— 16 participants in the ICA Brazil Gem Tour crisscross South America’s largest country, touching down at sites where emerald, aquamarine, topaz, tourmaline and chrysoberyl are produced.

Brazil is a massive country, with a landmass only slightly smaller than that of the United States. It also is incredibly varied—topographically, ecologically, culturally and historically. And throw into that mix its legendary mineral wealth, and one has an ideal country for an ICA Gem Mine Tour.

No wonder then that the superlatives emanating from the participants in the ICA mission to Brazil, which took place from August 16 to 24, matched the dimension of the country itself. The tour which was designed to cater to the interests of gem professionals and enthusiasts alike, offered them the opportunity to visit mines producing emerald, aquamarine, topaz, tourmaline and chrysoberyl.

Comments made by Andrew Lucas, one of the key personalities in charge of the development of new gemology course material at the Gemological Institute of America in Carslbad, California, were typical. “The 2003 ICA Brazil Gem Tour was a great success, both in terms of both the tremendous amount of accurate and up-to-date information we received, and the genuine hospitality provided to the attendees,” he said, speaking several days after returning home. “As an educator I found invaluable the ability I had to talk to producers, cutters and dealers at the source.The experience will help me provide finer quality educational materials for the trade.”

The Brazil Gem Mine Tour was one of the consequences of the 10th ICA Congress, which was held in Jaipur, India, in January. As part of its effort to enhance the spirit of adventure and romance generated by colored gemstones, the congress decided to throw its support between the ICA Gem Mine Tour concept, which until then had been organized in a more ad hoc capacity, most often adjacent to an ICA Congress itself. What better way, it was reasoned, is there to connect potential buyers of colored gemstones with the romantic mystery of the faroff places from which they are sourced, than taking them there, or at the very least providing the opportunity of hearing from someone who did make such a journey?



This way of thinking is certainly backed up by comments made to the ICA Gazette by Laurie Kahle, a senior editor at the U.S.-based high-end consumer magazine Robb Report, a participant in the Brazil tour. “At Robb Report, one of our primary missions is to provide insights into luxury goods and what makes them so enticing and expensive,” she said. “Naturally, rare gems and fine jewelry are of great interest to our audience. The Brazilian mine tour offered the opportunity to go to the sources of Brazil’s renowned gemstones and see them in their natural state.”

“Also, the experience gave me a better understanding and new appreciation of just how difficult it is to procure these rare treasures from the earth, which is a message that I look forward to communicating to our readers. Not only was the trip invaluable for understanding how these stones originate and the processes involved in mining them, but it was also a wonderful opportunity to get a taste of a fascinating foreign culture and to meet new friends and colleagues, Kahle said.”


Speaking to the ICA Gazette ICA vice president Avi Meirom, who attended the tour together with his wife Dr. Ruth Meirom, said that the Brazilians organizational skills and hospitality had been superb.

“There was a whole group of people in Brazil who need to be commended for their hard work and dedication, but we must commend two of our ICA members in particular--Marcello Bernardes and Sergio Martins,” he stated. “They were responsible for creating this magnificent tour, and did a fantastic job. They traveled with us throughout the entire week, making this an incredibly informative trip and experience. I sincerely hope others will have an opportunity to repeat this tour and enjoy this multifacetted experience as we did.”


On Sunday, August 17, the 16 participants in ICA’s Brazilian Gem Mine Tour boarded an especially chartered airplane, which flew them from Rio de Janeiro to Belo Horizonte, in the country’s Minas Gerais province.

They had arrived at the airport to commence their trip after having been treated by ICA member Julius Sauer, of Sauer Amsterdam, to an exclusive tour of his private colored gemstone museum in Rio.

“Brazil is a huge country, and the Minas Gerais province is enormous in itself,” said Meirom. “You have to be there to grasp that. Without the service of what we called our ‘air taxi,’ we would never have been able to cover the many hundreds of miles we needed to travel between the mines we visited during the week.”

The group’s first mine visit took place in the Itabera region of the state. The Belmont mine provided a look at the country’s emerald production, and was a comprehensive in that it included both alluvial and underground production facility.

