Post: #1

I'm currently in Burma, like always looking for potential business oportunities while travelling.
Since in this forum are people representing probably all the professions in the world, including precious stones trade, before acting anything I would like to ask for advice.
Does it make sense to buy golden leaf, or even further some precious stones such as jade, rubis, sapphires in Burma? If so, what kind of stone should I shop for?
I heard that while going to licensed jewellery shop there is a little discount if you don't take the certificate, but then if caught on the border, there might be a problem. I have virtually no experience in precious stones unfortunately, so I would stick to certified jewellery shops.
This is just a thought I came through while in Burma. Have couple of weeks more here, so can shop around without a hurry.
Post your opinions on that subject, let's make it one more valuable thread in rooshv forum!
Artur

Post: #2

Nice hustle. I like it when we go to strange lands and see money or opportunity. I believe YMG has experience in this field. I don't know if it was him or his buddy who flipped pearls from the Philippians. This thread should be in the lifestyle thread. You should hit up the American embassy or small business clubs if possible. There you would find other like-minded expats who are doing their thing in Burma.

Research, research, research. Are you buying direct from the mining company or third party? Are there locals who dig and sell to individuals? Hopefully you can find the right people out there to answer all your questions or mentor you. Good luck.

Post: #3

I wouldn't do it. If it's easily accessible to tourists, that means a lot of other people are doing it already. What if you get scammed? how would you find a person who will buy it?
I am pretty sure those manufacturers are already buying raw materials at really cheap price.

The most markup is made at retail level. manufacturers and brokers don't take huge % (you can make $$$ if you control a lot of quantities though)

I buy this product for $25 from the distributor. at retail level it's about $200.

Another example. they sell those iphone cases for like $10~20 bucks at the store.
you can buy those from china as low as $1 each. But where can you sell it though? stores are already getting it cheap from the distributor. you can sell it directly to customers for $5 but the quantity will be very low.

Post: #4

Anyone else reminded of this?

The Dark Knight Wrote:A long time ago, I was in Burma, my friends and I were working for the local government. They were trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones. But their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit...

Post: #5

Don't do it Artur, It's a well known scam in Asia

Post: #6

Reminds me of the local traders on the outdoor emerald market in Bogota. They know what they're doing and I can't imagine a gringo with no knowledge or experience in this business getting a half way decent deal. I was tempted for a second but then I came to my senses and realised I had no idea what I was doing.

With no contacts in the business in the West who's buying the stones? Even if you find someone they may rip you off or at least push your margin down to the point where it's not worth the effort.

By all means do it if you know what you're doing. There's money to be made but it will take a lot of dedication, hard work and learning. It could be a full-time occupation to figure out the angles, get the right contacts and learn enough about stones that you don't get ripped off. You'll make some mistakes along the way, but that's fine as long as you're aware and limit your exposure to the risks.

Unless you want to put in that work I suggest you don't do it, because you'll probably lose money before you start making it.

Post: #7

I've done a lot of reading up on this.

Tread carefully.

First off, if you want to get serious, Burma is old, old news - at least in this department. While once known for some of the best rubies in the world, the word behind the scenes is that the good mines are largely depleted, and many of its other mines produce far inferior rubies, which are often passed off to foreigners who don't know what they're doing.

The good mines are closely guarded by the government so that they rather than the people take all the profits (only a select few foreigners have ever been allowed to visit them), and locals who find good rubies and try to smuggle them out are severely punished. By purchasing them you support their iron fist over the country; better to buy from smugglers on the borders of Thailand because even if you were to find a good source in-country, you're likely going to be buying them at a top dollar from the military junta (and I believe it's still illegal for Americans to do business with Burma, so you'd be paying retail if buying them for yourself and taking a legal risk if you were buying them for trade).

Instead, seek out countries that are not so popular for their gems. Cambodia, for instance, is home to some beautiful and valuable blue sapphires. Then again, last I heard you cannot take raw stones out of Cambodia; you must have them cut and set into something first. Smuggling is an option, but you have to find someone you can trust if you don't want to take the risk yourself (I wouldn't). Surely some great rubies out there somewhere too.

It's been said that if you're willing to trek the rural rivers you can find some crazy gems there, the size of boulders, just sitting there where the water has cut into the bank. Then again, could just be another "big fish" story.

Many, many other countries are set to become prolific gem producers. New sites in Laos are found all the time when the ground is blown to bits by UXE. In fact, many of these unexploded bombs are finally being removed by gemstone companies who want to mine there, which is obviously good for the people. Word is still out on how good it is for the environment....Vietnam also houses some rich, undiscovered deposits of plenty of different stones. And of course, countries in resource-rich Africa leave much to be sought.

