In the same way that my search for chrome Tourmaline brought
about great adventure as well as my life’s great lesson, another gemstone, more
famous by far, is responsible for our family’s long and enduring affair with
Tanzania.
Buried in the nose of that self-same antiform that saw us
finding less than we had hoped, yet more than we could ever have imagined, is
one of the most mysterious and enthralling gemstones of our time. – Before Reyno was flown up to Kilimanjaro to
evaluate a dusty, blackened landscape strewn with secret tunnels and dark, dank
holes filled with promise and sometimes death, I had barely heard of the
gemstone.
Tanzanite was, during the 1990’s, something that I had
learned of during my geology and particularly my gemology courses, but it did
not carry nearly the same sense of significance for me as did the staple gems
of that time – Sapphire, Emerald, Ruby and of course Diamond.
Nowadays however, there is, to me, no more exquisite and compelling
gemstone on earth. – Sporting not only the ability to display 3 individual colours,
merely dependent on which direction it is viewed (a characteristic known as
trichroism), but also a distinct colour shift from blue to violet in select
stones when lighting is changed from fluorescent to incandescent, this must be
one of the most diverse and spectacular main-stream gemstones on earth.
- It’s highly prized and most rare hues are thick and
velvety, encapsulating succulent and syrupy blues and violets. Although the
stone has neither the lustre nor fire of a diamond, this to my mind gives it a
less harsh feel. – My oft fanciful thinking leads me to regard this stone as a
real “lady”. She is softer and less durable than diamonds and sapphires and in
being so needs to be treasured and protected all the more. Tanzanite is both valuable and vulnerable – the
gem should be treated with respect at all times – or we may have to bear
serious consequences and isn't that so much like a woman?
As one advertising campaign in the early 2000’s claimed “tanzanite:
- the colour a sapphire wishes it could be…”
Reyno’s first introduction to a stone that eventually reset
the course of our lives occurred when he was flown, by AFGEM, up to the
Merelani antiform. – Reyno’s flights on the
poorly run Air Tanzania and the like were cause for great concern – and then
after the fact and once he had yet again survived, could fill pages of many
amusing anecdotes that I will also have to share some time!
The Merelani “Block C” area had been mined extensively for
graphite in the 1990’s. The nature of the graphite however made much of it very
difficult to extract and so eventually the mine was liquidated and the area up
for sale. Towards the end of the millennium Reyno was flown to the area by Mike
Nunn, a dynamic and gutsy entrepreneur already involved in the coloured
gemstone business who saw great promise in the graphite mine – but not for the
stuff of pencils, but rather the blue-violet gems that also occasionally surfaced
there .
At the time the mine was totally dilapidated and the expedition
had to look carefully for bedfellows such as snakes, spiders and scorpions in
the crumbling ruins where they slept. –
What was truly frightening though was the tight and terrifying tanzanite ‘tunnels’
that qualify as local ‘mines’ in the Merelani area. Reyno, in order to properly
evaluate the potential of Block C realised that he would have to crawl and
climb down these horrific holes.
Many if not most local mines rely on the cheapest possible
method to get to the layers of rock that contain tanzanite. Some of these holes
plummet vertically for more than 80 meters and then turn to an angle of around
35 degrees for hundreds of meters more. The only thing that stops the young men
and even sometimes women and children from plunging to their deaths are knots
in the rather primitive looking ropes that are used to ascend and descend into
the mine. –If you attempt to go down, be
very sure that your arms are strong enough to make it there and all the way
back up....
Of course, after surviving for 2 weeks on rainwater and green
bananas in the Congolese jungle, doing the Merelani mine manoeuvre did not
scare our intrepid geo one iota.
In 1997 when Reyno was first introduced to the geology of the
Merelani area, it was incredibly difficult to predict exactly where the
mineralized zone would be and where exactly the gemstone occurred within this
zone. – Over the months Reyno and his team slowly unravelled the secrets of
mother earth’s method of manufacture. It is strange now, to even consider the
notion that there was much debate as to whether or not the geology was folded
upon itself or whether it was a much
simpler linear deposit, but then there are few geologists I have met who are so
eerily in tune with what is happening geologically hundreds of meters under the
earth.
After spending some days evaluating the block C area by
climbing the surrounding hills and looking down upon the vast expanse of
scrubland and then crawling around in the hellish and dangerous ‘mines’ that littered
block C and also the adjacent blocks B
and D, Reyno finally stuck his neck out and pronounced to Mike Nunn that
pivotal little word .. “yes”.
The rest is of course gemstone history, or perhaps more
accurately re-history as of course Tiffanies had in the 1960’s already had a
magnificent run with this beautiful gem.
With almost inhuman energy and drive the Nunn’s, both Mike
and his gorgeously glamorous wife Candice, overcame monumental odds and took
immense risks to start up what remains to this day the best Tanzanite company
in the world, with some of the cleverest marketing seen since De Beers took on
diamonds to rule the gemstone world, to compliment the rapid expansion of their
mine.
My very first experience with the tanzanite mine was only a
few years after Reyno’s initial trip and after a bulk sample exercise had
produced significant tanzanite.
By this time the mine had purchased their very own aircraft,
and so I was thrilled to be facing the trip up to Kilimanjaro in the most
beautiful, lustrous Pilatus with soft pale leather interior a porcelain dinner
service and the most beautiful cutlery and glassware imaginable. Feeling part
of a movie set I waited with Reyno at Lanseria airport in Johannesburg as the
dawn started to break. Once all six passengers traveling to the tanzanite mine
that day had joined the pilot in boarding the small sleek cylinder we taxied
off to the runway and with a burst of speed were finally airborne.
