The government has opened the first opal trading centre where artisanal miners trade with exporters in Delanta Wereda, South Wello Zone of the Amhara Regional State.

Aimed at fighting illegal transactions, benefiting unemployed youth and improving transactions with exporters, the Ministry of Mines & Petroleum launched the opal trading centre on May 11, 2019.

The centre was opened at one of the weredaoffices temporarily until it obtains its own building, according to Argaw Getachew, administrator of Delanta Wereda, which is known for ample resources of high-quality opal. Out of the 31 rural kebeles under the administration, 27 are known for abundant opal resources.

"The regional administration will handle the 10-million-Br budget for the centre and the process of hiring of contractors and consultants," he said.

Offices, trading floors, display rooms, storage, lapidaries and other facilities related to quality control are slated to be included in the new trading centre.

There are 20,000 artisanal miners in Delanta Wereda organised into 27 cooperative unions and small & medium-enterprises. The miners extract opal, one of the 10 types of precious minerals the country possesses including emerald, sapphire, ruby and quartz.

The artisanal miners supply opal to 92 lapidaries, who cut and polish the mineral to add value before export. There are 487 companies who received their competency certificate from the Ministry of Mines & Petroleum and their trade license from the Ministry of Trade & Industry to export the precious mineral. There are also intermediaries, some operating illegally, in the market chain.

The new marketing platform will maintain traceability and mitigate the interventions of illegal brokers and contraband traders, according to Jiksa Kidane, director for the artisanal mining supporting and coordinating department at the Ministry.

Given that contraband has increased in the mining industry, export revenue from opal has been declining since 2016, according to data from the Ministry.

In the past three years, the government has targeted the country to export 1,100Kg of polished opal but succeeded in exporting just two-thirds of that figure, generating only seven million dollars.

Rough opals, which are directly extracted from the mine, are graded at the Ministry before export. There are five grades based on the quality, ranging from A to E, and ranging in value between 750 dollars and 6,000 dollars a kilogram.

Polished opals, which are considered a value addition, are traded between 40,000 dollars a kilogram to 10,000 dollars a kilogram.