Ametrine from Bolivia documentary of Patrick Voillot

long ago in a Forgotten region where the largest forest in the world draws its strength from the red waters of a lake an Indian sorcerer imprisoned the violet cloak of dawn pierced with the golden ray of Sun into a crystal then he hid the precious gem in the depths of the earth the prophecy says that only the love of a young Indian woman could help find this fascinating coloured crystal named ametrine the place of its discovery bears her name forever an aji [Music] like my pony we should think about models for Christmas this year and there's something interesting I've seen it's like the Atomium in Brussels you know that's that big building with the balls and the bars between the different balls it might be an interesting idea for a ring Laurens bomber Plus Von Doom jeweler in Paris is constantly in search of precious stones in rare and unusual colors to enrich his new creations he could perhaps look at stones that would be interesting which are different somewhat rare perhaps with two colors in them the infinity of colors of precious stones allows him to find fashionable colors for his new collection [Music] would go really well with this would be to find an ametrine from Bolivia [Music] over eight million people inhabit Bolivia which is the highest Republic in Latin America peaking at over 6,500 meters from the mountains of the Andes down to the vast Amazon forests it has many civilizations like the Tiahuanaco on the shores of Lake Titicaca and the descendants of the Sun God the Incas in the first part of the sixteenth century Spaniards took possession of the land and wealth of the Indians with the discovery of silver mines and potosi Spain supported the extravagance of their monarchy for nearly two centuries the church preached and tried to convert all the natives while plundering their wealth metals and precious stones arrived in large quantities to be transformed into jewels and objects of worship while the Indian and African slaves died by the thousands down in the mines these poor men struck down by the altitude and hard labor clung to the only God that remained in the bowels of the earth Lucifer [Music] [Applause] today during the carnival of Aurora the Bolivians dance for the demons of the diabla deaths [Music] so they said well you think that do you know ametrine yes you're asking me gringo I know what you're looking for look what I'm going to show you it's ametrine this Marvel is for this people die people kill themselves I know where it can be found it is found at the border of Brazil and Bolivia for that you have to go from Aurora which is here to Santa Cruz penetrate into the Amazon to puerto suarez from there you cross by boat and there 10 years ago under the military government this stone was mined illegally I know all that very well that's why I'm telling you about it when you're gonna get there you'll be in love and for sure it'll please you I'm sure of it at present we find ametrine and only one mine in the world in Bolivia this for this reason that the people of this country proudly call it Bolivia Nita in the 17th century a Spanish conquistadores said to have presented some samples of ametrine to his monarch received as a dowry when he married princess of the native tribe of IR eros named anahi yo na he mine is located in an area flooded by the Paraguay River infested with crocodiles and piranhas called Chacko it occupies eastern Bolivia 30 kilometres from Brazil in the province of Santa Cruz it is characterized by lush tropical vegetation and dotted with small mountains and swamps getting to the mine is very difficult what is your name my name is Alejandro Toya's you're the boss yes I'm the owner of the boat how does one get to the anahi mine from purchase we're from Puerto quita our starting point it takes 18 hours to arrive at the anahi mine sailing day and night the mine is in the midst of an OLE in the hills there in the hills there is the mineral where ore is extracted and semi-precious stones formerly there was no traffic of stones yes in the 70s there was a lot a lot of traffic of stones people came from Paraguay Brazil Bolivia they came the Brazilians came on foot they crossed the hills to go there nobody watched the mines so they could take whatever they wanted sure they couldn't get much because they were on foot they carried it on their backs 50 to 60 kilos no more because they had to carry it on their backs for 4 to 5 days of walking she went assassin tequila ooh no podía car gar ma no mutiny Agana cuatro de Cinco de happy a simple tequila 50 kilos of gems yes on their backs they went on foot from the mine to the Paraguay River and from there they came down the river by boat to Caramba it was in the 70s there were a lot of dead people are fighting each other to steal the stones now the mine has an owner it's a private company with workers who work there everything everything became legal in Hindi trabajando yeah yeah a little note that console electric one ametrine stones exploited illegally for years by the army and by adventurer were sent to the Brazilian market to be cut and sold it was long thought this wonderful yellow and purple gem had needed help from men to give birth to these two colors the