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I was incredibly lucky just recently to be invited to go to the Turkish Diaspore mine organised by the CEO of GemsTV, Steve Bennett whom I have known for a number of years. I believe GemsTV may just have launched in the US so thought this might be relevant for you all to see. It’s a day I will never forget. It was a superb experience not just for me but my family too! It made our holiday something very special! For fellow gemlovers I should explain that Turkish Diaspore has previously been called Zultanite but due to a change of owner of the Mine, I think a new marketing name has been found which is Csarite but I believe it’s “natural” name of Turkish Diaspore is also being used. So, without further ado, this is what happened…….
We had arranged to meet the Mine’s General Manager, Ali, at the mining company’s office in the nearest town to the mine, Milas. It was a four hour drive from our villa and the heat was intense (in the high 40s) so we were dressed for the beach! On the phone the night before, Ali had assured us that we would be provided with all the protective equipment/clothing we needed so we turned up in flip flops and sunglasses! At the office we had to sign an insurance waiver in case anything happened – which did make me stop and think and wonder whether we should take our 9 year old, Katya, but she was so excited there was no turning back! Then we had to sign a Confidentiality/ Secrecy Agreement stating we wouldn’t divulge the location of the mine etc etc. We signed on the dotted line and then bundled ourselves into Ali’s pickup for the hour long drive to the Mine.
We turned off a main road onto a bumpy unmade road and for about 45 minutes had a bone shaking ride up winding mountain roads through dense pine groves, glimpsing wild horses and Lycian ruins dotted around and between clearings. It’s a good job that Katya’s loose tooth had fallen out the night before because otherwise that journey would certainly have meant the Tooth Fairy had to fly out to Turkey!
Finally we reached the top of the mountain and entered a small open clearing lined with various buildings, some that housed the 30 mine workers (who live there) and others containing mining equipment and various other unidentifiable bits and pieces. The air in the mountain was lovely and clear but it was still very very hot. The view was breathtaking and I hadn’t appreciated how high we had driven. I certainly wouldn’t want to be the person sent for provisions only to realise I’d forgotton the milk! (See photo 1)
So, after a quick slurp of water we got back into the pickup and drove another few minutes to the entrance of the Mine. I have to say that this was one of those times where I had an “OMG” moment as we had to take a sharp right hand bend to the entrance but there was a sheer drop on our left hand side and the pickup was too big to go around the bend so we had to go forward and then reverse back a bit (so the drop was RIGHT behind us) and inch our way forward. If you’ve ever seen the film “The Italian Job” you may recall the last scene with the coach? Well, I could see us all leaning forward willing the pickup not to roll back as Ali changed gear and moved forward slowly! You can see the “road” and the lack of width of it (and get an idea of the drop) in photo 1!
We had arrived! We were at the mine entrance and Orhan the Chief Miner came out to meet us. After a few introductions we established that he didn’t speak English but thankfully my husband is Turkish so we had our own translator! Orhan gave us all hard hats with a light that we could attach (or hold) with a lead to a battery pack that we tucked into an appropriate waistband. We suddenly realised that this was the only equipment we were going to be given so we are officially the only mine-visiting, flip flop wearing visitors they’ve probably had! Anyway, that wasn’t going to deter us and we went into the Mine, dressed for the beach but in a hard hat!
