Over the last few months there have been some developments in southern Brazil that any amethyst fan should be aware of. Several government agencies have made life more difficult for the mine owners of southern Brazil. Brazil has a whole alphabet soup worth of government agencies... mines and energy, environmental protection, department of labor, health department, department of agriculture, revenue/tax collectors, etc. They all came to the amethyst mining region and "laid down the law." They shut down around 15 of the 200 or so operational mines in the region. The various agencies say the mines are in violation of several laws and codes. The miners, who currently work as free agents and get paid according to production, are to be made employees and put on the payroll. Every mine is supposed to hire a environmental and structural engineer to oversee the mining and demolition processes. The mine owners are supposed to install ventilation systems, water drills (to reduce dust formation), masks, and other safety equipment. All the mines are to create a plan for environmental restoration over the next 12 months.
What does this mean to you? It means that the price of amethyst is going to go up. The mines will either increase production costs to meet the new standards or cease being productive. Of course the enforcement of the law will be inconsistent...par for the course in Brazil, but it will still mean either an increase in production costs, a reduction in supply or a little of both. Prices are already going up some. Most of the time though, because nobody likes to raise prices, the quality drops. Amethyst previously sold as B quality gets labeled as A. More often the miners just add more cement to the cathedrals.
What should you do about it? If you have a chance to buy amethyst at a good price take advantage of it. These conditions, plus a falling dollar will only keep putting pressure on the price. If you order amethyst cathedrals from Brazil, make sure you have a supplier or broker you trust to check the quality of your order. Also, consider ordering more free form formations. These can be cut at the bottom to stand flat or placed in a wood base. That way you won't need any cement and you can insist on natural pieces with no paint. As always, I'm available to help you if you have any questions. Here are some links to articles about the situations in the mines. They are in Portuguese, but you might want to take a look here and here.
