Gems in the rough in Ratanakkiri

“These are the best quality stones,” Lat Yun says with a grin. Nestled in his outstretched hand are three unassuming rocks. “I don’t know what they’re called, I just know they’re the best.”

The gemstones of Ratanakkiri are a mineral called zircon, but in Cambodia, they have no name – even in jewellery stores vendors refer to the sapphire-blue drops simply as t’bong Bakeo, or Bakeo gems. …

In the mines of Bakeo district, fortunes can, occasionally, be made. But the work comes at high personal risk. To retrieve the valuable stones, miners climb a dozen metres down holes the width of a man, before heading into the underground tunnels criss-crossing this land. Every miner here knows of at least one or two people who have died from cave-ins. “It’s an interesting job, you can earn a lot,” says Yun. “But it’s very dangerous. You have to take care.” … From 7am until 4pm, miners working three to a pit tap the veins in the hope of hitting pay dirt. They have complete access to this two-hectare land and don’t pay a riel of rent. In exchange, however, they can sell only to the broker who holds the lease, leaving them severely undercut and earning staggering profits for the middleman. “After one year, this will all be depleted [of gems],” says Kim Phal, the broker. Phal paid $9,000 to rent these two-hectares of land for a year. … As Phal glowers, a young man wanders over clutching a plastic tea bottle full of rocks. Barely looking up, Phal pours the stones into his hand, sneers and returns them to the bottle. Back it goes to the miner along with 5,000 riel ($1.25) Phal has fished from his purse – lunch money for a near-destitute. Miners here boast of the thousands they can make. They eagerly speak of how, just two days earlier, a miner found a stone worth $7,000. However, this is the exception. …

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/gems-rough-ratanakkiri