Jewelry Television

Hello, everyone.

One can only buy rough here but it is all natural--the way it comes out of the ground. The sawing, preforming and heating is all done in Teofilo Otoni, an hour and a half south of here. 

The statue of a miner, shovel in one hand while inspecting his aqua against the sun in the other, stands on the church lawn in the center of town and wordlessly tells the story of why this township is here.

We looked at quite a bit of rough with the natural and beautiful green and greenish blue shades that are the tell tale signs of an unheated beryl. Clean large stones were scarce but we found some nice large crystals with inclusions. Rather than cut smaller clean stones and then heat them to take out the greenish hue we thought that we would try for larger stones with some inclusions that would show off these rare natural colors. We did the same with a rather nice lot of a natural powder blue color (with good crystal) and can’t wait to show you the results.

Buying rough is far more difficult than purchasing already faceted stones and I am always grateful that I learned how to saw, preform and facet many years ago. The diverse experience of our buying team allows JTV to find unusual or rare items not available to most gemstone lovers.

I have many more photos of this part of the journey that I will post next time. Wait until you see the size of some of this stunning aquamarine material!

Ciao,

George

Hello!I thought you might be interested in some of the fascinating history behind the Itabira emerald mines, specifically Belmont, where I've spent some of my time while here in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

Around 1938, Mauro Ribeiro, a local farmer in Itabira, began trucking diesel fuel from Belo Horizonte to the area for the iron ore mine. By 1948 he had a fleet of trucks and was selling iron ore to a huge mining concern. The story goes that the company bullied him into selling the mine on his property to them by canceling all purchases. They built a railway to the area and the township flourished.

Truck and crew members in Ribeiro's operation

Wall of historical photos of the Itabira township

Mauro expanded his farm and it became the transfer point for the trains coming in and out. He excavated an area on his property to build a lake and one day a train driver waiting at the switch point paused to have a drink of water. The guy was familiar with gemstones and when he spotted emerald in the lake he told Mauro what it was and said he would have it checked out by a specialist and let him know if his hunch was correct--and it was. 

Beautiful

Mauro applied for the mineral rights on his farm which was a slow process and it wasn’t long before he had an invasion of garimpeiros (prospectors or miners) on his property. They were so many and such a tough bunch that he could do nothing about it even though he was given the mineral rights. So he decided to let them continue in that particular area until it was exhausted if they agreed not to go anywhere else on the property.

The following year there were big floods and the mines were under water. The garimpeiros left and Mauro went to work building a fence. He then created a militia made up of family and other farmers in the area to protect themselves from invasion. His son, Paulo Ribeiro, became famous worldwide as a rough emerald supplier expanding into other areas.

At Belmont, trees on the property are restored or replanted; water used is reclaimed and recycled; even earth extracted from the mines gets washed and recycled.

Mauro’s grandson Marcelo went to the University of Belo Horizonte and became a mining engineer. He has since built Belmont, the most modern and efficient emerald mine in the world today. It is a perfect example of proper environmental and safety practices--the best I have seen in a country where the economy is still growing rapidly.

The road to Belmont emerald mine

Sophisticated mining operations

Off to an aquamarine mine in a couple of days--looking for unheated aqua. More on that in the next post!

- George 

Hello, everyone. George here, checking in from the Nova Era township where there has very recently been a big emerald strike from the nearby “Rocha” mine. A lot of emerald was taken out and we were here to buy it!

In the mining area

Working with the miners

We bought several kilos of rough and are having it sawed andpreformed here locally where they understand the material best. Thefiner quality will be faceted here and the rest in India.

Examining emerald

Our team of buyers has many years of experience buying directly from the mines--as well as strong relationships we have built with expert slicers, preformers and cutters. JTV has the "know how" to bring the real gemstone values directly to you.  

Gorgeous emerald crystal

Keeping our customers supplied with these incredible gemstone deals is no easy task! In most cases we buy small productions that must build up for many months before we have enough material to offer on television. All of this work and then these wonderful gems will often be gone in one or two showings! This is mainly because our customers understand gemstones better than the general public and know good value and rarity when they see it.

Tonight, in the mountains of Brazil, looking up at the Southern Cross in the sky, l realize we must continue buying rough directly from the mouth of the mine and spend the time it takes for us to continue bringing such exceptional offers to our JTV family.   

If all goes well I will have some good stuff on unheated aquamarine soon. In the meantime we have a lot of preforming and cutting to oversee!

Um abraco,

- George

p.s. Just a pretty shot of the Brazilian countryside.

Beautiful Brazil!