This group of people is squatting in a red land, burying their heads in hard work,
You think they're digging sand, but they're actually "panning for gold."
This is the "Sapphire City" of Africa,
In order to make a fortune, thousands of treasure diggers flocked from all over the country.
The City of Sapphires is located in Illakaca, southwest of Madagascar.
Before 1998, it was the most humble little village on the island, known as the "Gathering Place for Human Losers."
Because most of the residents here are criminals, prostitutes, etc. who have been abandoned by society.
One day, a shepherd found two shining stones on the road,
When you walk in, it turns out to be a gem.
Subsequently, As a barren land, Illakaka was discovered by the outside world.
There is an endless stream of middlemen who come here to lease and buy land.
Red sapphire belongs to the corundum mineral, is one of the world's five most valuable gemstones,
It is very hard, the hardest substance on earth besides diamonds.
The red color of corundum with chromium elements is a red hue, which is what we know as ruby.
But the concept of sapphire is different,
It will be made of corundum of different elements, showing different shades,
Such as champagne, yellow, pink, orange orange and purple and so on,
Therefore, except for the red corundum gemstone, all other shades of corundum are commercially collectively referred to as sapphires,
Secondly, the value of red sapphire is related to its particle size,
If you can find more than 10 carats, you can instantly become a "millionaire".
Because of this, Irakaka can attract businessmen from all over the world,
Ram is a professional sapphire dealer from Sri Lanka, an international gem distribution center.
Whenever a villager brings a newly dug gem for sale,
Ram would turn on the flashlight first,
Check its color and clarity with the naked eye.
And then the man threw them all into the water,
Through the folded lines of light, it is recognized whether the stone is worthless glass or a real gemstone.
Ram has 130 competitors on this street, but he is the most popular,
For he is the merchant of conscience in everyone's heart,
For gemstones of varying value, Ram pays villagers anywhere from a few hundred to 100 yuan.
Ram said, "Some of the stones are flat, long, and can't be polished."
"Also, there are some gemstones with a lot of cracks, so they can't offer the right price"
He believes that people who dig for treasure earn more than businessmen,
This is because the villagers can get some profit from the middlemen,
But the price of international gemstones is fixed, and vendors cannot raise prices at will.
Many times, they sell international gemstones for a lower price than villagers sell to middlemen.
When the sky was light, Nawa hurriedly got up and started his day's "Taobao" work.
Carrying a shovel on his back, he strode down the country road,
When he arrived at his destination, the other absentees had already entered the working state for a long time.
Nava has been here a few times and has a piece of land of his own.
But when he found the gem, he had to share it with his owner, because he had rented the land.
Less than 50 meters from him, there is a huge sinkhole 20 meters deep, and about 60 people work here,
They braved the scorching sun for a daily reward of 1.5 euros, equivalent to 10 yuan.
This group has been digging here for 2 months, but still has little to gain.
Nawa was next to them, digging a pit alone,
The man took off his coat and began to work hard,
As for when the gems will be dug up, he is not clear.
At seven o'clock in the afternoon, Nava found nothing, not even a small gem fragment,
The wife is busy cooking on the fire, and the man is playing with the children, but he has been thinking about "Taobao" in his heart.
The next day, as always, Nawa got up early to dig for gems.
He wade through a small stream and ditch, over a loess slope,
It takes about 15 minutes to walk to the treasure pit,
A few hours later, he took the sand and gravel he had dug up to a nearby river for washing.
River water separates sand from useful substances.
After a meal of cleaning and filtering, the man found a small blue gemstone,
He gently picked it up with both hands and put it in front of his eyes to observe the color in front of the sky,
Sure of the look, it is the right sapphire,
So the man carefully put it into the plastic bag and folded it up.
And then continue to search excitedly,
This link must be very careful, because these stones are very confusing,
A lot of things that look like jewels are not,
We can clearly see that these stones of similar size are bright and clear.
It is estimated that Nawa opened the hanging today,
Another one, or a unique pink gemstone.
Nawa can't wait to bring today's shop,
In the local area, Ram is recognized as the most impartial and trustworthy businessman,
So everyone likes to come here to make a deal for the first time when they find gemstones.
After the greeting, Nava took out two gems and placed them on the tray.
Ram instantly entered the working state, he first took a cursory look at it with natural light,
Then he took out a professional flashlight to identify the jade for further investigation,
Unfortunately, this sapphire has a shadow inside and the quality is very poor,
Although there is nothing wrong with the pink one, it is too small and has little value.
After the identification, Ram did not acquire the two stones,
He politely motioned for Nava to bring them back, as the two were completely out of place.
Looking at Nawa with a look of disappointment, Ram kindly gave the man 80 cents as compensation, almost 5 yuan.
At the same time, I hope that he can come to his place to trade next time,
In poor African villages, giving 5 yuan is already a generous master.
But the gems were not sold, and Nawa was still very unhappy.
After all, these two were the fruits of half a month's labor in his hard-digging pit.
No more income, the family should drink the northwest wind,
The wife held her young son in her hand waiting to be fed, waiting for the money to buy milk powder to drink.
So, after hitting a wall from Ram, Nava decided to test the waters at the souks.
In such a place that big businessmen would never patronize,
Every day, there are many low-value gem trades,
Nawa wanders the streets with gems that big merchants are not interested in.
The uncle spread Nava's gems on a tray and looked at them with the help of the sun' rays,
Then he shook his head and fell into the palm of his hand and handed it to Nawa,
Apparently, he also despised Nawa's cargo.
Then Nava put the thing on another merchant's tray,
The cowboy guy weighed it carefully and had no intention of buying.
After a long stay, a pair of brothers in duck-tongue hats decided to buy it.
Finally found a buyer, Nava was overjoyed,
He confidently said that "it's easier to sell gemstones than to look for them, I'm just inexperienced and it gets better after getting familiar with it."
And he understands that gemstones can't be sold too cheaply in order to make more money.
If you want to make 250,000, you have to raise the price to about 500,000.
The hat guy was very strict, and he opened the flashlight to identify it in the strong sunlight.
He then took out a stack of money and prepared to pay It to Nava.
A total of four Ariarys of 10,000 yuan are converted into RMB equivalent to RMB 83.
Although he didn't earn much, Nawa was very satisfied,
He bought a bag of fresh rice for his family,
The wife cooked a pot full of white rice,
Today, adults and children can finally eat a full meal.