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Year 3 Issue 1 -- February 2004
It's only natural Nyala ruby from Malawi
ICA issues Gem Lab Alert on heated blue sapphires
From GIA Research:Latest Findings on Heated Blue Sapphires with Unusual Color Concentrations
 
         
    It's only natural
                                                   Nyala ruby from Malawi
     A new production of ruby and orange to pink sapphire from Malawi was available in Tucson this year,The new ruby, from the Malawi region of South Africa ,is guaranteed to have completely natural color - it's not even heated.

     Columbia Gem House, Inc., who exhibited at the AGTA show at the Tucson Convention Center,are offering the ruby thanks to an exclusive cutting and markting agreement with the mine. This agreement allows the company to control thr rough from the time it leaves the ground until the time it reaches the retail jeweler.

    " This tight control of the supply chain is the only way to ensure that no treatment of any kind has been done to the gemstone. The control also guarantees the origin of the stones and eliminates the fear of substitutes or synthetics," said Columbia Gem House, Inc. President, Eric Braunwart. The mine is producing natural ruby,pink sapphire,orange sapphire, and padparadscha sapphire in size from melee to 7 carats. Color ranges from pale pink and orange to vivid red. Many of the rubies have an electric orange-red color.
    
The gems are exceptionally well cut for corandum in a variety of shapes, including brilliant and Portuguese rounds,emerald cuts,ovals,cushions,and trillions.

     Concern about bulk diffision treatment of orange, pink and padparadscha sapphire, as well as the current ban on imports from Burma, the world's most important ruby source,have left dealers and retailers scrambling to locate new corundum sources. Mr. Braunwart hopes that the option of all-nutural Nyala Ruby and sapphire will help buyers regain confidence in the corundam market.

Nyala ruby is a registered trademark. www.columbiagemhouse.com.

  ICA issues Gem Lab Alert on heated blue sapphires
   
      The international Colored Gemstone Association (ICA) has issued its first ICA Lab Report for 2004, in which it informed germologists and members of the colored stone trade about the findings of two of the world's leading gemological laboratories--SSEF - Swiss Gemological Institute of basel,Switzerland,and Gemological Institute of America-- which concured that,thus far,they had found no evidence of diffision in batch of heated blue Sri Lanka sapphires the were heat treated by the same source. this followed recent report in the trade media,in which it was suggested that a new heating process for blue sapphire from Sri Lanka may involve "lattice diffision."

    ICA's president,Joseph M. Menzie,explained that the ICA Lab Alerts were developed to inform the trade, the international gemological comunity, the media and tyhe public at large of any developments related tom the discovery, detection and identification of treatment and enchancements of natural of gemstone, synthetic gemstones and gemstone simulant.

    " Our first responsiblity is to protect the consumer, and as such protect our product and the relationship with our buyers," he stated. "ICA has been very effective in disseminating information about treatments and leads the gemstone industry by advocating and adhering to a practical,easy-to-understand disclosure system. This has already proven to be very effective, such as in case of the beryllium diffused sapphire, that were coming out of thailand,starting in 2001." In addition,Mr menzie said, when an unwarranted alarm is raised, ICA also needs to act and inform." In this most recent case,early report suggested that a new heating process involved diffusion. Thus far , such charges have proven unfounded, and, in fact, reasonable explainations have been put forward to explain what is being observed," he started.

Date: January 15,2004
Subject: Heat treatment of blue sapphire from Sri Lanka
Source: ICA Gem Bureau
To : Gemological laboratories,independent gemologists, members of the colored gemstone and jewelry industries and trade.
Latest research into heat-treated Sri Lankan blue sapphire does not turn up any indication of diffusion
    Two of world's leadiing gemological laboratories-SSEF-Swiss Gemological Institute of Basel,Switzerland,and The Gemological institute of America,of Carlbad,California,have both reported that they found no evidence of diffusion in a batch of heat blue Sri Lankan sapphire that were heat treat by the same source. This followed recent repodt in the trade media ,in which it was suggested that a new heating process for blue sapphire form Sri Lanka may involve"lattice diffusion".

    SSEF said that it had examined sapphires from Sri Lanka, ranging from 4.56 carats to 11.11 carats. " The stones were rather free of inclusion and showed a medium strong saturate blue color.One sampledisplayed a distince blue color zone,whereby all others showed a rather uniform color distribution with common illumination. Under the microscope they showed features indicating a heat treatment. However, when examined in an immersion cell,these sapphires showed patially strange uneven colorless rims of about one millimeter thick," SSEF wrote in its report. "Surprisingly,the coloeless zone do not follow completely the outline of the cut stones.
Similar observations had already been communicated recently by Ken Scarratt (AGTA Gem Tesing Center, New York,July 18,2003)," the SSEF report continued. Was this anomaly due to a diffusion, in which foreign elements were introduce into the chamber during heating? if so, this could trigger a negative reaction similar to the experienced with the beryllium diffusion-treated corundam in 2001 and 2002, SSEF noted.

     But the SSEF report offered a pluasible explanation for the phenomenon. It was based on analysee carried out at the SSEF facilities, involving both standard and sophisticated testing. The reason that only a few of the blue sapphire showeda colorless rim,SSEF suggested ,was that a majority of the cases the treatment was performed on rough stones. " Many rough sapphires are first heated and then cut in order to take profit from a good orientation of the shape.Should these heated rough stone produce a colorless margin,it would partly be removed during shaping and polishing .In our present case we are thus dealing with sapphire which sustain parts of surface related fading zones," SSEF explained. In other words,since it most case we are thus the treatment is peformed on rough stones,the likelihood of finding a colorless rim on polished stones is very low, since the colorless rim of the rough stone is cut and polished away.
    