suspicions arose from the fact that Brazilian sellers were unable to give the source of the ametrine today we know that I'm a trained is a natural stone that has not undergone any treatment and it comes from Bolivia I would love to one day find a gem to sell to support my family [Music] after one day and one night of sailing the boat approaches its goal the Mandira lake it is only accessible during the rainy season the rest of the time the weather level goes down so suddenly that the final destination cannot be reached by both [Music] like Patrick we're in the Mandira Lagoon we'll reach the shores seeing ahi mine then we will need to take a truck to go to the mine I hope that at Port there will be stones to be transported to puerto suarez the transport done by ship and not by truck in the truck no there's no roads there are only trails trucks cannot pass they break down there's no tradition of land transport everything is done by water normally who lives here there's nobody here here are their only crocodiles various fish and a lot of mosquitoes that's what it is a lot of mosquitoes in the Pantanal on Monday orale [Music] having arrived at the lagoon there remains a half-day hunt in the jungle to reach the mine today only persons authorized by the owner can reach it [Music] hello Patrick how are you welcome to the mine I'm the director of the mine we'll go to an ahi where it's located thirty kilometres of tracks have been dug in a dense rainforest it must be cleared continuously under extremely difficult conditions the humid climate favored eise's the yellow fever outbreaks and the proliferation of mosquitoes that carry malaria this track is a necessary link for the transport of precious stones from trucks to the river it is the only path in this remote region of the world [Music] forward forward this time of year it's very difficult to access the mine because it rains a lot and everything's filled with mud the ruts are deep tractor tracks with a van it's very hard to move but we'll get there [Music] the organized activity of the mine actually started in the 90s long before the natives came here to fetch water it was they who first discovered the stone unearthed by the roots of trees or in natural caves that these nomadic Indians occupied to protect themselves from animals then they exchange them with a few adventures against food today the period of illegal exploitation is over mining is well-organized by professionals the surface layer is depleted Wells and tunnels were dug into the rock along the veins the miners descended several hundred feet underground into the galleries supported to find the precious gem each meter of descent is accompanied by an increase in heat and what is called the geothermal gradient thus in the deepest parts of the mine the temperature is unbearable mining is a tradition in Bolivia for centuries men have experienced this hard work they have developed a technique and great knowledge in the exploitation of the subsoil here it's good we have good material good ametrine I think we'll find the best yet if we go deeper it will take a lot of perforation to take all of this out because behind it there is even more the crystals of ametrine or Bolivian eita are coated with a red clay which comes from the decomposition of the rock where they were formed it is fairly easy to remove with a crowbar what do you think yes yes it's very good really nice now yeah it's the ametrine best kind right yes the best quality we must continue this is a good thing done me go yes it is beautiful look you could give it to your wife Don Miguel it's a beautiful stone yes but it needs to be cleaned you could buy it it takes a lot of work to be able to buy it you must work hard to make enough don't you think it's also good it's beautiful it comes from the same place oh yes good as 2 tones look yeah in every community media this is one of the best i'ma trains we've ever seen Don Miguel we need to continue gems detach from the walls are collected by the miners and stored in bags each of them weighs about 40 pounds and is to be added to the or already extracted from the mine the amateur informed millions of years ago from the depths of the earth liquids migrated to the surface cutting a path through the porous rocks during their ascent they became concentrated in silica on the surface cold water runoff entered the ground and was concentrated in manganese and iron the ascending hot liquids were blocked by impermeable barriers the hydrostatic pressure grows to the point where this obstacle explodes suddenly releasing the hot liquids rich in silica brought into contact with the cold water runoff the concentration of silica precipitated the ametrine iron gave the yellow and manganese the purple color the coca is a little boost for us in our work we work we dig here in the mind it's a habit that we have from our elders it's a mining tradition they've always taken toka they were already using coca it gives courage energy prevents us from being hungry centers even much that must animal energy via a mental Nutella Nutella Saigon as they said about this you can't open our mouths so that's what coca is it's a pick-me-up and we're exhausted we put it in our mouths yeah what is the importance of the devil for