Madagascar, lying 400 kilometers off the east African coast in the Indian Ocean, is the world’s fourth largest island, and home to the world’s richest untapped seams of Ruby and sapphire. Mining started when deposits of Ruby, similar in quality to those of the ‘Mogok Stone Tract’ in Burma, were discovered in the year 2000. This relative newcomer to the gemstone world is now producing some of the best quality Ruby and sapphire, and in such quantities and sizes that it offers a first-rate alternative to the Burmese variety at a fraction of the price.

Andilamena

The mines of Andilamena have been producing Ruby since 2000. At first, the Rubies weren’t clear, exhibiting quite dark overtones. Soon after, better quality Ruby came to light and the area was swamped by more than 40,000 miners all in a mad race, reminiscent of the Californian Gold Rush, to get rich quick.

In the first two years of excavation Rubies were being mined from Andilamena’s alluvial riverbeds, but by late 2003 shaft mining started reaching the primary deposits of “Star Ruby” for which the area is now famous. Rubies mined from the area in this period exhibited an orangey-red, but as of the summer of 2005 a darker red ruby has been sourced, and although the sizes are smaller than the “Ruby Star” the material is of a higher gem quality.