Member News

TUCSON SHOW GUIDE FOR 2020

Please check that your details and show locations are correct on the advertisement proof attached..

The opal photos were the courtesy of Cody opals. If you has a high resolutions photo which you would like to add please send today as the cut off day will be this week.

For those doing shows in Tucson, please forward your contact phone number, Whatsapp, Viber, weChat and Line. Also forward to us your email address as The Opal Association will be listing contact details for companies exhibiting at Tucson 2020 on its website and its Facebook page so that customers can contact you directly.

Your reply is requested urgently so that we can finalise details set above.

ICA (International Coloured Stone Association) Congress Thaliand, 2019

There 19 th congress was held in Bangkok on the 12 -15 August. This conference was well attended by the following Opal Association members:

Damien Cody, Terry Coldham, Ruth-Benjamin Thomas, Sally Patel, Natassa Patel and Paul Sedawie. Of course it was hard work attending all the dinners and functions.

Some of my personal impressions I took from the conference were:

• An accountant made an interesting presentation saying how world wealth has increased by trillions in the past few decades yet our industry has not grown in real terms and may be going backward.!!
• With DeBeers promoting man made diamonds the coloured stone industry has a chance to capitalise on the basis of coloured gems being now even rarer and in many cases lacking synthetic counterparts. It still however requires effort and more importantly cooperation .
• The ICA started a charity fund called Gems Keep Giving! aimed at helping small artesianal miners with their families in their communities. While this is noble, it is a response to the general view of the younger generation that our mining business is seen by many to be in a negative view. Its up to us to let customers know about our sustainable mining and rehabilitation efforts and  how tens of thousands are raised out of poverty. There is a new movie coming out called” Uncut gems” which i believe has injured Ethiopian miners and child labour being used in mining. This is negative for our industry with no mention of the thousands who have a increased income now.
• The coloured stone industry is mainly small to medium size business with little political influence. There is much talk about being a ethical trader but many small businesses may have issues with who and what draws lines along the ethical dilemma field.
• A successful Chinese company  with a turn over in the billions [USD] gave a interesting speech. They promoted the fact they had 200 million USD to spend on coloured stones but this seems only a tiny fraction of their turn over so they must be mainly selling gold or diamonds.
• After decades of discussions,  gem associations the industry kindly (and sometimes not) still  disagree on definitions of terms such pigeon blood corn flower blue etc. It seems as if the gem testing labs are overly influenced by the dealers with little consideration to the end user who relies strongly on these certificates.

ALERT ON BLACK OPAL PARCELS

Recently I saw two polished opal parcels from lightning ridge which included a welo treated stone in them. They were from dealers who i believe didn’t realize they weren’t natural black stones-

Kind Regards

Paul Sedawie

President of the Opal Association

http://www.opal.asn.au/opal/

here is the link to the advertisement

BOD030_Opal Association Tuscon Ad_PROOF V3[16170]

Disclaimer Note We forward all emails received for the Opal association to all members as a matter of course. This does not mean we support or endorse the product /message and suggest members do their own due diligence and checking.

Dear Members

Cash limits

The Senate standing Committee on economics has asked for submissions in regards to the $10,000 cash limit on transactions.

Please read the attached article and if you feel inclined to comment,  you are welcome to respond to the Senate with your concerns.

They are suggesting 2 years jail or 25,000 fines for amounts over $10,000 .

As i understand it this would only apply to those holding a ABN. So any drug or criminal gang wouldn’t have an ABN. I imagine any small business or even a miner wouldn’t register with such heavy penalties.

I also feel the Opal association should reply stating our objections to this proposed law. 10,000 $ cash transactions are already reported to the government.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-25/cash-ban-law-under-inqury-post-mp-concerns-on-freedom-breach/11640124

Senate Standing Committees on Economics
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Phone: +61 2 6277 3540
Fax: +61 2 6277 5719
[email protected]

TUCSON SHOW GUIDE

Last year the Opal association paid for this advertisement in the Tucson show guide.

I would like some feedback from members asap if we should do the same this year.

Some members last year mentioned they would like to see some social media marketing for members at the Tucson show. The cost is 2400 USD.

Please give a indication if you want us  to continue promoting the Tucson show and the Australian opal circuit.

Should we do a new layout or use this one?

Kind Regards

Paul Sedawie

President of the Opal Association