There is something green in Zambia, a country that’s established in the copper mining industry, only this substance tends to sparkle – and those in the gemstone business are hoping it will catch more eyes.
Nothing appears dull in the Jewel of Africa jewelry shop at the Intercontinental Hotel in Lusaka, but they’re working to make the Zambian emerald the featured product for tourists and business travelers alike. Local distributers are facing a different challenge: to access the gemstone at reasonable prices in their home market. Only recently did they access the right to bid on the gems at the country’s most recent auction this past July, although none of their bids were successful.
“Our focus on emeralds is solely because it is one of the top three gemstones in the world,” said Raj Sharma, managing director of Jewel of Africa, Gemstone Marketing and Consultancy Ltd. “They already have legendary recognition of their worth throughout the world.”
Sharma’s company is one of only a few large local retailers. The marketing of the gem as one that’s unique to Zambia faces specific challenges by players like the Sharma’s because of a few roadblocks, one of them being access to the stone.
“The first challenge is to produce more,” said Sharma. “We have a lot of emeralds in the country but they are difficult to mine and it takes a lot of money. No bank is going to support it because you can’t quite define what’s down there. With iron mining and copper mining you can tell what the deposit is but you can’t do that with emeralds.”
Professor at the University of Zambia’s School of Mines Radhe Krishna said the gem industry has been overshadowed by other mining resources like copper, zinc and precious metals like gold and silver. He said it’s because of the way the precious stone is currently mined; it leaves many stones at lesser value.
“The emerald is not difficult to mine but it is expensive to mine,” said Krishna. “To break ground you can either you use an excavator or explosives. The most popular method right now is to use explosives and with that, 80 per cent of the stones are damaged. This is where we come into the picture.”
Krishna said private shareholders consult with the school of mines on how to harvest the stones. He said the most efficient way is through hydraulic mining using water and high pressure to get at the deposits. This can be costly.
“The facilities are there, the regulations are there but difficult to reach,” said Krishna. “The bank needs feasibility, to know how long the reserve will be there. It’s difficult for small owners to provide all of these requirements.”
Sharma’s sister, Rashmi Sharma, knows the value of the gem well. She is the company’s gemologist, jewellery designer and consultant: a position she has held for the past 20 years, and has been actively trying to market the emerald specifically for the past eight years. Another thing that could bring recognition of the green stone to the next level is a compelling story to educate the world on the stone, as Tanzania did with the Tanzanite.
“They came up with a brilliant story that the stone is 1000 times rarer than the diamond,” she said “There’s only one location in the world at the base of the Kilimanjaro and it requires the mountain to create it. It’s an enchanting story that customers love because in 10 years, they know they might not be able to get tanzanite.”
In the well-lit glass display cases, like its sister country to the northeast, the emerald takes its place beside the tanzanite.
A result of good marketing, an emphasis on quality and a compelling story open the eyes of the world to this luminescent indigo-purple-blue stone from Tanzania.
This has yet to happen on the same level for any of the precious stones mined in Zambia.
Both Sharmas agreed they could play off the ambitious marketing push by Gemfields, a major British-based jewelry company. They have recently named American celebrity Mila Kunis as the stone’s ambassador and place emphasis on their more ethical, green approach, but the story lacks a mythical quality that could take it to the next level.
“We need to come up with a great story and re-market the emerald in such a way that expresses that the prices might not always be the same,” said Rashmi Sharma.
“I’m biased because I live and work in Zambia, but our colours are very superior to any other emeralds in the world. The stone (typically) has all sorts of natural inclusions and is usually cloudy and not very bright. Zambia has a lot of complete emeralds, naturally bright and shiny and can be used as an engagement stone.”
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