If you want to get in the gemstone business, first, educate yourself by taking a reputable gemology class that teaches you how to identify precious stones. Bangkok actually has a good one. There's also an opensource one online somewhere, though it's obviously not as good as taking it in person.

There are a lot of sophisticated scams for passing off gems to unsuspecting travelers. Some synthetics are extremely hard to tell from the real thing - they even put fake defects into the stone so they don't look so "perfect." One scam that has become more common is a "friend" or local guide taking you out to the middle of nowhere to meet "real miners" at the source and you just happen to see them find some nice stones right in front of you.

Being the savvy, worldly person you are, you jump on the ball and buy a few at a good price right there while you have the chance. Some luck, eh?

But alas, it turns out they're just synthetics these "ignorant" villagers buried before you arrived. But who's scamming who, right? After all, you tried to give them bottom dollar, thinking they didn't know the market price....

It's an alluring, exciting, and lucrative business. It's an industry full of danger and culture and adventure, even when you wipe away the glam. What more could a man of the world ask for in life?

But doing your homework is crucial. As they say, a fool and his money are soon parted; nowhere is this more true than with precious rocks.

DISCLAIMER: I'm by no means an expert here and all of the above is what I can recall from researching about 2 years ago, if not more, so forgive me if I've gotten a few things mixed up. Do your own reading, and check your sources carefully.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #8

In business we call this arbitrage.
"In economics and finance, arbitrage ( /ˈɑrbɨtrɑːʒ/) is the practice of taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets: striking a combination of matching deals that capitalize upon the imbalance, the profit being the difference between the market prices."

Post: #9

Wow, that is a piece of good knowledge!
Tomorrow I will go to the local gems market just to see how they cut/polish them. The statement that I should educate myself is definitely true. Where in Bangkok can I take the course?
BTW today I went to golden leaf producer shop.
Nice tourist show, but frankly speaking the amount of "gold" in such leafs was... next to nothing. Even for the price they were willing to sell.
But it was nice to watch them being made and later see golden Buddha being restored with those leafs.
So to reassume I will take no action in buying anything, just watch&learn, and just after putting some effort into subject try to seal some deals... It would be golden to find a good tutor in Thailand!

ps. the internet here is so painfully slow.. It took ~ 15 minutes to send this reply...

Post: #10

I would try doing this on a small scale, that is, buy a small amount to limit your risk. If it goes well, do it again (with more) on a later trip.

Post: #11

(11-30-2012 06:44 AM)artur jedi Wrote:  Wow, that is a piece of good knowledge!
Tomorrow I will go to the local gems market just to see how they cut/polish them. The statement that I should educate myself is definitely true. Where in Bangkok can I take the course?
BTW today I went to golden leaf producer shop.
Nice tourist show, but frankly speaking the amount of "gold" in such leafs was... next to nothing. Even for the price they were willing to sell.
But it was nice to watch them being made and later see golden Buddha being restored with those leafs.
So to reassume I will take no action in buying anything, just watch&learn, and just after putting some effort into subject try to seal some deals... It would be golden to find a good tutor in Thailand!

ps. the internet here is so painfully slow.. It took ~ 15 minutes to send this reply...

Here's a quick article I found: http://voices.yahoo.com/best-gemology-co...html?cat=3 This was a quick Google search, so do a little research on each institute before plunking down the cash. Cheapest one is around $5K for a course and next one up is $9K+ - those are diploma/certification courses. Looks like AIGS offers standalone intro courses too, but I doubt those particular ones gives you any proper identification skills.

(11-30-2012 08:52 AM)The Duke Wrote:  I would try doing this on a small scale, that is, buy a small amount to limit your risk. If it goes well, do it again (with more) on a later trip.

For sure. But not yet for the OP - even a small test should only be done after doing a little the homework first. No sense in throwing money away on a common tourist scam when it's easily avoided.

Self-control and common sense are requirements for success. Might as well start practicing them now.

Beyond All Seas

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes
frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." - Kipling

Post: #12

Just my 0.02, Mountainous regions of Asia have some potential, they are all slowly opening up either via trade or war. if you are able to get around northern Pakistan and Afghanistan, there are a few sapphire and emerald mines out there in the mountains. Had an uncle and his buddy venture out there when times were better a few years back. You get good quality for dirt cheap but it's raw and unpolished. If you can get them done by a gem cutter in south Asia and set by a jeweller, you're in the money. The guy made a few solid jewellery sets for his wife, cost him a tenth of the valuation. Has some business potential but you need some serious balls to head out that way now, it's some blood diamond level shit.