GILC Announces Speaker List for Tucson Meeting

(IDEX Online News) – The Gemstone Industry & Laboratory Conference (GILC) has announced its speakers and subjects for its Tucson 2014 meeting at the Tucson Convention Center on February 3.

The topics will be briefly presented by industry experts and then opened up to the audience for discussion.

Edward Boehm will speak on A Comparative Overview of Inclusions in Spinel. Spinels contain inclusions that sometimes reveal secrets about their geographic origin. The primary spinel producing countries are Burma (Myanmar), Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Tajikistan, Tanzania, and Vietnam. Inclusions in spinels are considered more useful for identifying their host rocks than for origin determination, however, in some cases, diagnostic inclusions are evident. Characteristic surface and internal features of flux grown synthetic spinels will also be presented.

Anthony Smallwood from Gemmological Association of Australia and Maxine O’Brien from National Opal Miners Association (NOMA) will give a presentation called Why Australian Opal is Unique- Defining its Gemological Properties.

The gemological and scientific characteristics of all varieties of Australian precious opal will be presented so as to assist in promoting accurate and reliable identification of Australian opal by international gemological laboratories and educational institutions.

Dr. Lore Kiefert, Chief Gemologist of the Gubelin Gem Lab will speak on Sapphires from the Baw Mar mine, Mogok, Burma. In the last five years, blue sapphires with properties different from the “classic” Burmese sapphires, reportedly from the Baw Mar area of Mogok, have reached the gemstone market. These sapphires were marked by a relatively clean appearance under the microscope, often showing only multiple twinning with whitish needle-like inclusions (presumably boehmite) at the intersections.

The lecture will concentrate on microscopic and spectroscopic properties of these sapphires, the differences with "classic" Burmese sapphires, and their distinction from sapphires from magmatic sources.

A general GILC discussion is scheduled after the speaker sessions.

GILC Chairman Sushil Goyal will give a brief welcoming speech before the presentations.

GILC is organized by the International Colored Gemstone Association (ICA) and its Tucson 2014 meeting is supported by AGTA.

GILC, an invitation-only event, provides a platform for industry stakeholders to address and discuss important issues related to nomenclature, consumer confidence, terminology as well as the better involvement of certification and research laboratories.