The participants also went underground to view operations at the important Piteiras mine. Piteiras is an underground, hard-rock, ramp style mine, which currently is operating at the 50 meters underground level, although it has the potential to produce as low as 150 meters underground. The ramp into the mine is currently 200 meters long, and it is expected to reach 600 meters.
Mining is done underneath the emerald-bearing rock, allowing gravity to do much of the work. The emeralds are hosted in a magnesium-rich biotite called phlogopite. The formation is similar to emerald occurrences in several localities worldwide, and is referred to as “black wall zones.”

Another important mine visited was the Mineração Topázio Imperial (the Imperial Topaz Mine). Located nearby historic Ouro Preto (“Black Gold”), the group also enjoyed a guided-tour of the town, which has been a declared a Mankind Heritage sites by UNESCO. Formerly known as Villa Rica, (Rich Village), it was the capital of the state of Minas during the Portuguese rule of Brazil. With it colonial Baroque and Rococo style buildings, Ouro Preto boasts many gold decorated churches and museums.


One full day was dedicated to tourmaline. First, the group flew from Ouro Preto to Governador Valadares, which is a nationwide center recognized for both the cutting and trading of colored gemstones. Today it challenges Teófilo Otoni for the title of premier colored gemstone center in Brazil.

At the Navigator mine, the tourists were received by Rogério Zigoloto, who owns the mining rights. For many years, the facility was known as producer of mica and feldspar. But in 2000, a large pocket was discovered containing a variety of minerals, including large crystals of quartz, albite, aquamarine, garnet, tourmaline, and apatite. Since then, four additional gem-producing pockets have been found and the mine has become famous for its blue-green tourmaline

“Here, the mines are located in what only can be described as huge caves,” Meirom explained. “Some of them have been blasted open so that trucks can drive in an out, carrying literally tons and tons of rough quartzes, smoky and crystal, amethyst and citrine, and huge slabs of rose quartz. We were here to see the blue green tourmaline, but we felt like children in toy shop, amazed by the wide variety of rough pockets, protruding from the cave’s walls. It was amazing.”

In addition, the Gypsy mine was visited that day. Also owned by Zigoloto, it produces feldspar, morganite, kunzite and aquamarine.

Teófilo Otoni, which is located in the northeastern region of the Minas Gerais, is considered by many to be the world capital of colored gemstones, and it holds most of Brazil’s colored gemstone cutting facilities. Just outside the town is the Faisca chrysoberyl mine, which the group visited.



Then there’s Diane Dille who hand knits silver chain, weaving in gems like aquamarine, carnelian and amethyst, or making rings that hug bold gemstones like turtleneck sweaters.


Teófilo Otoni is the annual host of Feira Internacional de Pedras Preciosas (FIPP), the international gemstone show, whose 2003 edition coincided with the ICA Brazil Gem Mine Tour. The fair provides the opportunity to buy both rough and cut stones directly from local producers, miners and cutters.

FIPP is held each in a tent on the Teófilo Otoni’s main square, and in a way resembles the structure of the GJX show in Tucson, Arizona. More than 100 exhibitors participate in this show, and hundreds more traders exhibit in an open-air fair that is held simultaneously on the same city square. After a cursory visit to the fair, the gemstone professionals and the tour participants made a mental note to return.

The group also met with Ghuillermo Bamberger, president of Brazil’s Gems Exporters Association (GEA), who gave a presentation about the history of gemstone mining, cutting and trading in this particular region of Minas Gerais. This was followed by a dinner, at which the tour participants were able to meet Brazilian ICA members and other players in the local gemstone industry.



The last day of the tour, was dedicated to Paraíba tourmaline. For that purpose, the group flew out to Campina Grande, and then traveled by bus to the Mina da Batalha Mine. “We spent most of day at this huge mine,” Meirom recalled, “at which there are mountains of gravel that have come from the mine’s shafts and tunnels, and still need to be processed. The mine is spread over hundred of hectares. It’s quite a sight.”

Morgan Beard, executive editor, Colored Stone Magazine, summed up the tour. "I think the fact that it was organized by ICA members, who are professional colored gemstone dealers, is what made this trip so effective and interesting,” she said. “These dealers know where the good deposits are, so they were able to take us through an excellent cross-section of all these mines and show us things that very few get to see."