BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes
ZAMBIAN emerald is one of finest in the world gemstone due to its innate characteristics, says Jewel of Africa managing director Raj Sharma.
Mr Sharma said Zambian emerald remained the most attractive on the world market due to its uniqueness.
The market for Zambian emerald, he said in the 2019 Investors Roadmap., was growing.
“It is a stronger crystallisation, less attractive brittle, better clarity and better colour, so we get a larger stones of good colour,
“Also, the stones we use are untreated, so the customers get a natural product that is not oiled or coloured. The fractures are not filled in and the natural stone commands a higher value,” he said.
Mr Sharma also said his company was now mining gemstones and would soon start producing.
He said Jewel of Africa currently had seven outlets where it was producing jewellery.
“We are cutting and polishing our gemstones and we are also mining now, we have a couple of mines that will start producing soon,
“It is very capital intensive and you cannot do it yourself. When we get the right partners and start producing, it will help us in our quest to get the Zambian emerald to the end user with final proof of provenance,” Mr Sharma said.