     SSEF explained that to develop blue in Guada sapphire,a reducing atmosphere is necessary. The reductive atmosphere in a furnace is frequently obtained by burning fuel,thereby removing free oxygen. A second method is to flood the furnace with a neutral gas,such as nitrogen. According to SSEF , in the case of the Sri Lanka stones,the second method was used." We were informed [by] the National Gem & Jewelry Authority of Sri Lanka the electrical furnace with protective gas were used for the heating of the stones which proceeds
usually at 1800 Celcius," it wrote in its report. The Swiss suggested that the colorless regions on the rim are result of a technical oversight."Toward tyhe end of the heating process, the pump for protective gas it stopped and some air (cotianing oxygen ) enter the furnace." This result in a minor degree of oxidtion,resulting in the decolrization of surface related layer of the stone.

    In the light of above explanation,SSEF said that it would describe the stone it tested as"heated" when issuing its laboratory test report. "We does not see the evidence of diffusion of a foreign element, as in the case of the beryllium treated orange and yellow
sapphires,"SSEF declared.

   In the Gemological Institute of America's online megazine, GIA Insider, GIA researchers Chistopher P. Smith and Matthew Hall reported on thier visit to Sri Lanka,where they witnessed the heat treatment of heat of blue sapphire by the same individual who had developed the process under investigation. Smith and Hall evidently had agreed beforehand not to reveal details about the heat-treatment, they were permitted to examine the sapphire in question. Based on thier observations and a detailed microscopic examination of the sapphire after treatment,Smith and Hall determined unequivocally that no synthetic sapphire growth had taken place.Furthermore,the researchers did not witness the use of fluxing agent during the heating experiment , and no evidenceof flux was present on or around the sample brought back to the United States for further analyses. Nonetheless,Smith and Hall preferred to take a more equivocal approach." we can not state conclusively the role that lattice diffusion plays in this peculiar color phenomenon or which elements may be involved. However , we are continuing our research onto the exact mechanisms responsible for this unusual color concentrations, and will release our findings to the trade as they become available."


From GIA Research: Latest Findings on Heated Blue Sapphires with Unusual Color Concentrations
 
In Recent months,serveral blue sappphires submitted to the GIA Gem Gem Laboratory for identification have shown evidence of high temperature heat treatment, as well as "billowy" blue color concentrations when viewed with immersion.
Photo by Elizabeth Schrader.
Copyright Gemological Institute of America.Reprintedbypermission.
    Since the advent of beryllium treatment and trade's awareness of the color changes that certain chemical elements can achieve when diffused into the lattice of the ruby or sapphire ,gemologist from around the world have been on the lockout for any new developments in the heat treatment of ruby and sapphires .What appears to be the latest development,first notice early in 2003 , has taken the form of blue sapphires with unusual color concentrations. To date, we have examined dozens of sapphires that showed these unusual color concentrations as well as clear evidence of high-temperature heat treatment . With immersion, they revealed irregular or "billowy" blue color concentrations,surrounded by pale blue or colorless areas that extended to the surface. At the boundary between the inner and outer color concentrations, two feature appear to be indicative:(1) a thin ,near-colorless zone that parallels the contours of the inner color concentration; and (2) a scalloped edge that is bordered by dinstinctive growth and color zoning.

    There has been considerable speculation about the process used to achieve the unsual color concentrations observed in this material. Although we have seen several known Be-diffused blue sapphires, to date no significant amounts of beryllium have been found in these particular stones. Another therory that has recieved considerable attention involves the partail dissolution of the origin sapphire during this "new" heating process and subsequent regrowth (i.e., of synthetic sapphire ) over the remaining original stone.
To investigate this new treatment further, GIA researchers Christopher P. Smith and Matthew Hall recently traveled to Sri Lanka,Where they attended experiments by Punsiri Tennakoon of Of Punsiri Gems , the man who developed this process. The purpose of their trip was to learn more about the procedures and conditions that might be responsible for the particular gemological feature that have been observed. Tennakoon's heat treatment experiments used serveral samples he supplied as well as reference material that had been pre-analyzed by GIA. The heat treatment procedure ( which is propietary to Tennakoon ) had a dramatic effect on the color that the color of most of the samples. and initail observation suggested that the unusual color concentration indicated above were produced in more than two-third of them.

     On the basis of the detailed microscopic examination of the samples after treatment , Smith and Hall determined unequivocally that no

Prior to heat treatment,the samples were placed in an alumina crucible without a fluxing agent.
Photo by Matthew Hall .
Copyright Gemological Institute of America.
synthetic sapphire growth had taken place. Furthermore, the researchers did not witness the use of any fluxing agents during the heating experiments, and no evidence of flux was flux was present on or around the sample brought back to the United State conclusively the role that lattice diffusion plays in this peculiar color phenomenon or which elements may be involved.
However , we are continuing our research into the exact mechanism responsible for these unusual color concentrations, and will release our findings to the trade as they become available.
 
When viewed in the proper direction, the heated sample showed the same kind of unusual blue color concentration that has been noted in serveral blue sapphire submitted to the laboratory in the past serveral months.
Photo by Matthew Hall Copyright Gemological institute of America
.Reprint by permission.