Although immensely luxurious and a wonderful experience,
flying by Pilatus is also a much lengthier journey than taking a commercial
airliner. Carrying extra weight in supplies for the mine we had to stop over in
Malawi for about 20 minutes to refuel. At this juncture, my exhilaration new no
bounds as I was offered the opportunity to occupy the co-pilot seat and my
great adventure, contrary to what I thought possible, improved
even further!
Immediately as I placed the soft, cushioned earphones over
my head in order to hear pilot and airport officials, the news that our take
off was to be delayed reached my ears. Rather hilariously it appeared as if our
scheduled take off was bumped down the list in order to make way for a …. wait
for it… V. VIP. Of course, coming from Africa the concept of a VERY VERY
Important Person is quite par for the course! Still giggling from the frantic
fanfare of the VVIP take-off I nervously clutched the seat as we got ready for
our own ascent from the Malawi tarmac, with the wind at our tail! – Fortunately,
even though instructed to take off rather unconventionally and dangerously
without the wind from ahead to help lift the aircrafts wings, our accomplished,
if young, pilot Ben expertly climbed back into the wide blue African skies, and
we continued on to Tanzania.
My first acquaintance with Tanzania was quite simply
magnificent. It was as if the universe itself had conspired to welcome me to
this beautiful country. –Mount Kilimanjaro, usually veiled in dense, swirling
clouds was, on this day, proudly on display, so much so that our pilot, who
flew up every two weeks whipped out his camera and started to take numerous photographs
of this imposing geological giant. As we approached the airport that squats at the
food of Mount Kilimanjaro and so shares its name, I cannot imagine anyone on
earth ever being afforded a clearer more handsome view of this slumbering
volcano.
Mount Kilimanjaro peeping through the foliage.. - taken from the "Round House" AFGEM Block C Tanzanite Mine (1999?)
After the surprisingly easy clearance at the airport we were
bustled into the standard 4X4 required to negotiate both town and country in
Tanzania. Travelling the road to the mine was fortunately quite pleasant due to
the fact that AFGEM, upon the insistence of Mike Nunn, had taken it upon itself
to improve many things around the mine area, including smoothing the roads,
taking water to the local populace, improving schooling and creating decent job
opportunities on their well run, safe and continuously improving mine.
Staying on the mine was both an adventure and a privilege
for me, as wives are generally banned. My geology degree and (at that stage)
rather vague background in gemmology as well as Reyno’s great prowess in
predicting the deposition of tanzanite had some-how earned for me what many
other wives of the guys living on the mine could only wish for, a chance to
live on the mine for a few days and experience the workings first hand.
From the first early morning meeting I was included and thus
determined to contribute in some or other way. – Donning a hardhat with
requisite lamp and for some inexplicable reason bright white overalls along
with all the other gents destined for the underground that day I was soon
walking down the long dark tunnel that led deep down into the belly of the
largest tanzanite mine one earth.
The geology that governs the deposition of tanzanite is
highly complex and took many months of research and some hard thinking to try
and unravel. – I don’t think it will ever be fully grasped and documented.
As I stumbled down the incline into the maw of the mine
various layers of different types of rock were visible in the walls of the
tunnels. At first these layers do indeed appear to be linear, but as I found
myself deep in the womb of the tanzanite mine those layers could clearly be
seen to double back on themselves, graphically vindicating Reyno’s beliefs.
The type of structural deformation in the area is now
confirmed to be something that goes by the most delightful name of “chocolate
tablet” boudins! There was also not only one folding event but FOUR distinct
episodes of deformation involved in creating the birth place of tanzanite.
These geological episodes created the boudins that are
roughly the shape of a rugby ball and most of the tanzanite is found only in
the noses of these bodies. With the complex chemistry required to create
Tanzanite including the rare element vanadium that is essential for its blue
colour it is truly a miracle that the gemstone exists at all.
Some areas surrounding Merelani are even more exquisite than the gemstone I
love so much. Towards the North is the magnificent Mount Kilimanjaro in all its
splendour. On a clear day this glorious giant towers in the distance,
complimented toward the West by Mount Meru, a second volcano, currently
dormant, but that has sported a minor eruption as recently as 1910!
Mount Meru as viewed from the "Round House" AFGEM mine Block C. Tanzania (1999?)
Mount Meru as viewed from the "Round House" AFGEM mine Block C. Tanzania (1999?)
Mount Meru,
has been built up, eruption upon eruption over the centuries but is still only
the second tallest peak in Tanzania. It is around 1000 meters lower than
Kilimanjaro which is of course the highest mountain in Africa as well as the
tallest free-standing mountain in the world. Just as the mythical Meru graces the center of all universes in Buddhist cosmology, the conical structure of Tanzania’s
Mount Meru is the topographic heart of Arusha National Park. Its fertile
volcanic soils cover slopes that soar above the surrounding savannah and
support an exquisite, dense forest that hosts diverse wildlife, including
nearly 400 species of birds, colobus monkeys, giraffe, buffalo and even leopard.
At the end of this memorable and haunting visit to the core
of Tanzania’s gemstone province, as the Pilatus was once more coaxed airborne
by our pilot Ben, I knew that I had been to a place that had touched my soul
forever, and even though, at that point I had no idea how, I knew that I would
have to return some day.