Virtu Gem drills ASMs in basic gemmology

By Bester Kayaye and Wahard Betha

Women miners who are members of Malawi Women in Mining Association (MAWIMA) and a selection of youths doing mining related courses at Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences (MUBAS) had an opportunity to receive training in basic gemmology thanks to Virtu Gem, an international gemstone marketing firm.

The firm conducted the two-days training, which mainly focused on gemstone identification and grading, at Forestry Department Regional Offices in Blantyre from May 19 to 20, 2022.

Virtu Gem Malawi representative Chikomeni Manda told Mining and Trade Review that the firm funded the workshop upon request from MAWIMA which observed that most women miners encounter a myriad of challenges to kickstart and prosper in gemstone dealership business due to lack of proper technical know-how to identify and classify gems.

Manda explained that the workshop is part of a programme that the Company has embarked on to promote value addition skills of traders the company works with in Africa, having appreciated the monetary value the processed stones fetch on the market as compared to raw gems.

He said: “Most of women and youths encounter losses in this business because they have no idea or little on gemstones they trade in.”

“Through this initiative, we aim to achieve responsible sourcing which among other things seeks to ensure that the miners or traders we deal with are upholding good mining standards including consideration on environmental conservation, safety and health issues.”

“We are mutually enhancing good mining environment and good market environment so we only deal with licensed individuals and entities such as MAWIMA and Gemstone Association of Malawi.”

MAWIMA President Emma Adam said the training is an eye opener for the participants as most of them have just joined the sector and lack sufficient expertise on how to identify gemstones.

“During my visit to MUBAS, I established that most students had difficulties in identifying the gemstones despite undergoing mining related studies hence we incorporated some of them to give them hands-on experience.”

“On the women, I expect that they will fully utilize the knowledge they have acquired from this training since it is what they require to sustain their businesses.”

A participant Valentine Mwababa, a 5th year Geological Engineering student from MUBAS, commended MAWIMA and Virtu Gem for the training hinting that it will ease their point of entry in gemstone trading once they graduate.

“This training has highlighted what is really an important aspect on the market when we are doing gemstone business, and how easily one can identify real gemstones since there are a lot of synthetic gemstones on the market.”

In Lilongwe, Virtue Gems Malawi also engaged gemstone miners and dealers from Mzimba and Nathenje, Lilongwe on responsible sourcing and value addition.

Manda told Mining & Trade Review that they organised the trainings because Malawi is losing a lot in terms of revenue collection due to poor sourcing of minerals and unprofessional dealing.

He said many gemstone miners and dealers are operating without mining licenses and environmental permits which has contributed to exportation of raw minerals using uncharted routes.

He said: “The meeting was organised to have a chat with miners and gemstone dealers on how the business is fairing in terms of responsible sourcing and that is why we invited officials from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Mines because when we talk of responsible sourcing we look at how the environment is being treated by the miners.”

“As Virtu Gems, we are promoting value addition. Upon doing that we are flashing out some middle men who buy rough stones at very low prices.”

“We aim to ensure that gemstones are sold at the formal market, which will benefit both the miners and Government through royalties and taxes.”

Manda also said as Virtu Gems, they market only gemstones that are sourced responsibly and they are mainly focusing on promoting value addition by women miners and the youth who are the vulnerable groups.

In her remarks, Environmental Inspector in the Department of Environmental Affairs Tiyamike Salanjira commended Virtue Gems for the training saying many Artisanal Small Scale Miners (ASMs) operating in the sector are only interested in mining without caring about environmental conservation.

“There is the issue of land degradation whereby miners leave a lot of mining pits and once they are done with the area they do not rehabilitate the land,” Salanjila said.