Coolamon Mining News Report
Because of the resurgence in interest in our natural Australian sapphire and appreciation of our great range of natural colours, we have felt confident enough to recommence mining operations after a long period of very reduced activity caused, in the main, by market problems resulting from the deceitful practices referred to above.
Our new mine at Lava Plains in North Queensland is producing a very fine lighter blue material and we are able to cut a portion of this with no heat treatment required at all - with very pleasing results. Whilst the average size of the stone is still quite small and cut stones over one carat are not common, the colour is excellent.
We are recommencing our Central Queensland mining in an area which we hope will produce good greens and parti-colours to meet the rapidly expanding market for this material.
The recommencement of mining though also has a downside - We had fuel delivered this week and paid $ 1.24 per litre, delivered in bulk tankers! We are also forced to rely on pumping of bore water for our wash- plants as the wet season has failed yet again, and most of inland Queensland is again heading into drought.
This huge increase in our costs has forced us to review our pricing and we will be revising our price lists when we have a better fix on the total effect of the increases imposed on us. We anticipate having this done by the end of April, with the increases to take effect from 1 June 2005.
At present, the only other large miner actually operating in Australia is John Wilson at Inverell in New South Wales, and we can recommend him as a good and responsible operator if you need Inverell material. We understand that Daryl Mosley will soon recommence his operations here in Central Queensland , and he also is a reliable and responsible miner.
The only other larger operation here is that of Australis Mining, who are known locally as "The Greeks". They achieved some notoriety recently and attracted much publicity during the recent float of their new company - but mostly for all the wrong reasons! They have not done much mining for several years and we are told that most of "their" material actually was bought in from other miners. They are in the process of establishing a 'new' plant on one of the local grazing properties, but we do not know whether they have even established a resource yet. We have little knowledge of their activities and, as we are happy for it to stay that way, we offer no comments on their abilities.
Now that the weather is beginning to cool down, it is the time of year when the Gemfields experiences the annual influx of southern part-time hand miners, and the area will soon be filled with the sound of hammering jack-picks, rattling small trommels and clanking 'up-and-overs' as a thousand small miners get their plants sorted out and producing again.
Whilst the amount of sapphire that these hand miners individually produce is small, collectively they are extremely important to the Gemfields and our communities - and they are often the source of the largest and most beautiful and remarkable sapphires.
All in all, despite the high fuel costs and the depressing drought, we are more optimistic about the future than we have been for many years - both for the domestic market and for the overseas supply.
We were well and truly put in our place during a meeting in Sydney two weeks ago with suppliers to USA interests. After they explained the new requirements for proving authenticity for sales into the USA, we asked whether the volume was sufficient to warrant the effort. We were told that the requirements of this one distributor was 12 million carats of cut sapphire per year - 2.4 tons!!!
That made us realise what a small cog in the wheel we really are.
We are happy to make this "Report" available to anyone who would like to receive it, so please let us know if any other industry members you know would like to be added to the list. You can contact us on our private e-mail:
Remember, this is the Gospel according to Jim and Jenny, and the feelings expressed are our own - and many may disagree with some of our statements. However, if we and the many other players in the Australian gemstone and jewellery industry at all levels are going to survive, we all need to become active and make sure our industry is run for the benefit of the honest and responsible players and not for the deceitful "rip-off merchants".
Jim and Jenny Elliot. Coolamon Mining Pty. Ltd.
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