Tanzanite is a purple-brown crystal that, when superheated, turns into a pretty blue gem. Tanzanite sales in the United States alone are reckoned to be worth more than US$400 million a year - but it is mined only in Tanzania, whose exports of uncut crystals were last year, officially, worth just $16 mn. Between the miners and the jewellers' shops are legions of brokers, traders, cutters, polishers, dealers and, obviously, smugglers.
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