Re: Radioactive gems circulating in Asia?

["Ralph A. Fobair" <novarso@franklin.lisco.com>]

I do consulting for a client that irradiates white Topaz.  Last week my
client received an email from a supplier in Hong Kong who has warned us of
radioactive cat's eye in the past. I also have the photos available as a
JPG file if anyone is interested.  You can email me directly at
novarso@lisco.com
I hope that this view point from the gemstone industry is of interest. 
Bottom line on this . . . If a gemstone can be irradiated and a few
neutrons increases its price then it will be done.  One can only hope that
not too many of these hot cat's eye make it into the hands of the general
public.  Wishful thinking I know.

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Date: 97-11-04 02:05:40 EST


RADIOACTIVE CAT'S-EYE WARNING, BY: JEFFERY BERGMAN

Photo: "Before and after treatment" courtesy of the Center for Gemstone
Testing

A frightning development in the never ending saga of gemstone treatments
came to light this last August. The story started out innocent enough,
but when the truth finally came out, a wave of fear swept through the
worldwide communiy of gemstone dealers.

Early in the month, two gem dealers based in Bangkok brought me a small
selection of 3 to 5 carat cat's-eye chrysoberyls. Upon first examination
they looked like very fine quality natural gems with sharp bright eyes
and a very dark brown body color, but the color was just a little different
from any cat's-eye chrysoberyl I had ever seen before.

When I questioned the dealers, they said they had been told the stones
were heat treated. I was quite puzzled by this since I had never read
anything in any gemological literature about any treatment processes for
any of the chrysoberyl family. I checked Kurt Nassaus diffinative work
"Gemstone Enhancement" as well as the GIA chart on detecting gemstone
enhancements and found nothing.

What I heard next made me begin to question the literature I had just
reviewed. The dealers said they had sold these cat's-eyes to an
Indonesian dealer a month earlier for a few hundred dollars per carat.
Then, a few
weeks later, they bought their gems back from the very same dealer for
over $1,000 per carat. 

Why would any gem dealer in their right mind do something like this?
Simple. When they sold the cat's-eyes, they were a pale miky yellow
color.  When they bought their gems back they were a much more valuable
chocolate brown color. Having known these dealers well for over a
decade, I was confident in the veracity of their story.

Gem labs are the super sleuths, the Sherlock Holmes's, the detectives of
the gemstone industry. One of the best labs in the world just happens to
be around the corner from my office, so I borrowed one of the suspect
cat's-eyes, dropped it in my pocket, and headed for the Asian Institute of
Gemological Sciences (now the Center for Gemstone Testing). I gave them the
stone, a 3.5 carat oval, and briefed them on the story.

I then set off on my own search to discover the secret of this new
treatment process. My dealer friends said the cat's-eyes came from the
Orissa gem deposits in India, so I obtained a dozen small samples from
this source, and began a series of heat treatment experiments attempting to
duplicate the results I had seen. Every variation of temperature, time
and atmosphere produced not the slightest change in any of the samples.
This
failure lead me to believe we were not dealing with a heat treatment
process. 

My daily phone calls to the lab all resulted in the same news, "We can
not find anything". I went back to the dealers and began to ask more
questions.  During one conversation, one of the dealers inquired, "Is it
possible to
get sick from wearing one of these cat's-eyes in jewelry?". The
implications
hit me like a ton of bricks.

I called the lab that was checking the sample and got Gary Dutoit on the
line. I asked him if a residual radiation check had been done on the
stone and he said "No. Hold on and I'll go get it". He came back on the
line
shortly and said "listen to this". With a Geiger counter on audio, he
placed the stone near the machine, and over the phone line I heard the tell
tale "Beep          beep         beep beep
beepbeepbeepbeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..."
as the counter went off the scale. Gary quickly found a lead container
to safely store the very hot gemstone.

Preliminary testing, using equipment provided by Doug Parsons of Beta
Color Ltd., verified the stone was indeed highly radioactive and quite
dangerous. I shudder when I think of the time I carried it around in my
pocket. The 3.5 carat sample revealed a radioactivity level of  52
nCi/g.  This is significantly higher than the legal release levels set by
the
relevant authorities in the USA (1.0 nCi/g) the UK (2.7 nCi/g) and Asia
(2.0
nCi/g).  Subsequent tests by Beta Color have shown it to have a moderately
long
half-life of approximately one-hundred three (103) days, indicating that
this particular stone will reach the legal release level in Asia in another
sixteen (16) months (around January 1999).  Before that time it must be
kept in
a properly shielded radioactive materials storage container.

Meetings with lab director Ken Scarratt, and three of the dealers
involved, revealed that several hundered carats of this treated material
was
already circulating through the gem market in Thailand. Further meetings
determined that significent quantities were also on the market in
Indonesia, where it is believed the nuclear facility responsible for the
treatment
is illegally releasing the dangerous gems "out the back door". At this
point we had to assume the treated cat's-eyes were also making their way
into
other Asian markets. It was not long before our fears were confirmed.

On September 2, I left for the Hong Kong Show to help out fellow gem
dealer Dan McKinney in his booth.  Since he processes and sells blue
topaz he has a Geiger counter in his office to check for radioactive stones
that have been released before they are safe. I visited several prominant
cat's-eye dealer's booth's and told them the story, offering to check their
stones.  Fortunately, all of their stocks were non radioactive.

Word traveled fast, and dealers began to drop by the McKinney
International booth to have their cat's-eyes checked for radiation.
Every stone we checked was fine, until one dealer visited us just a few
hours
before the end of the show. He had a beautiful gem of over 30 carats in
a gold mounting surrounded by diamonds. It was so radioactive that the
Geiger counter went off the scale.

Finding a dangerous cat's-eye in Hong Kong, already mounted in jewelery,
shows just how far these gems have been dispersed in the Asian
marketplace. Although Ken Scarratt, president of the new Center for
Gemstone Testing in Bangkok, has alerted the proper international
nuclear authorities about the problem, it is really the gemstone industries
responsibility to police itself. 

Unfortunately, radioactivity can not be seen, felt, heard, tasted or
smelled, but it can be extremely dangerous. Anyone subjected to close
contact
with these gemstones runs a high risk of developing serious health
problems,
with cancer at the top of the list. If you suspect you may have treated
cat's-eyes in your inventory, the only safe and sane thing to do is to
have them checked in a lab equipped with a Geiger counter. If they are
found
to be radioactive, they must be stored in a proper storage container until
they reach levels safe and legal for release.

END



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