"Ilakaka, In the Making"

Dear all,
I'm happy to invite you to discover another new field video on my YouTube Channel:  In this short video you will discover what we saw on our recent visit to the Ilakaka sapphire producing area in southern Madagascar in May 2018. The main objective for that field expedition was to collect reference samples for the "Bahrain Institute for Pearls & gemstones (DANAT)". During that expedition we visited two new sapphire producing areas near Ilakaka town where gem rushes were ongoing:
- First at Belamoty, on the extrem south of the deposit,
- Then at Ambarnakuhy, few kilometers north of the road linking Ilakaka and Sakaraha.
In both places we found out that several thousands of unlicensed miners had moved there to work and get sapphires. If the mining activity around Ilakaka has reduced compared to the period in the early 2000's still several tens of thousands of people are working different areas in this vast region that will probably continue to produce sapphire for many many years.

Many thanks for this video to Anthony Methez (from Nomads Drone) and Philippe Brunot, who were my cameramen on that field expedition and to all the people we met in Madagascar for their welcome and support and more particularly to Marc Noverraz from Colorline Madagascar  and to Nirina Rakotosaona.

Enjoy