Winza, Tanzania

The world's most unique sapphire deposit, reanimated?

Discovered in late 2007 near the village of Winza in central Tanzania, this deposit was briefly one of the world's top sources of unheated ruby. Gemologists were intrigued that its rubies and sapphires grew in several different crystal shapes in the same spot. Its rarest trait was color: ruby or pink sapphire sharing a single crystal with blue or purple sapphire, split by a clear, almost artistic divide.

The crystals sat loose in weathered soil on top of flaky black amphibole rock. Once miners had dug out that easy top layer in 2007–2008, deeper mining struggled, and by 2014 Winza was considered mined out. So we were thrilled when our Tanzanian and Thai sources spotted a trickle of new material in 2022, and they worked hard through 2023 to catch what reached the market. Only a few small-scale miners still work the site, and we haven't been able to source new rough since December 2024, which makes every Winza stone we have all the more special.