Gem town
Arusha and Mererani
Arusha, Tanzania
Arusha is northern Tanzania's gem trading and cutting city. Since 2021 the government has required tanzanite to be traded and processed in Mererani, where it is mined, about 65 km away, where an auction centre has been built.
Arusha, at the foot of Mount Meru in northern Tanzania, is the gem-trading and cutting city of East Africa. Tanzanite, found only in the Mererani Hills about 65 kilometres away, is its best-known stone, and rough from mines across Tanzania and neighbouring countries passes through its dealers and cutters.
What you find
Tanzanite, rough and cut; spinel, sapphire, ruby, tsavorite and other garnets, tourmaline and many other East African gems. Arusha has cutting workshops, dealers' offices and gem shops.
How trading works
Since 2021 the Tanzanian government has required tanzanite to be traded and processed at Mererani, where it is mined, inside a walled mining area with a trading centre and auction facility. Other gems continue to be traded in Arusha and through licensed dealers. Tanzania requires licences for mineral trading and export.
Buying safely
- Buy from licensed dealers and keep the documents: they are needed for export.
- Almost all tanzanite is heated to bring out its blue-violet colour; this is standard and accepted. Glass and synthetic imitations exist; test anything important.
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