TravelStream™ news feed for member uly4 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/uly4 en-us Copyright ©2010 TravelPod.com Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:28:40 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/uly4/2/1252944995/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/uly4/2/1252944995/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/uly4/2/1252944995/tpod.html Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:28:40 -0400 BRAZIL GEO MINE TOUR: "GEMSTORM 2009"

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Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Day 12

Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
September 01, 2009 08:30 p.m. ( local time )

Day 12 (September 01– Tuesday) : Watching artists at the "casa".

Will follow...

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Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Day 9

Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
August 29, 2009 08:30 p.m. ( local time )

Day 8 (August 29– Saturday) : Visiting Amsterdan Sawer Museum and the Sugar Loaf.

Will follow...

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Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Day 10

Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
August 30, 2009 08:30 p.m. ( local time )

Day 10 (August 30– Sunday) : Taking a tour around Rio...

Will follow...

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Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Day 11

Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
August 31, 2009 08:30 p.m. ( local time )

Day 11 (August 31– Monday) : Getting to know Copacabana Beach.

Will follow...

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Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Day 8

Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
August 28, 2009 08:30 p.m. ( local time )

Day 8 (August 28– Friday) : Drove to Santa Teresa neighborhood.

Will follow...

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Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Day 8

Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
August 28, 2009 08:30 p.m. ( local time )

Day 8 (August 28– Friday) : Arrive at the Airport for a farewell.

We arrived at the Galeão International Airport at 4:00 p.m. The Zealey couple would stay at the hotel on the upper floor inside the airport, being the elevator right across where we stopped.

After all the handshakes and hugs the Zealey couple went by and Ani Montgomery and I waited for our lift. One of my suppliers in Rio sent a car to pick us up, as I was going to scort Ani in Rio de Janeiro for 4 days.

Dr. Toni e José Jaime (JJ) were to return to Ouro Preto in the van driven by Mr. Adão.

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Muriaé, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Day 7

Muriaé, MG, Brazil
August 27, 2009 08:30 p.m. ( local time )

Day 7 (August 27– Thursday) : Drive through the mountains towards Rio de Janeiro

Due to the long trip we were really tired when getting to the hotel in the evening, only lessened by the pleasure of have been at the day care Meimei and have made some kids happy.

After showering we went to restaurant of the hotel on the ground floor, and this decision was fortunate. Despite all the good food we had before on all the restaurants we were, this one was definitely one of the best, not to say about the excellent Chilean wine we had.

Other than that, my personal pleasure was to have the visit of mother in law, which lives only 80 km far from Muriaé. I phoned her to say only hi, and she popped up few minutes later. The feast was then complete.




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Governador Valadares, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Day 5

Governador Valadares, MG, Brazil
August 25, 2009 08:30 p.m. ( local time )

Day 5 (August 25– Tuesday) : Drive to Teófilo Otoni and en route visit dealers and producers still in Governador Valadares.

Our schedule today shows visits to warehouses and producers. Hard to decide where to go next though, as there are tens of huge warehouses in Governador Valadares. Many of them display pieces museums don't have. We decided to stick with our friends' warehouses and visit one carver producer.

First we went to Robert's warehouse, which I've never been before actually. His warehouse is different than any other, as all his inventory is stocked inside his house. I was a little sceptical at first, but what a surprise! Robert has lots of small and high value specimens our guests and myself were very impressed. From aquamarines, rubelites, crystal, alexandrite, tourmaline, just to name a few. Moreover, the big stuff is kept outside in the backyard, and what a backyard. It is in a slope running down to Sweet River shoulder. Many, but many amazing specimens.

After we went to Leandro's carving factory. Over there we learned all the processes of cutting and carving birds, animals, skulls, etc. There is video enclosed showing parts of it.

Next door to Leandro's is Julio's warehouse and we just walked to there. Even though he is moving, transfering stock to Soledade, in the South of Brazil, there were still many interesting for us to admire, and I also acquired some specimens: couldn't resist.

Time to go, to hit the road towards Teófilo Otoni.



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Governador Valadares, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Day 4

Governador Valadares, MG, Brazil
August 24, 2009 08:30 p.m. ( local time )

Day 4 (August 24– Monday) : Drive through Galileia and close to Conselheiro Pena to visit several mines.

Another spectacular day. What made it even more wonderful is the surprise. Our tour, due to its own nature has the surprise, the unexpected to astonish us all. The point is that the mining activity is very dynamic and mines pop up everywhere and all the time, and with the same speed other mines shut down. Some mines are there for many years, but they can be boring or be deactivated and we want to see what is hot, actual. In the meantime I have many strong contacts down there, and each contact (becoming a local guide) would take us to different spots.

