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Gemstone Expeditions Plans Trip to Colombia to Cap Off 2018
The eight-day journey in October offers the trade the chance to visit the famed Muzo and Coscuez emerald mines.
New York—For its last trip of the year, Gemstone Expeditions is offering the trade the chance to travel to Colombia and visit some of the country’s most important mining areas.
The eight-day, seven-night trip—running from Oct. 9 to 16—will include visits to the famed Muzo and Coscuez emerald mines in Colombia.
It also will include visits with local emerald dealers and laboratories to see how emeralds are enhanced, treated and oiled.
The trip also includes entry to the second World Emerald Symposium, slated for Oct. 12 to 14 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Bogotá.
Organized by Fedesmeraldas National Emerald Trade association, the event will delve into the challenges and opportunities the emerald industry faces, featuring presentations by more than 60 speakers and experts, panel discussions, plus hands-on training.
The cost of the trip is $2,700. For more information, visit GemstoneExpeditions.com.
Former International Colored Gemstone Association president Joe Menzie and former ICA executive director Barbara Wheat started Gemstone Expeditions earlier this year, hosting trips for interested members of the trade to visit mines, buy gems at the source and explore the cultures and people that surround them.
Other trips they have hosted this year have been to East Africa and Sri Lanka. They also will visit gemstone mines in Brazil in August 2019.
Editor’s note: The headline was updated post-publication to reflect that the Colombia trip will be Gemstone Expeditions’ last in 2018, not in 2019, as previously stated.
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