Quoted From The News (You Mag Page 4) VOLUME 16, NO:36, September 6, 2005.

"Pakistan is quoted in the gemstone text books to be home to the finest kinds of precious and semi-precious stones. It was with great pride that I told people my Kashmiri descent on discovering the most expensive blue sapphires in the world are known as "Kashmiri" sapphires. It was fascinating to have poeple talk about the scientists who played Indiana Jones through the mountains and caves of Pakistan. When someone wants the best peridot money can buy, they ask for a Pakistani peridot. In a subtle way, gemology helped my appreciate how precious is the land we call home".
"While studying the jewelry industry Pakistan was constantly quoted as a country sitting on the finest gemstones in the World."

good find, and the thing is even if we arent expliting it much now, the gems dont og newhere so it remains a reserve, pink topaz, i do believe it is found only and only in Paksitan, Alhamdulilah

Al lulu wal marjan fabiayye alai Rabbiku Ma tukazzeban

Then which of your Lord's Favours shall you deny

black marble is also a rare thing.

kashmiri rubees and kashmiri aquamarines are also good gemstones.

their is a big industry of gemstones in pakistan. you can buy stones worth hundreds of pounds in UK for a couple of thousand rupees in pakistan..

i got a ruby i think its kashmiri...no impurity at all. what so evver. its worth about 8000rs there and 800+£ here.

the yahudis run this trade and they would rather buy from their own. but i think pakistanis should add gemstones from pakistan to their jewlery instead of glas beads and rubber gluy paint thingi to add colour.

imagine a necles in pakistani design with one hell of a runy in the centre and lot of litle ones around it?
or in dresses we can sel to goray shadi..white dress with red rubys (like you have motis on them)? the goray will pay big bucks for these things.

but our stupid jahil wemon in UK buy gold as a status symbol. stupid reali. one ruby stone on a thin plastic see through wire would be more expenive then arms full of gold and also more stylish.

damn this sona status symbol thingi.

our government is alive to this. this sector is one of the most promising. expect a lot of government interest over the next few years.



Govt to encourage jewellery sector


ISLAMABAD, Sep 6: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Tuesday said the government was encouraging the gems and jewellery industry, as it had a huge potential of providing employment and increasing growth.

Following a presentation made to him on gems and jewellery by the ministry of industries at the Prime Minister’s House, he said the USAID and Smeda were working together to help this industry find its true potential and added the government was extending all assistance to them.

Mr Aziz said the industry had a great potential and could be leveraged to utilize creative energies and skills of the people. He says Pakistan has a rich heritage which spans the ancient Gandhara culture and the Mughal period.

“We can benefit from our rich past and develop new designs and carve a niche for ourselves in the international market,” the prime minister said.

He pointed out that Pakistan had skilled craftsmen but there was a need to train and utilize their creative abilities by adopting best practices.

The prime minister referred to the gems and jewellery fair being held in Bangkok, Thailand, from Sept 14-19 where representatives from Pakistan’s private sector were also participating in it.—APP

-Dawn

My family is into this business and we've made extra efforts to improve the image of Pakistani gemstones.

We have lots of gemstones in rough form. What we need is gem cutting factories that could cut these stones into finest quality and earn forex for the country. Also, there are lots of laws and export procedures that need to be improved.

Stones that Pakistan is blessed with.

Peridot (Kohistan), Emerald (Swat), Sapphire (Kashmir), Kunzite, Tourmaline.

Mothsmoke in the early days of Gen. Musharaff .. i thought they had acquired the services of overseas professionals to come to Pakistan and teach us ..

Whatever happened to that !

We do have The World's best and most precious Gemstones, but Why that sector is not working as it should... the answer is simple. Corruption!!
A friend of mine, who had been to some Northern areas, said that the areas are so much rich with gemstones, that the locals would just walk around with you and pick up some rubies or saphires like pebbles!
But where corruption kicks in... There have been a number of companies from time to time, who acquired contracts from the Government to establish gemstone businesses there. But what happened, after around 2-3 years, they claimed bankcruptsy and ran away-- with ofcourse all the looted gems.

