Here is another article in my informative tanzanite series. My interpretations are in blue. “In June of 2003, the Tanzanian government introduced legislation banning the export of unprocessed tanzanite to India (like many gemstones, most tanzanite is cut in Jaipur). The ban has been rationalized as an attempt to spur development of local processing facilities, thereby boosting the economy and recouping profits. This ban was phased in over the next two years, until which time only stones over 0.5 grams were affected. This is a serious situation for the city of Jaipur, as one-third of its annual gem exports are of tanzanite. Some members of the industry fear the ban will set a precedent, leading Tanzania to ban the export of all raw gem material, including the country’s production of tsavorite, diamond and ruby. In April 2005, a company called TanzaniteOne Ltd. publicly announced that they had taken control of the tanzanite mine known as “C-Block”. Over the next year, this company established a De Beers-like control over the tanzanite market. This is the first time that a colored gemstone has been controlled in this way. ”
Interpretation: Now tanzanite is not only a one source gemstone, it is also being controlled by basically one company, and is no longer allowed to be cut by the world renowned gem cutters of India.
This article is licensed under the “GNU Free Documentation License“. It uses material from the Wikipedia article “Tanzanite .”
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