What is a Tanzanite gemstone? Is it considered a rare and precious gemstone? Is it therefore an expensive gemstone?

The appropriately named Tanzanite gemstone is originated in Tanzania, and it is only in that part of the world that it naturally occurs. Therefore you could guess that, in regards to your question, yes – it is a very rare gemstone. It was discovered in Tanzania during the late 1960s and in its rough state it has a red brownish color. The most striking and prominent characteristic of the gemstone comes down to its trichroism property. Trichroism is just a fancy word used to describe the fact that a certain crystal or gemstone omits three different colors, as opposed to one. The three colors that appear within the tanzanite gemstone are dark blue, pink and pale blue, making it a very beautiful gemstone indeed. Regarding the latter part of your question (if the tanzanite gemstone is precious), I am actually not aware of its prices in the market, but I can only assume that seeing as it is quite a rare stone, it could mean that it is very valuable in price as well.

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Of course tanzanite is a precious gemstone! Just to clear things up, a tanzanite gemstone is more than 1000 times rarer than a diamond! It is a beautiful gemstone, found only in one region in the whole world (Tanzania, of course) and it has proven to be a very durable substance as well (durability is also a key component in determining whether a stone is a precious gemstone or not…)

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As far as I know, the distinctive tanzanite gemstone is a large contributor to the Tanzanian government gross economy. I looked it up, and indeed figures show that the mining stages of the precious gemstone turn out an approximate $20 million USD annually, while export of the finished product (after it is processed and cut) sum up to a staggering $500 million USD annually. So, yeah, it's quite safe to say that this may qualify tanzanite to be a precious gemstone – valuable and expensive!

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Back in 2005, it was publicly announced in Tanzania that the company directing the main tanzanite deposit mine in the country was to be TanzaniteOne Limited. Over the past few years, this company really established itself in the control of this gemstone market, and prices for the rough tanzanite gemstone are steadily rising over the years.

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