Spodumene, tourmaline, and morganite were recently recovered as well-formed crystals and gem rough from a pegmatite mine at Tsarafara, near Mount Ibity in the Sahatany Valley of central Madagascar. The gems came from two pockets that were found in September 2006. The mine has been worked by local miners, using hand methods, in shafts reaching up to 20 m deep. This contributor visited the mine three times in October 2006 to document the production. Tsarafara is also known as Ankadilava or Ambalaroy in the gemological literature.

The spodumene ranged from colorless to pale green (e.g., figure 1), pale blue, and pink (rarely, bicolored blue-pink). At least 150 kg were produced, in translucent to eye-clean crystals up to 50 cm long. The largest crystal reportedly measured about 80 cm long. Most of the spodumene was exported as mineral specimens for collectors and as rough for Asian lapidaries; only a few cut stones have been seen in Madagascar.

Hundreds of tourmaline crystals were produced, commonly with a black “skin” and concentric internal layers of violet pink, dark green, grayish green to bluish green, brownish yellow, and/or colorless. Although some of the tourmaline has been faceted into multicolored gems (grayish green, dark green, and violet) weighing up to 30 ct, a significant amount of the material has been cut into attractive slices that typically measure 1–8 cm in diameter (e.g., figure 2). Most of the rough, which was of low quality and recovered in small sizes, was sold to African traders for the Asian market to make carvings and beads.