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   MADAGASCAR                                MADAGASCAR GEM SAFARI 2
 

 

   Andranondambo
        Madagascar Map
Sapphire from Maromby in a metamorphic marble. ( Andranondambo area.)

Andranondambo Sapphire Discovery

  The story

 

   Looking for sapphire on the ground in 1992.
  Sapphires from Andranondambo,  discovered in 1991. ( South-Eastern  Madagascar )

   

       In 1658, Flacourt, the governor of Fort-Dauphin, mentions

       sapphires in southern Madagascar.
       In 1808, Barthélemy Hugon writes that in the valley of
       Ambolo there is a so beautiful stone and so rare that his
       lapidaries have not  been able to recognize it and it was
       above of all that is not diamond. ... In 1991, at the time of
       the great dryness in the south, sapphire samples are found,
       several centuries after their first discovery. The son of Mrs.
       Dauphine, innkeeper in Tranomaro, main village of the
       valley, was among  the prospectors.
       Actually, one of the most beautiful sapphire quality in the
       world is just leaving ground.
          
                         
   The Tranomaro area is characterized by an
  extreme calcic and magnesian paragneiss abundance:
  Gneiss with diopside, plagioclasites, pyroxenites,
  wernerites, wolastonite marble, with varied
  leptynites, generally with garnet, kinzigites, quarzites.
  One finds there rather frequently syenitic gneisses
  or lamboanites.  Gneisses of injection are very
  frequent.
  The typomorphic minerals are:  basic diopside,
  scapolite, calcite, plagioclases,
  wollastonite, garnet, cordierite and corundum.
  East of Tranomaro, arteritic and eyesys injections
  assign gneisses at leptynites. Cordierite gneiss stripes
  are deeply injected bed by bed, the injection has
  introduced magnetite in abundance.
  Wollastonites form ptymatic lenses with
  Marohotro, 8 km. south of Andanondambo.   folds very tortured at the middle of the limestone.
    The sapphire on the left comes from Ambandanira, and   Note:aluminous anorthites or sakenites.
    that on right-hand side from Maromby
    (area of Andranondambo)
                                         
          
Sapphire from Behataza plateau (Andranondambo area)

                                       

   Natural Sapphire, blue Madagascar gemstone, exclusive rare precious stones, geology information data
Andranondambo sapphire occurrences visible on Google Earth.
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Ilakaka
 
Holes can reach 20 meters depth.
Sapphires from Ilakaka.         One of the various holes in sandstone forming
( South-Western Madagascar )         the deposit of Ilakaka discovered in to 1998.
        Ilakaka mine, blue Madagascar gemstone, exclusive rare precious stones, geology information data
Blue sapphires , pink and violet, Ilakaka area.
       ISALO SANDSTONES.
       The white sandstones of Isalo present imposing
       stratifications intersected with gravel beds and
       small conglomerates.
       These soft sandstones resisted to erosion and taken a
       ruiniform relief because the presence of braces siliceous
       veins.
       The mineral-bearing deposits include : a deposit of generally
       classified gravels, the richest part and larger elements
       being at the base of the bed - rock.
         MORE ABOUT ILAKAKA

 

 
Isalo Range
 

 

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       The far-south of Madagascar, semi-desert, does not present
Polychrome sapphires from Iankaroka
       any asphalt road yet, dust and trepidations are the daily
 discovered in 1990.        lot of any traveller. Sunsets and the natural life of its
       inhabitants offer an appreciable compensation.
      
 
This sapphire occur in a contact
zone between granites and
migmatites.
It is found in its bedrock.
Rubies from Ianavoha.  
(Southern Madagascar.)
       
Rubies in syenite from Andranomilitsy.
Ruby from Andranomilitsy (Vohitany)        Syenitic-nephelinic vein of rubies in Andranomilitsy.
      
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In Soamiakatra, rubies were sold with sunglasses.  

              The Mayor of Soamiakatra in 1989, (East of Antsirabe.)

     

                   Rubies from Soamiakatra in the highlands.

                    Here, rubies are always found in alluvium.

                               MADAGASCAN CORUNDUMS

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Ambondromifehy  ( Diego )
BLUE SAPPHIRE NATURAL COLOR           
Sapphire from Analafady  (Ambondromifehy) North.
Ambondromifehy Sapphire, blue Madagascar gemstone, exclusive rare precious stones, geology information data

                                      

       The Ambondromifehy alluvial deposit is exploited since
       1996.  It is located in a Jurassic limestone, but the origin of
       sapphires is in alkaline basalts from the close volcanic zone.
 Mahatsara ( Ambondromifehy)
                                   

      

 

The consumption of khat “a kind of narcotic plant” is quite

common in the Diego-Suarez region, people can be very

dynamic.
This deposit produced mainly blue sapphires, but also some
bi-color, some yellow sapphires, and rough material to cut in 
cabochon and, star sapphire too.
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Didy Sapphire & Ruby Rush 2012
Within 2011, sapphires from Ambatovolana reached  
the capital Antananarivo sporadically, brought there
by gold miners.
Ambatovolana is located 25 kilometers south-east of
the village of Didy, which is located 45 km.south-east
from the town of Ambatondrazaka. (Tamatave region.)
On July 18th 2011, a lapidary from the Capital reveals to
me that the extraordinary sapphires in his hand come
from "Ivoloina" a new deposit located in the region of
Brickaville, on the road to the port of Tamatave 
(Toamasina.) I buy the stones.
But it was not the truth.
" The deposit on the Ivoloina river is actually located 40
kilometers from Tamatave."
In the beginning of 2012, a sapphire and ruby rush occurred 
due to the exceptional color, clarity and size of the precious 
stones found there.
Discovered in alluvium, in the core of a wild forest, sapphires
and rubies required holes from 50 centimeters to 2 meters 
depth only to be extracted.
 
       Paper written by the cutter.
Alaotra formations:  
Crystalline schists:  
The petrographic bottom is characterized by an abundance of pyroxéno-
amphibolic formations in a set in which gneissico-migmatitic rocks are
found as follows:
- The gneisses at hypersthene are well represented on the North and 
East bank of Lake Alaotra:
- Amphibolites and shale feldspathics pyroxenites appearing frequently in
patches or enclaves to form heterogeneous migmatites of épibolites type
(rocks consist of interbedded veins of aplites beds per bed).  
- The amphibole gneiss, amphibole and biotite, or biotite alone can pass
locally to banded migmatites.  
- Locally surmicaceous gneiss and mica becoming micaschists and containing
shreds of muscovite mica schists between the rivers Onibe and Ivondro.  
- Finally, beds of quartzite or magnetite quartzite distributed of very irregular
manner : magnetite quartzites show a bigger development in the region of 
Imerimandroso and Andilamena peninsula, on the shores of Lake Alaotra;
white quartzites more or less crystallized are quite rare and form thin beds.  
We can distinguish an aluminous series and calco-magnesian series. 
Alumino-silicate series is not uniformly distributed, but appears quite clearly
located at the base of the group Alaotra. This series is represented by
sillimanite quartzites and gneisses more or less quartzic biotite, sillimanite
and garnet, very often these gneiss are graphitic.  
Calc-magnesian series develops on the western bank of the group Alaotra,
especially south of Ambatondrazaka where diopside gneisses and marbles
are of great importance.  
- Gabros have a significant development in the group Alaotra, their
main feature is their perfect match with the surrounding formations.
More about Didy Sapphire Discovery

 

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