• Field trip to Western Himalayan mountains successfully started

• Gubelin Gem Lab launches a series of articles on origin determination in ‘Jewellery News Asia’

• New wording used for Paraiba tourmalines on Gubelin reports

• Diamond expert Dr. Eric Erel joins Gubelin Gem Lab

Field trip to Western Himalayan mountains successfully started
The Gubelin Gem Lab is sponsoring an extensive field trip to mining areas in the Western Himalayan mountains, visiting a large number of ruby, sapphire and emerald mines. During the first weeks, our partner visited emerald mines in Afghanistan and Pakistan, including the areas of Panjshir and Swat. The aim is to study the geology of these mines and to collect authentic samples for the Gubelin reference collection directly at the source. The knowledge gained on this field trip further expands the expertise of the Gubelin Gem Lab in the field of origin determination (see the impressive photos under the ‘Adventures’ section on our website).

Gubelin Gem Lab launches a series of articles on origin determination in ‘Jewellery News Asia’
The July issue of ‘Jewellery News Asia’ features an article authored by the Gubelin Gem Lab on the technical aspects of origin determination. This is the beginning of a series of articles shedding light on the most demanding area of gemmology, the determination of the geographic origin of gemstones. The Gubelin Gem Lab intends to explain the methods of origin determination, the challenges and solutions, helping the trade and the final consumers to better understand the determination of the country of origin.

New wording used for Paraiba tourmalines on Gubelin reports
The Gubelin Gem Lab recently introduced new wording on its reports for the so-called ‘Paraiba’ tourmalines. The blue, bluish-green to greenish-blue or green elbaite tourmalines containing copper- and manganese are now uniformly called ‘Paraiba’, regardless of their country of origin. However, in order to distinguish between the original Brazilian sources and more recent discoveries (currently Mozambique or Nigeria) the origin of these stones is also disclosed on the report.

Diamond expert Dr. Eric Erel joins Gubelin Gem Lab
The Gubelin Gem Lab is further expanding its team of gemmologists. We welcome Dr. Eric Erel, a specialist in the identification and grading of diamonds, the determination of the origin of colour in diamonds as well as HPHT treatment. Eric wrote his M.Sc. and Ph.D. thesis in physical chemistry at the University of Metz in France, where he excelled in several analytical techniques such as IR and Raman spectroscopy, UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometry, X-ray fluorescence, mass spectrometry and various laser applications. For the last two years, he worked at the EGL in Vancouver.

 
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