miners I mean the mine we've always taken it as a we call it a god we're proud to work in the mine more than if we were in town and that's why there's a belief the elders also said that there are Devils that arise in the galleries for this reason it's just their folklore all of our devotion we give it to the mind it gives us everything and it takes everything back I started watchin Adela and Palamon interlaminar con esto cerca de Porres todos respect ahmo's cuando intimacy Anna before work the miners make offerings to the devil from whom they expect protection he is considered here as the master of the underground their work environment is so like hell that they believe the stones torn from the bowels of the earth belonged to him to allay this character that they call tio the uncle they offer him coca leaves alcohol and cigarettes this ritual allows them to endure their difficult lives and often ends in drunkenness once the comforting break is over the miners collect the bags filled with ametrine and leave the mine the bags are loaded onto a vehicle and taken under the custody of a team of men to a protected area where they will be monitored and weighed sterile or from the mine that is to say not containing special stones is discharged outside in the dumps [Applause] [Music] the storage area surrounded by barbed wire is monitored day and night by security guards each bag is weighed and marked by the site manager when technically I am the technical director of the company the mine my mission is to plan all the tasks both inside and outside the mine the administrative part the technical part and the logistics we arrived here but as adventures but we knew that the mine has been discovered long ago Huerta mucho my scientists probably by the IR arrows who had settled here up until the last 30 years they lived in the mountains gathering food and traveling throughout the region first they protested us because the company's runway falls in the middle of Aboriginal territory and they asked us not to use this runway but they needed food and clothing and especially food so we gave that to them much much comida BBS finally we reached an agreement with them acquired of Cornelius yeah we supported them so that they could settle as farmers become landowners and established themselves as breeders etc proprietary realities in jindo Ghana this is the path chosen by the company and we've had very good relations we have about 100 workers half of them work in the mine and the other half on the surface is to pay by the task we pay the workers when they deliver this they're paid per kilo of Bolivia Nita we receive them we way we check the quality and we pay see without this program on top of that there's also the work in the pits for every meter of gallery dug workers receive money so the workers in his experience his expertise receives wages according to the work he has done capacity are receiving salario de acuerdo which wears from mosquito explosions are usually held two times a day in the most organized fashion indeed when men enter the tunnel they deposit a plaque at the entrance on which is inscribed their name they take it back when they leave the mine this prevents accidents as we know exactly who is in the tunnel here everyone respects the experience of Don Miguel that's why after the explosion he's the one to go into the mind to explore Bolivia Nita for ametrine as it is called is a mixture of two minerals citrine which is yellow and amethyst which is lilac in Francis ametrine was known for a long time but it was not very well it defined we have several kinds of ametrine more or less colorful have such beautiful colors they're beautiful they're inferior qualities but they're all still valuable in a most Rubino test adidas tambien values this is a block that we call a collection block it has very well-preserved edges and the point to the ratio between the length and the diameter is good a stone it has great value and it's intended for an industry that will make animals statues it has a great market value it's a piece that we will carefully preserve with our mucho de eso tenemos el poder seguir we have a security service that controls all the people who come and go to prevent them from taking stones it is a product that belongs to the company and we must be very vigilant these stones are valuable and we cannot let people get out live and work without supervision Norfolk where it is a necessity this is a goldmine and we're very careful because the product has great value in control traction control is necessary community or tech we determine productive work it is the mutual official in contrast it's very difficult to find a group like this mind in this state very rare these are pieces of high value that we take special care of and maybe one day we will find another of this size yes who's there I just kept back from mine come in Mika how are you McGann Wow something great news we opened a vein and we discovered a great treasure how is it more or less it's like they're huge crystals a whole cave [Music] Kazuko sorry monolith with your none we welcome others career-technical Sylvania [Music] yeah this natural cave about 20 feet long is fully lined with ametrine crystals it is a rare sight to see such perfect