Meeting during the 2024 CIBJO Congress in Shanghai, the Coloured Gemstone Commission heard an appeal by a group of Australian delegates to support the development of a guide devoted to opals.

The President of the Coloured Gemstone Commission is Charles Abouchar.

Australian coloured gemstone, mining and jewellery groups reported that are working to develop a Opal Guide and are inviting traders in key localities around the world to make submissions to develop the document, the CIBJO Congress heard.

“I would like to invite people in opal centres such as Mexico, Honduras, Ethiopia and Brazil, to contribute to this important work,” Australia-based opal supplier Ruth Benjamin-Thomas, President of the Australian Opal Association, told the CIBJO Congress plenary, adding that much of the input so far had come from Australia.

“The Opal Guide has been championed by CIBJO for quite a long time. We don’t currently have a way of classifying and describing opal clearly, within the worldwide community, and so this Opal Guide is really going to be the start of that process, in describing and classifying opal from all localities around the world.

“It is a really important document that we have been working on in Australia to begin with, working with the Jewellers Association of Australia, the Gemmological Association of Australia, and my own opal association.

“We have been consulting with the local mining groups as well as the valuers.

“We brought our document to CIBJO, to the last Congress, in Jaipur in 2023, and we produced a classification and a glossary of terms that can be used for all opal worldwide. This was adopted and the working group was formed.”

Ms Benjamin-Thomas said later in an interview that she is now seeking submissions from traders in other localities in opal producing countries such as the United States, Mexico, Honduras, Peru, and Indonesia.

She said she was looking forward to continuing her work on this “living document”, designed to be updated from time to time, and hoped to present it, if possible at the next CIBJO Congress in 2025.

She said she would welcome people to message her via her LinkedIn account.

Separately, Australia-based Damien Cody, President of the International Coloured Gemstone Association (ICA), invited CIBJO members to contribute to the “Gems Keep Giving” charity, and gave examples of its work, such as delivering clean water to a tsavorite mining community in Kamtonga, Kenya.

“We want members to tell us about projects that are needed, and we require donations, Mr Cody said.