Sapphire

Sapphire

Nigeria is richly blessed with many of the world’s most sought after semi-precious and precious stones known as gemstones. Gemstones have attracted humankind since ancient times and have long been used for jewellery. The prime requisite for a gem is that it must be beautiful. Rarity is another characteristic that lends value to a gemstone.

Sapphire is one of the most precious and valuable gemstones found in Nigeria, in the northern part of the country. They can be found in Mambila Plateau in Taraba State, (Antah, Nisama, Gidan waya) Kaduna State, Bogoro in Bauchi State, Bokkos in Plateau State and Gunda in Yobe State.  Sapphires found in Nigeria are priced at an estimated $10,000 per gram in the International market.

Sapphires have a variety of mineral properties, consisting of aluminium oxide (α-Al2O3) with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. It is typically blue, but also occur in yellow, purple, orange, and green colours.

Blue sapphires are evaluated based upon the purity of their blue hue. Violet, and green are the most common secondary hues found in blue sapphires. The highest prices are paid for gems that are pure blue and of vivid saturation. Fancy sapphires are often found in yellow, orange, green, brown, purple and violet hues.

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Parti Coloured sapphires are sapphires which exhibit two or more colours within a single stone. Generally, natural sapphires are cut and polished into gemstones and worn in jewellery.

As a result of the remarkable hardness of sapphires – 9 on the Mohs scale (the third hardest mineral, after diamond at 10 and moissanite at 9.5), Sapphires are also used in some non-ornamental applications, such as infrared optical components, high-durability windows, wristwatch crystals & movement bearings, and very thin electronic wafers, which are used as the insulating substrates of special-purpose solid-state electronics.

According to analysts, Nigeria’s gemstones have the capacity to contribute over $10million to the economy annually. The global Gemstone and Jewelry industry is currently worth an estimated $300 billion and is projected to be over $443 billion by 2022, an annual growth of over 4.73%, according to a recent report in the African gemstone jewellery exhibition and seminar publication.

Interested in the Sapphire gemstones?

You can find them at the Lekki Arts Markets, Jakande, Lagos.