Ethiopian Opals - Better than Australia's Best

First off, I must admit to being a gemstone fanatic. I think admitting to one's own addictions is the first step to truly enjoying them.  I love the look of gemstones, the feel of gemstones, and the process of designing settings that will hold my gemstones. The only thing I love almost as much as gemstones is travel, so I thought chatting about the places where the gemstones originate would be a fun and interesting exercise.

My birthday is in October and that makes my birthstone Opal. Up until about five years ago, all of the worlds prized opals were mined in Australia. But most recently, the most beautiful and affordable gem quality stones come from Ethiopia. So, let's explore the place that produces some of the most beautiful examples of opal on the planet.

The region where the best of the Ethiopian opals are coming from is called Welo (sometimes spelled Wollo) and is located in Northwestern Ethiopia. The landscape of the region is both beautiful and rugged.  

The people are quite diverse and, as a result,  many languages and dialects are spoken. Most of the population, approximately 90%, live outside of the cities.

Mining for the beautiful opals that are now in great demand is a painstaking task, done primarily by hand, and conducted by local residents. 

The miners use hand tools and brute force to unearth the opal rough.  The conditions in which they work are extremely challenging. One of the mining sites is shown below. Notice the sheer cliffs and absence of visible paths, scaffolding, or earth moving equipment available for the miners' use. These guys are my heroes considering what they endure to find these precious stones. As much as I love my birthstone, there is NO WAY on this green earth that I would have the courage to go looking for the rough in these (or really any) difficult conditions. I admit that I'm an urban girl, a bit of a wuss, and definitely not someone who believes in "roughing it." 

Once found, the rough it sold then cut and polished (outside Ethiopia) into the beautiful examples of the gemstone shown below.  

Demand for these gems is quite high due to their beauty and affordability. Compared to Australian opals, Ethiopian opals are flashier and can be purchased for about a third of what a comparable Australian opal would command. One place you can find a great selection is at Jewelry Television, arguably one of the largest gemstone retailers in the world (www.jtv.com). In addition to their beauty, these stones are much harder than Australian opals so they are often faceted - something that was never done to Australian opals.  The finished stones are sold internationally through retail outlets as well as through a number of online jewelry and gemstone-specific sites.  

I hope to visit this ruggedly beautiful landscape to see the mines and the local people firsthand. Hopefully this little glimpse into the world of Ethiopian opals will encourage some of you, my readers, to think about visiting Ethiopia as well. 

Happy Trails to my fellow rock hounds!
Pam




References


http://www.opalinda.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=65:wollo-wello-welo-opal-opals-ethiopia&catid=18:activefilesopalinda

http://www.falasha-recordings.co.uk/teachings/ethist.html

http://kylerdeutmeyer.com/galleries/show/200

http://www.ethiopiaopals.com/infoonethiopia.html