As part of his work for collectors and museums, geologist Simon ‘Indiana’ Harrison travels regularly to Africa in search of gemstones. One such gemstone, Tanzanite is unique to Tanzania, found in a small area surrounding Mount Kilimanjaro. Since Simon’s first visit in 2010, he has witnessed first-hand the struggle and dangerous work of the mining community. In addition to the biggest mine run by South African owned, ‘Tanzanite One’, there are around 400 individual mines in the area, run by locals. At the surface, a mine consists of a 50 square metre ‘stake’: from here, men employed by the mine owner will dig down some 300m. Once underground, there are no rules. Lighting is minimal, electricity often fails, and miners are constantly at risk from collapsing tunnels. It can take over 45 minutes until the miners reach the mining face. They can often work for months, or even years, without finding the elusive gem-producing pods. It is difficult, dangerous and very poorly paid work. Simon has been exploring means of sourcing specimens and gem-quality stones in ways which will also benefit the local miners. Encouraging miners to cut the rough stones themselves, rather than handing them over to a broker, provides an extra income which recognises the dangerous nature of their work. Simon has built connections in the village of Mererani. Local artisan miners Steven, Neru and Vincent supply Simon with unique Tanzanite crystals, which they showcase each time he returns to Mererani. In the future I will be working with Simon and the miners of Mererani to create unique Tanzanite designs. In the meantime, why not take a look at our video below, showing one of Simon’s trips to Tanzania. We’ll be back again soon with more of our own Indiana’s adventures.
