Tanzanite Foundation “Re-focused”

(IDEX Online News) – Following news that the Tanzanite Foundation was closing its New York office, Richland Resources and its subsidiary company TanzaniteOne Mining Limited (TML) has announced that the organization is continuing its work.

The “re-focused” foundation, which a company email says is now based in Hong Kong, is undergoing “structural and operational changes to better align with global tanzanite markets and the expectations of the Sightholders who buy the gems mined by TML.”

The company said the decision was made to create a “centralized global body serving both mature markets like the US and Europe, and growth markets in Asia.”

“While cost savings are anticipated from this decision we see the main future benefit of the changes as coming from the ability to develop and integrate multiple gemstone sales channels for Richland,” said CEO Bernard Olivier. “We are extremely proud of our CSR projects in Tanzania and will be maintaining them, as well as new projects.”

Although the Tanzanite Foundation marketed the tanzanite gemstone rather than specifically promoting TML’s gems, most of the money for the organization came from Richland, which has said the restructuring will save it approximately $300,000 annually.

Richland has been faced considerable difficulties mining Tanzanite, especially because of illegal miners preventing access to high-quality production areas.

The company said it is awaiting the results of commitments made by the government of Tanzania to increase safety in the Merelani area for TML workers prior to any further decision on mining operations in Tanzania.