I should point out that it was at this moment as we were walking towards the Mine entrance that it occurred to me that I’m seriously claustrophobic! Yep – I’d been so excited that I had glossed over that part in my mind and in truth I hadn’t realised we were going to go into the Mine and I thought we might just see where they sort the rough or something like that! Okay, not one of my better thought processes but never mind, I was committed and was going into that Mine claustrophobia or not! (See Photo 2)
We walked into the Mine entrance and the first thing that hit us was the drastic drop in temperature. We had literally gone from over 40 degrees outside the entrance to probably about 10 degrees inside. The cold dropped literally a few meters inside – not even deep inside the Mine. I believe some mines are very hot inside and others are not - I'm not sure why this! Another thing that was a surprise was how high the Mine was (about 2 metres) so it didn’t feel too cramped and it was also about 2 metres wide so we could walk side by side. The reason for that became apparent later on! (See Photo 3)
The walls and ceiling are shored up by timber struts spread about a metre apart and you can see the walls of the Mine clearly through them. Orhan explained that the Bauxite deposit (an aluminium ore) was first discovered in 1949 but it wasn’t until 1962 that mining first began. Initially, the government issued licenses only for bauxite, so any gem diaspores couldn’t be mined until 2005 when new mining laws led to a private mining company reopening the mine for Zultanite, (the proprietary name given at the time for gem diaspore). The new laws permitted them to secure a mining permit and so today the Mine produces mainly Bauxite but also has a smaller find of Diaspore. It’s not mined in huge quantities and because it has perfect cleavage, it's incredibly challenging to facet so some rough can’t be faceted at all. To give you an indication of how small the supply is, while Diaspore was first discovered in 1801 in the Ural Mountains in Russia, the Turkish deposit remains the world's only source of Diaspore (I think). So, unlike Diamonds, it really isn’t found in huge quantities. Couple that with the difficulty of cutting it and you start to begin to understand the rarity of good size/well cut specimens. I’ve certainly got a new found appreciation for it.
As we moved deeper into the mine, the light from the entrance tunnel disappeared (another OMG moment for me) but suddenly you could see the floor glittering like tiny stars had fallen all over the muddy floor. Orhan explained that this was the Aluminium and the black was caused by the Iron. Orhan has worked in mining for over 20 years and 5 years at this Mine and he clearly loves his job. He would just stop every now and again by a bit of wall and would point out a crystal or Mica (a silicate mineral that looks like Mother of Pearl) and say things like “that’s not a good one”! I’ve collected gemstones for years and can tell a good cut gemstone from a bad one BUT rough is something I’ve not had the opportunity to study much so I was incredibly impressed at his ability to look at a piece of seemingly innocuous wall and determine what was good and what wasn’t! Apparently, this isn’t a good bit of crystal (See photo 4).
We had arranged to meet the Mine’s General Manager, Ali, at the mining company’s office in the nearest town to the mine, Milas. It was a four hour drive from our villa and the heat was intense (in the high 40s) so we were dressed for the beach! On the phone the night before, Ali had assured us that we would be provided with all the protective equipment/clothing we needed so we turned up in flip flops and sunglasses! At the office we had to sign an insurance waiver in case anything happened – which did make me stop and think and wonder whether we should take our 9 year old, Katya, but she was so excited there was no turning back! Then we had to sign a Confidentiality/ Secrecy Agreement stating we wouldn’t divulge the location of the mine etc etc. We signed on the dotted line and then bundled ourselves into Ali’s pickup for the hour long drive to the Mine.
We turned off a main road onto a bumpy unmade road and for about 45 minutes had a bone shaking ride up winding mountain roads through dense pine groves, glimpsing wild horses and Lycian ruins dotted around and between clearings. It’s a good job that Katya’s loose tooth had fallen out the night before because otherwise that journey would certainly have meant the Tooth Fairy had to fly out to Turkey!
Finally we reached the top of the mountain and entered a small open clearing lined with various buildings, some that housed the 30 mine workers (who live there) and others containing mining equipment and various other unidentifiable bits and pieces. The air in the mountain was lovely and clear but it was still very very hot. The view was breathtaking and I hadn’t appreciated how high we had driven. I certainly wouldn’t want to be the person sent for provisions only to realise I’d forgotton the milk! (See photo 1)
So, after a quick slurp of water we got back into the pickup and drove another few minutes to the entrance of the Mine. I have to say that this was one of those times where I had an “OMG” moment as we had to take a sharp right hand bend to the entrance but there was a sheer drop on our left hand side and the pickup was too big to go around the bend so we had to go forward and then reverse back a bit (so the drop was RIGHT behind us) and inch our way forward. If you’ve ever seen the film “The Italian Job” you may recall the last scene with the coach? Well, I could see us all leaning forward willing the pickup not to roll back as Ali changed gear and moved forward slowly! You can see the “road” and the lack of width of it (and get an idea of the drop) in photo 1!
