In Winza, a godforsaken area in central Tanzania, a spectacular ruby deposit was discovered in November 2007. Besides rubies small quantities of blue, pink and padparaja-type sapphires are mined, which however, the way it looks now, will remain of merely marginal commercial importance.
So, let´s stick with the rubies. The gemtrade is abuzz over the fantastic qualities the new stones possess.
Secondly, they don´t have to be heated to develop their beauty to full bloom.
Thirdly, Winza rubies show inclusions unknown in rubies from any other source, which facilitates identification considerably.
And last but not least, the mine so far produced stones of up to 15cts. The Gemsearch Swisslab (GRS) of Dr. Peretti in 2008 examined a total of 592 Winza rubies of top quality (eyeclean and of vibrant colour) of which 137pcs weighed less than 2cts, 124pcs lay inbetween 4cts and 6cts and a remarkable 28pcs exceeded 10cts!
Of all the fine Winza rubies examined by GRS in 2008, more than 30 received he prestigious GRS Platinum Award, meaning they are considered to be amongst the world´s best rubies. Not bad for such a young deposit.
Of course, there also is a downside to all the good news: in autumn production decreased considerably.
One reason was, that local miners, by using only very simple mining methods (pick and shovel and an occasional dynamite cartridge), had reached the end of the rope.
Another reason was the discovery of a gold deposit nearby, which had a lot of miners pack their tools and move.
However, insiders say that right now heavy equipment is being brought into position, so that a significant rise in production is to be expected before long.
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