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Here are two adventures: one published in GIA World News and one from IDEX, international Jewelry and Diamond news.

This four page article, written by Ron Ringsrud, appeared in 'In Focus' magazine, published by the Gemological Institute of America. It outlines a trip to the Muzo emerald mine in the company of four world class geologists and an interesting side-trip as a result of that.

PROSPECTING FOR ADVENTURE

"After surviving Colombia's volatile business climate of the 1980's a determined American emerald dealer helps organize a team of leading geologists to prospect for new deposits among the Andes. From Bogota to the jungles of Muzo and back, Ron Ringsrud reports on life in a land where the connoisseurs carry guns."

"Standing on the corner of Sixth and Hill streets in downtown Los Angeles, I can see the international gem trade in microcosm: Indians and Sri Lankans talking in groups, the Southeast Asian sapphire dealers, the Brazilian gem dealer with the heavy briefcase, the European diamond dealer, and a lone Colombian emerald dealer waving at me from across the street. But beyond the friendships that I have developed in these circles, my 15 years as an independent emerald dealer has earned some respect among my peers. Not many of us have lasted through the past decade and we have come to regard each other as survivors. Gem dealers everywhere have had to balance the risk of staking a large investment on a parcel of stones against market conditions which will allow them to be sold at a profit. But in the last 15 years, Colombia's uneasy social climate created an atmosphere of danger and fear which drove many dealers away or out of business.

 

Despite these unsettled conditions, I fell in love with the people of Colombia and began my career as an importer in the early '80s. Although most buying can be done in Bogota, I made several trips to the emerald mines deep in the green semitropical jungles of the Muzo region. At the time. The area surrounding the mine at Coscuez was producing a large number of emeralds, but there was almost no record of the deposits in any of the available literature and I became fascinated with the geology of the region.

 

A decade later, I am still coming to grips with the fact that I am not alone in my fascination. Numerous studies have been conducted, but none have yielded a conclusive answer to the origin of Colombia's emerald deposits. And so, baffled but determined to learn more, I jumped at the chance to help organize a team of leading geologists on a prospecting trip deep into the Andes for a first-hand look at an unsolved mystery. [Continue story here]

Into The Heart of Darkness

 

 

 

 

This article is from the Feb. 2005 issue of IDEX Magazine, a very comprehensive monthly for retailers and diamond brokers. It tells the story of a trip to another emerald mine: Peñas Blancas, in the Muzo Region. A very complete and technical article about this mine, written by Mr. Ringsrud and gemologist Edward Boehm, will soon appear in the pages of Gems & Gemology, published by the G.I.A.

Business Risks in Bogota by Ron Ringsrud

"Live dangerously! Build your cities on the slopes of Vesuvius. Be robbers and ravagers rather than rulers and owners. Live dangerously!..." Frederich Nietsche: Thus spoke Zarathrustra

"The Guild navigators...had made the fatal decision: they'd chosen the clean safe course that leads ever downward towards stagnation."

"... even after the victory of His forces over the Padishah Emperor's army, Paul-Maud'Dib agreed to single combat with the Harkonen prince (Feyd-Rautha). It was a totally unnecessary risk but he sought it eagerly as action against dormancy and staleness. By risking his life in a knife fight he put the future on a crossroads and 'sensed how the universe focused on the moment." Frank Herbert, Dune

There's very little dormancy or staleness in the Colombian emerald business, or for that matter, the colored stone business in general. When I'm on the corner of Sixth and Hill in downtown Los Angeles and I see another dealer who has been in the business since I started nineteen years ago, we look at each other with respect; we're survivors. When my associates see me on the corner of Avenida Jiminez and Carrera 7 in downtown Bogotá there is a similar feeling. A lot of people have come and gone in the years that I've been dealing colored stones and those who remain have accomplished something. While a few of those people who have left the business did so because of the physical risk or the danger, most of them left or disappeared because they lost their money.

And that, money that is, is the true risk of the gem business: staking all your savings on a parcel of gemstones and entering the market hoping to sell at a profit. Negotiating the perilous territory of finding buyers whose checks are good, and paying off suppliers on time is the true adventure of gem dealing. This is high adventure because most gem dealers lay it all on the line; they don't have a safety net of money in the bank in case they make a mistake. All their money in in the inventory and their ability to provide for themselves and their families is riding on the current parcel of gemstones that they happen to have. This adventure is open to anyone in our industry and not just the ones that go to Colombia or or other supposedly dangerous places.

I remember, as a young dealer in the late 80's, how my heart rate surged at the thrill (and the risk) of saying yes to a parcel of emeralds that I was staring at for 5 hours in a musty office in Bogotá. The moment I walked out of the door with 32.50 carats of $4000 per carat material, the pressure to sell and send the money to Colombia descended on me. My next 25 days acquired a bracing sense of purpose. Taking a risk and then carrying it out is what business is all about; it is fulfilling. Also scary. I wonder if the Colombians knew that I barely had $10,000 in my bank account. And they can't have known that the rubies that I gave as down-payment were not mine, they were on consignment to me from a dealer in LA. [Continue story here]

Peñas Blancas Mine