mineralization [Music] you know Patrick according to my calculations we have here a huge volume that will allow us to produce for at least 20 years all these crystals it's huge and the quality looks good too [Music] la calidad la buena vista Patrick yeah presently in motion [Music] percent only men live in this camp they are self-sufficient and cut off for a 35 day period these periods are followed by two weeks of rest during which they can return to their families to their wives and children they do not complain the work and living conditions are tough but the mind produces a lot about 10 tons of good-quality ametrine per month and for this reason the boss pays well for seven four seven four seven do you read me over and out okay okay receiving well receiving 100% well there was to tell you to communicate Romero very good news good news we found some very good ore in the mine a large room with lots of minerals do you copy [Music] yeah well well I must come at once to arrange the flight to collect the samples when can you send me the plane over to you we'll meet you on the runway the van will be waiting for you there over and out [Music] Don Miguel is responsible for bringing the crystal samples from the recent discovery by plane to Santa Cruz these are the ones that Ramiro Rivero the owner called in urgently [Music] this is the place where the anahi mine overs plane crashed where we now exploit the gemstones ten years ago after falling more than 100 meters Ramirez plane crashed in the jungle by chance he survived several days in this hostile world while waiting for rescue [Music] this experience changed his life and that is why he rarely comes to the mine anymore [Music] santa cruz is the largest economic center in the country today it is the second largest city in bolivia with 1 million inhabitants romero built his factory there in 1990 when I founded the minerals and metals of the East I made a first trip to Tucson Arizona which is the Center for marketing of gems I brought ametrine samples to display on the market expecting and hoping to be strongly welcomed with open arms since I was presenting a new stone that nobody knew about recent and on a human waiver you know him ago ii was young in midcal and to my surprise it's exactly the opposite that happened they saw it as a synthetic stone that we had manufactured in Bolivia or elsewhere and that we were trying to pass off as natural so we brought in five high-level geologists and a demonstration was made that the stone was completely natural all five have written articles and newspapers that were published in the United States this began to open up the market and publicize the existence of this stone and to know that there was a new gem on the market viesta psi AVL possibly Delaware ahima the ingress of Illinois were having a medical tree mostly Jesus a Muslim erythema and even international she's a competitor they I think we're the first company on an international level to have converted their activity from the mine to jewelry we want to enter the international market by setting up a system of franchises around the world with our jewelry presented in this form you see here we've created a database with all of our jewelry designs developed by designers in Bolivia they're different from traditional jewelry even to me they're sometimes surprising but they're innovative different and they will allow us to use our products as well as possible crystal is key so Asturias and Amina the Orang crystals that are extracted from the mine are transported to Santa Cruz to our processing plant part of the production is transported from the mine to the Mandara Lagoon to puerto suarez then from puerto suarez it is sent by train to santa cruz thing let's see under some big news [Music] [Applause] [Music] after a long train journey the ametrine filled bags finally arrived at the factory to be stored in a warehouse under the supervision of security guards trained by Ramiro this transport is done twice a month the first step is to clean the Jemez still stained by the red clay that was it setting in the mine to do this we use hot water at very high pressure then the stones are put into bags which must weigh 35 kilos each these are the blocks found in the mind they look like simple amethyst s' but when you break the crystals inside you'll find the yellow citrine so in fact it's ametrine or Bolivian eita normally anything the workers using a small hammer will break up the crystals to their hearts to obtain the most pure material and the most beautiful color [Applause] the gloves protect their hands from the tools but especially from cuts from the sharp edges of the ametrine each piece is sorted based on its qualities [Applause] [Applause] ametrine is a rare jewel a number of attempts have been made to fabricate it artificially but in vain including a method commonly used in Brazil to transfer pure amethyst fairly widespread into citrine yellow a more rare stone these are the two components of a maturing [Applause] [Music] this transformation is obtained after 15 hours by heating the amethyst at 420 degrees in the oven the transition from purple to yellow is spectacular unfortunately for these alchemists the method does not produce ametrine it is impossible to