Richland Resources’ Gavin Pearce and TanzaniteOne sightholders Colorjewels and AG Color are confident that demand for tanzanite, the purple-blue gemstone that has captured the fascination of jewellers and aficionados worldwide, will continue to gain momentum in 2012.

Ashish Dangayach of Colorjewels is confident that China will be the next big market for tanzanite.

"We are looking at a brand-new market for tanzanite, which is exciting as it is challenging. Tanzanite’s beauty and rarity have made it one of the top two best-selling coloured gems in the US for many years, and when combined with China’s demand for luxury goods, we are looking at a potentially huge market for this gem," Dangayach said.

AG Color’s Hemant Phophaliya said the future is looking extremely promising for tanzanite, particularly in emerging markets.

"We are doing our very best to establish this gem in the Chinese market as a mainstream gemstone through consumer education," said Phophaliya, whose company supplies fine-quality tanzanite in singles, pairs, suites and fancy cuts. "It is a challenging task, but the initial response to our efforts so far has been encouraging."

 

According to Pearce, general manager for group sales and marketing of TanzaniteOne Mining Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of gemstone producer and developer Richland Resources, the year 2011 could be summarised as the year that people "discovered" tanzanite, both in new and existing markets. "We are not only talking about China, but Southeast Asia and Japan as well," he said.