We had arrived! We were at the mine entrance and Orhan the Chief Miner came out to meet us. After a few introductions we established that he didn’t speak English but thankfully my husband is Turkish so we had our own translator! Orhan gave us all hard hats with a light that we could attach (or hold) with a lead to a battery pack that we tucked into an appropriate waistband. We suddenly realised that this was the only equipment we were going to be given so we are officially the only mine-visiting, flip flop wearing visitors they’ve probably had! Anyway, that wasn’t going to deter us and we went into the Mine, dressed for the beach but in a hard hat!
I should point out that it was at this moment as we were walking towards the Mine entrance that it occurred to me that I’m seriously claustrophobic! Yep – I’d been so excited that I had glossed over that part in my mind and in truth I hadn’t realised we were going to go into the Mine and I thought we might just see where they sort the rough or something like that! Okay, not one of my better thought processes but never mind, I was committed and was going into that Mine claustrophobia or not! (See Photo 2)
We walked into the Mine entrance and the first thing that hit us was the drastic drop in temperature. We had literally gone from over 40 degrees outside the entrance to probably about 10 degrees inside. The cold dropped literally a few meters inside – not even deep inside the Mine. I believe some mines are very hot inside and others are not - I'm not sure why this! Another thing that was a surprise was how high the Mine was (about 2 metres) so it didn’t feel too cramped and it was also about 2 metres wide so we could walk side by side. The reason for that became apparent later on! (See Photo 3)
The walls and ceiling are shored up by timber struts spread about a metre apart and you can see the walls of the Mine clearly through them. Orhan explained that the Bauxite deposit (an aluminium ore) was first discovered in 1949 but it wasn’t until 1962 that mining first began. Initially, the government issued licenses only for bauxite, so any gem diaspores couldn’t be mined until 2005 when new mining laws led to a private mining company reopening the mine for Zultanite, (the proprietary name given at the time for gem diaspore). The new laws permitted them to secure a mining permit and so today the Mine produces mainly Bauxite but also has a smaller find of Diaspore. It’s not mined in huge quantities and because it has perfect cleavage, it's incredibly challenging to facet so some rough can’t be faceted at all. To give you an indication of how small the supply is, while Diaspore was first discovered in 1801 in the Ural Mountains in Russia, the Turkish deposit remains the world's only source of Diaspore (I think). So, unlike Diamonds, it really isn’t found in huge quantities. Couple that with the difficulty of cutting it and you start to begin to understand the rarity of good size/well cut specimens. I’ve certainly got a new found appreciation for it.
As we moved deeper into the mine, the light from the entrance tunnel disappeared (another OMG moment for me) but suddenly you could see the floor glittering like tiny stars had fallen all over the muddy floor. Orhan explained that this was the Aluminium and the black was caused by the Iron. Orhan has worked in mining for over 20 years and 5 years at this Mine and he clearly loves his job. He would just stop every now and again by a bit of wall and would point out a crystal or Mica (a silicate mineral that looks like Mother of Pearl) and say things like “that’s not a good one”! I’ve collected gemstones for years and can tell a good cut gemstone from a bad one BUT rough is something I’ve not had the opportunity to study much so I was incredibly impressed at his ability to look at a piece of seemingly innocuous wall and determine what was good and what wasn’t! Apparently, this isn’t a good bit of crystal (See photo 4).
I'm so happy that you were allowed to even take pictures. Gosh, it's so darned dark in the mine in your flash-less photo. You didn't happen to pocket one itty bitty piece of rough zultanite, now did you? Fess up! 
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