I hope now, with the present govt, we can make some progress

must7, they have foreign consulting firms and chambers advising them. Mr. Shaukat Aziz had mentioned about developing the gems and jewelry sector. There is alot to learn from Thailand and India. I think Thailand gems industry exports about $15 bn (more than the total exports of Pakistan).

There is going to be a jewelry fair here in Thailand in a week, and Shaukat Aziz had stressed private sector participation. A welcome step!

Pakistan can learn alot from India in this sector as well.

First step is to get investors setup stone cutting factories. There is no point exporting raw materials (most of it ends up in India sadly). Get people to teach them the art of cutting stones, and setup more factories. Once we export finished material its value already increases by atleast 10x.

There is more to corruption in gemstone industry in NWFP and Northern Areas. The place where gemstones are extracted are owned by tribals. And you know the tribals. How would they let the government or any external investor extract stones from their area. They do have a point. Solution is simple. If there are decent factories, these tribals will be compelled to sell to them. They wouldnt have to export it. Not to mention the gross under-invoicing that takes place.

There were some companies who have bought rights to extract gemstones from a particular area, but some of them are fraud. They wouldnt pay the lease for the area. I know some people personally who are doing that kind of crap. Once the bribed officials are forced to resign things would improve.

On a side note, most of the places from where stones are extracted, are inaccessible for 9 months in a year, due to lack of infrastructure. With better equipment and GIS tech, the government could help the tribals yield better stones with less wastage (they use dynamites as of now).

My company's site. http://www.fmgems.com

Moth ..

My company's site. http://www.fmgems.com


Wow .. great man .. I remember in late 80's when I had visited Bangkok I had seen several Pakistani's dealing in uncut jewels .. of course I did not know about the details !

Anyways .. it is nice to know that you have your business.

Thanks mate.

Yes, Pakistanis predominantly steal deal in raw form of precious stones. Although they arent selling their goods for throwaway prices.

Germans, come annually to buy raw goods from Pakistan for their factories.

chitral area jewlery

http://www.peshawar1.com/htmls/gems.html

A good site to see the different stones.

Or you could browse through my site and get a brief idea.

These stones dont come cheap. For precious stones (emerald, ruby, sapphire) in rough form, they would cost in the range of $1/g to $1000/g.

As for semi precious stones (peridot, tourmaline, topaz ..) in rough form, they would cost a bit cheaper. Maybe about $0.20/g to $300/g.

In cut form just multiply the price by 10. Rule of thumb.

We need stone cutting factories, BIG TIME.

we already have them. some with lasers.

Have gemstone cutting factories? Maybe marble, but surely not gemstones. Anyways, we dont need lasers to cut gemstones. They are far too precious for that. We still use manpower for that.

lol.

we do full stop.

i doent know what world your from but Lasers give a more sharper edge then machined stones. (laser = ion beams)

Bhai saab.

Marbles are not classified as gemstones.

Plus, you would need to be a rich man to cut stones with lasers. Maybe an aid of a laser beam could be taken, but there is no need for it. Its an overkill.

A factory with skilled manpower can do the job just fine.

There are some gemstone cutting factories being established, but on a very small scale. Had heard of a kunzite cutting factory that was setup by some guy. Kunzite is a very soft stone, which cannot be cut by laser. Cracks start appearing inside the stone (due to the heat) thus making it worthless. Need oil with a presribed temperature in which it could be cut. Good development nevertheless.

no i meant other harder stones rubys etc.

http://www.norsam.com/

thats teh kind of sharpnes where talking about here.
i have a nother nice example of the difrence in my physics book but scanner isnt plugged in but if you want i can post.

i know for a fact there are cutting factorys in PAK i got a aquamarine sample from one to market in UK. (ended up keping it to my self lol no one wanted to deal all had suppliers selling ready amde jewlry)

pakistan is not a new player in this industry
http://www.emgemologist.com/Kashmir_Sapphi...r_sapphire.html

http://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?Search...esearch2=Search

only a a fraction of the suppliers are listred on alibaba.

this one cought my eye
Detailed Selling Lead Description
We have stock of eye clean single piece of ruby wt 60carat or 12gram.