Our plan for our stay in Governador Valadares was that light, as we had had many mining activities already. We planned to go to a close mine where most of similar tours take their guests and then come back to see dealers in the afternoon of the same day. But that didn't happen. Our friends and guides knowing my nature for presenting the "real Mccoy", and also knowing that the mine we intended to go had been temporarily deactivated, invited us for a little longer trip, and the adventure began...

We went first to a tourmaline mine of Pomarolli's family almost at the boarder of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo. We climbing a mountain of 300m high, which was a good exercising. Well, the videos and pictures will explain better all the fun and experience we had inside the tunnel mine on top of the mountain.

After that visit we stopped by in a nearby villagge for visiting a Brazilianite mine, but the miner was at home at that time. We than headed to his house to see his last findings. We then witnessed a real negotiation between the miner and Roberto - one of our local guide - that is a mineral distributor in Governador Valadares. And this is other beauty of our tours: you can see all levels of gem negotiations: between miners and distributors, between distributors and wholesalers, wholesalers and retailers and to the end consumers...

Next we headed to the famous "Frog Mine". The mines in that area are similar to the emerald at Capoeirana, i.e. they have a deep vertical shaft going down and a miriade of tunnels interlacing underground. Because we tired we didn't go inside any of the mines and just had a tour around. We talk to miners around that showed us their latest findings, etc. Next we went to the ranch of Nelson the showed us a breathtaking extraordinary collection of quartz crystal formations. Again we could witness the negotiation between Nelson and my friend local guide and gemstone distributor Julio Bortoluzzi.

Going back to Governador Valadares there was a suggestion to stop another mine only in order to pay a visit to an older miner and international gem dealer that is now only a humble miner. He is a personal friend of our friend Dr. Toni and acquaintance of our local guides. Hiro, the japanese, is currently in very delicate financial situation (as he was a millionaire not long ago as a diamond dealer and miner owner), and now is digging himself a tourmaline mine. That was impressive to see. More impressive was to see the happiness of having our visit and everybody could notice the sparkle in his eyes when saying about the possibility of find gems and becoming rich again soon...

Back to the hotel in Governador Valadares (pictures enclosed) ... What an amazing another day...



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Rodrigo Silva, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Day 1

Rodrigo Silva (District of Ouro Preto), MG, Brazil
August 21, 2009 08:27 a.m. ( local time )

Day 1 (August 21– Friday) : Drive to Rodrigo Silva and visit Imperial Topaz Capão open pit Mine.

As we arrived we were very gently received by the staff at the mine. After greetings we were invited to watch a corporate video containing the company information and technical stuff about mining processes and the nature and history of imperial topaz.

That's done and after having fresh drinking water and a Brazilian coffee shot, we were taken to the pit. We could watch and learn how the topaz is formed and all the layers geologically formations in an professional and knowledgeably explained from Dr. Antonio Liccardo. We also learn about all the equipments used, digging, transporting, washing, straining and hand selecting the topaz crystals

When going down the mine pit we were very fortunate because not only seeing many topaz being taken out of the ground, but one of the biggest in the mine's history. Siiimmpplllyyyy Aaammmaazziiinnnnggg!!!!!!! (picture will be posted soon).

It's really impossible to describe all the frisson, energy and beauty we experienced. Hope to have you there next time...

Overnight in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil, at the Bed & Breakfast Sinhá Olimpia.

1823 Ouro Prêto becomes capital of Minas Gerais.
1876 School of Mines established at Ouro Prêto.
1897 Belo Horizonte becomes new capital.

Imperial Topaz

Geology Hydrothermal lodes contain quartz, hematite, magnetite, and accessory rutile, pyrite, and euclase. The enclosing rock was once schist, but it altered to a lateritic clay. This process is pretty fast in tropic climates, but despite its aggressiveness it does not harm the resistant gemstones.

Topaz is mostly yellow, but it varies very much and actually it appears in many colours. The topaz mined here is the so called Imperial Topaz, which is reddish, sometimes also called peach. This area, about 20 square miles around Ouro Preto, are the only relevant source of various coloured topazes in the world.

Mine Description

Capão Mine (Big Lid Mine) is the largest mine for imperial topaz in the world. It is an open cast mine, where weathered topaz-quartz-calcite veins are mined. The gravel is transported by a dredge bucket to the hydraulic washing station. The clay is removed with huge water cannons
and the rocks in the material transported to sorting a belt, where the gems are sorted out by workers. The result of processing many tons (4,500 m3) of clay are a few dozen topaz crystals per day (2 m3 of rough for 1ct of gem).

Nevertheless this mine is environment friendly as it does not use any chemical substances in the whole process and all native vegetal covering and trees are replaced to reconstitute land's original state.
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