heat only one portion of the amethyst for the two-tone effect [Music] today the hammering technique has gradually given way to sawing the stone which allows you to lose a lot less material this method avoids most fractures due to impacts indeed these factors make the rock particularly unusable for cutting [Music] the pure and two-tone part of the stone is cut with a diamond saw indeed ametrine is a silicon oxide from the quartz family with a hardness of seven on the same scale diamond has a hardness of ten so it can be cut easily the best pieces are sorted by size and color they're grouped in batches thus on parts become opaque as they dry so they're sprayed with water thanks to which one can better appreciate the different shades and classify them then the lapidary will create facets on the rock by wearing them with a grinding wheel these surfaces will allow light to penetrate the stone and reflect it like a mirror finally the facets are polished to give them the appearance of a mirror an amateur in weighing 37.5 kilos will produce 1663 carats of faceted stones or 350 2.6 grams the carat is a unit of measurement for gemstones equal to 0.2 grams after the various stages of beautification of the gem just under 1% of the original material will remain [Music] Ramiro created a department in his factory to design jewelry it allows to reflect on new concepts specific to the ametrine various people study the possibilities of emphasizing these two colors of this particular stone they are working on new types of cuts that allow the colors to mix and no longer have a clear separation at the center of a stone but more of a pastel color it is a mixture of the yellow citrine and the purple of the amethyst [Music] [Music] [Music] they create new original jewelry for this stone some of these creations are for the local market and will be made in the workshops of the factory [Music] in Bolivia for more than 20 years jewelers in the major cities have sold a maturing Bolivians particularly like this stone it's practically a collector's item that looks like nothing else and as you can see it's fairly light modern you can wear it for formal occasions or for informal occasions do you like it yes it's very beautiful there's a matching bracelet to the necklace with the same design and a stone of the same size with these two colors of the ametrine would you like to try it yes it's unique isn't it yes of course it's unique it's really something different a pattern that specifically reflects Bolivian national culture it's really typical yes it's really beautiful how much is it this stone this necklace is worth $1,500 Olivia is not a large enough market to absorb the production of ametrine the real potential for this stone is on the international markets for this reason romero went to Tucson Arizona which is the largest global market for gems [Music] [Music] buyers and sellers from all horizons come together in this city for three weeks each year at the largest sale of gemstones in the world in this place which contains the largest treasure ever imagined borders and conflicts disappear for the length of the negotiations as tough business is conducted between Indians Brazilians Chinese Australians French Americans and many others who coexist in a great mix of traditions Lawrence Palmer jeweler in Paris a great lover of these rare gems comes to shop in this place where the choice is endless this is very pretty what is it it's ametrine from Bolivia how much is it worth we sell them at $10 a carat and if you take more I can give you a good price it varies between eight and ten dollars but it can climb to $15 per carat for top quality price you can go up to $15 carat for the best okay great I'll think about it [Music] Ramiro who does not personally show in Tucson comes to meet intermediaries because here in just a few days the sale of ametrine can be negotiated with many countries Bonnie hello how are you very good they look pretty can I see them good yeah oh it's beautiful stone it's ametrine it's from Bolivia and how much is it stone like this this is a stone of about 20 carats and the price is $10 a carat so it is $200 I think I'll take it okay [Music] the soul of princess anahi is present in each of the stones extracted from the last mine at the end of the earth [Music] the miners tell that some nights in the jungle one can hear the sobs of the conquistador clasping the dying beauty in his arms her people preferred to sacrifice her rather than to see her go forever in her last breath of life the princess laid into the hand of her beloved a two-toned and perfect gem representing her eternal love [Music] you you [Music] you

Channel: Voillot Patrick

Views: 243,956

Rating: 4.7631955 out of 5

Keywords: documentary, gemmologist, gemstone, precious stones, gemmology, patrick voillot, pierre précieuse, pierres précieuses, jewelry, stone, movie, tv, frenchtv, jeweler, prices, million dollars, expedition, mine, mining, Place Vendôme, Indians, the tropical forests of Chaco, Bolivia, Anaï mine, mauve and yellow stone, ametrine, Rio Paraguay, Chaco, Bolivian, Santa Cruz., carnival of Oururo, Tucson, Arizona, Lorenz Baümer

Id: vgDtvUF1OnM

Length: 52min 0sec (3120 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 13 2019