Price:100,000$

Price is negotiable.

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Contact Information
Company Name: J&F Gemstone Supplier
Contact Person: Mr Syed Faizyab Ahmed
Talk to me now Inquire Now
Address: A- 706 Block H N.Nz, Karachi , Sind, Pakistan
Zip: 5674747
Telephone: 0092 333 3393717
Fax: 91 021 N/A
Mobile Phone: 0092-333-3393717


these rubys are from a difrent guy note they are cut not raw like you sugest.

my personal collection. right to left.
ruby, onyx, glass..., aquamarine.

all stones from pakistan. the onyx might have been from UAE not sure.

The rubies in the picture dont exceed 3-4 carats. Anyways, there are a few Pakistanis who come to Thailand to purchase these type of stones and put them in their jewelry. The point I am trying to make is that the Gemstone cutting industry in Pakistan is still in its infancy stage!

My family is in this business for about 2 decades. We usually purchase gemstones (mostly kohistan peridot, swat emerald and tourmaline) from Pakistan. Mostly we sort it and sell to the suppliers in rough form. Sometimes we cut it ourselves.

http://www.fmgems.com/products.html (These are the stuffs we deal in mostly)

There are rubies and emeralds which are coming from Central Asia that end up in Pakistan. They are being sold for a very good price. I guess the mines have just been discovered hence the cream of the stones are coming out. A 20 carat ruby rough stone with a nice color and clarity can easily cost in excess of $100,000. There are some stones that exceed $1m (single stone).


The Yahudis run the diamond trade. Not the color gemstones trade in general. The color stone market is huge and fortunately, nobody controls this market.

good to hear that abt the yahudis.
kashmiri saphires are world renouned and famouse. kashmiri ruby is also very famouse, and where discovered over hundred years ago. aquamarine is also in abondont supply in kashmir. i think what you mean by infancy stage is mass producing factorys. we have some people cutting them themselves like jewlers and lots of little jewlery shops employing these guys. they cut from glass (or is that moulded and polished) to aquamarine, to anything. we have a LOT of these guys in pakistan. we also have a few dozen factorys and one or two have latest gadgets to give top notch cut.

Yes, there are people doing the gemstone cutting at local level. Very few make use of the latest gadgets. Maybe there are some, but quite few and far between. Lots of room for improvement.

Kashmiri sapphires are world reknowned.
Pakistani peridot too.
Swat Emerald are knowned for their color.
Aquamarine as well.

moth being in the industry. what is you out look for say 10 years? how easy is it to sell the stuff. does it fly of the shelfs or you have to wait a set period? and what about coupling with local jewlery designers and getting persian/indus style jewlery into the western market?

First of all, there is a Bangkok Jewelry Trade Fair going on these days, in which for the first time, the Pakistani chamber of commerce has participated. There is a nice Pakistani pavilion with a few jewelry stalls. Good move!

Yahya, gems industry is very unique. If you have quality goods, its going to sell. Forget demand/supply, depression etc etc. The stuff would sell. Finding quality goods is a hard job. There are many mines in Pakistan that are still unexplored (also Central Asia, and Xinjiang province of China). I am sure in a few years time more mines will be explored and there would be gem pieces coming out that would certainly help us excel in this industry. In most cases, the first stones coming out of the mines are the cream.

Our jewelry industry as for now is mostly into carving gold. There is a huge market for it. But I think we've been basing too much on that. Gold jewelry with diamonds and other color stones embedded is a bigger market and we need to explore in that field too. Also needless to say, gem stones cutting/polishing factories and general gemstones trading should be encouraged.

In 10 years, coupled with more mines and gem stone cutting factories we can only move forward. There are many more mines being discovered in China/Central Asia/Afghanistan, and fortunately for us many stones end up in Pakistan. Afghanistan has one of the best Emeralds in Panjsher. Also CBR needs to check gross under invoicing that takes place when goods are exported.

PS. The Northern Alliance control their trade and finance their war from its sales. Mr. Rabbani ex President of Afghansitan is a major trader of Panjsher Emeralds.