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Emerald from the Shakiso area

Research · · Maedot

Ethiopia is a newer source of emerald. Small stones, under two carats, appeared in 2011 and 2012 from near Dubuluk in the south. In 2016 emerald was found near Kenticha during prospecting for other minerals, and by late that year it was reaching the international market.

Where it is mined

Shakiso is the trading town. The mines are at Kenticha and Dermi, in the Seba Boru district of the Guji Zone, Oromia. By GIA's visit in 2018, the Bua Obsa cooperative was mining an open pit with machinery. Dealers buy near the mines and take the rough to Shakiso and then to Addis Ababa, where foreign buyers view it.

What the material is like

Ethiopian emerald forms in schist, as much emerald from Brazil and Zambia does, and looks similar. GIA's first report described most of the material as commercial grade and lighter in saturation, with fine crystals that can need no clarity enhancement. A 2023 study found it lower in chromium and vanadium, and higher in iron, than Colombian emerald.

Laboratories can tell it apart from Zambian and Brazilian emerald by its trace elements, and GIA keeps the samples it collected at the mines for origin work.

How we offer it

We offer emerald rough and cut, in wholesale parcels, and single stones on request. A selection states the origin we know and any treatment or testing on record. When a stone has a laboratory report, the report goes with it.

Sources

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