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Blue moonstones from Tanzania now in the market
(Jewellery News Asia - July 2005)

An interesting new variety of blue moonstone rough has emerged from Tanzania.
Mine production started last year and the cut stones hit the market at the start of this year, said Bangkok-based gem dealer Star Shine Ltd.
"The quality of the new Tanzanian blue moonstones is quite similar to that of the royal blue moonstones from India, but the Tanzanian moonstones have a more intense colour, are larger in size and are more transparent," said company president Abdul Majeed Ameen.
Mr Ameen added that there has always been good demand for good-quality, large-sized blue moonstones, but supply has been limited. He thus believes that this new production from Tanzania presents the market with an alternative. "For the past five years, the availability of the Indian royal blue moonstones has been limited while the demand has been high. The material from Tanzania is a good alternative. It comes in a wide range of sizes, from smaller calibrated stones to bigger-size single stones of up to 40 to 50 carats."
In terms of price, both Tanzanian and Indian varieties are comparatively good, said Mr Ameen. "Bigger-size good-quality stones from Tanzania range from US$35 to US$75 per carat depending on the size, quality and transparency, while those from India range from US$60 to US$125."
Demand has been good from European, Japanese and US markets, he said.

Blue star sapphire cabochons are currently in high demand particularly among Japanese buyers, a gemstone supplier said.
"Blue star sapphires from Sri Lanka from 2 carats to 5 carats are moving well, with price ranging from US$200 to US$3,000 a carat for the high quality," president of Star Shine Ltd in Bangkok, Abdul Majeed Ameen, said.
Japanese buyers are also interested in grey star sapphires from Sri Lanka, Mr Ameen said. "For grey star sapphires, they are mainly interested in 1 carat to 3 carats, with wholesale price ranging from US$30 to US$90 a carat. Grey is cheaper because it is available in quantities, but blue ones are rare. For every 10,000 pieces of star sapphires coming from the same mine, only one is a blue star.
"We can supply greys in large quantity. Our company can stock 10,000 carats to 20,000 carats in various sizes. However, for blue star sapphires, we can only stock 1,000 to 2,000 carats at a time."
Mr Ameen said interest in these stones has peaked in the past three months. "For the past two years, the Japanese market has not been doing very well, but now Japan is buying more of these types of stones."

more news to come...