually in foreign countries. Responsible sourcing is the best part, and we talk about it with so much pride to all our customers.”Īnyone in the trade will admit to the dark shadows of illegal mining, gems smuggled to untrackable traders, and a process colloquially referred to as ‘the magic carpet’. Their product is consistent, and least touched upon with heat-treating procedures. “They are one of the best suppliers for rubies. A little bit of silica in the system will create garnets or mica.” Such is the cold calculus of nature, especially when the stone in question is so precious. Small changes in the surroundings will hinder the formation of a ruby. “They are formed in a silica-deficient setting. While the first rubies in Burma were mined as early as 600 AD, “Mozambican rubies are 500 million years older than their Burmese counterparts,” explains Ashim Roy, geologist at MRM. Scientifically, the environment must be both rich in aluminium and chrome, something which seldom occurs in nature. The formation of a ruby is indeed an unusual phenomenon, marrying beauty with heritage. The mines are on the verge of depletion and the US embargo on importing goods from Myanmar has miraculously worked in favour of Gemfields and the bountiful mines of Montepuez. Today, finding any rubies in those fabled valleys is rare.
Higher in value than sapphires and emeralds, and second only to diamonds on the Mohs scale, the traditional Burmese ruby is poetically called ‘pigeon’s blood’ - a gold standard in the trade. Even though rubies are the stuff of legends, any old hand in the trade can trace the ruby to its earliest origin - the valleys of Mogok in Burma.