Ethiopia, Land of origins Part I: Emeralds from Southern Ethiopia

In December 2017, we had our first visit to Ethiopia and we explored the Rift Valley and the southern part of the country to visit an interesting new emerald mining project by Gemfields located near Web village close to the small town of Dubuluk. The main goal was to collect samples, on site at the mines, for the Bahrain Institute for Pearls and Gemstones (DANAT; http://www.danat.bh/ ) reference collection in Bahrain as Ethiopia is emerging as an interesting new source for gemstones. The Web village area started to produce emeralds in the early 2000 and stones started to reach the markets in small quantities (Cevalos & al, G&G, Fall 2012, G&G, "an emerald from ethiopia", pp. 219-220) but the production remained irregular. In 2013 WGM (Web Gemstone Mining) company was created as a partnership between a local investor and the local Web village community. In 2015 that local investor invited Gemfields into the project in order to develop the mine (More at: https://gemfields.com/our-mines-asset... ). Gemfields became the majority shareholder with the Web village community and the investor as partners. At the time of our visit in Dec 2017, the project was at the exploration stage. We could witness bulk sampling at the Dogogo pit. The company was working a pegmatite area that was rich in promising green beryl crystals. We collected some of the for the DANAT reference collection. The goal for WGM was to reach an emerald rich reaction zone between the pegmatite (source of beryllium) and a high grade metamorphic rock called TMS belt (for talc magnetite shist) that is the source for chromium. During our visit we could also witness the local market taking place each Wednesday at Web village that has turned, since the arrival of the mine, into one of the most important in the region due to the additional income generated by the local community since the opening of the mine. The general feeling we had after that first visit was that Ethiopia has a great potential to become a significant gem producer in the years to come.