32nd IGC 2011 Interlaken, Switzerland

IGC 2011 Interlaken
Location and Working Hours
13. Jul 17. Jul. 2011

IGC 2011: Interlaken, Switzerland

Dear Participant of the 32nd IGC Conference in Interlaken, Switzerland

Two years after the last IGC Conference – organised by John Saul and his family in Arusha, Tanzania – it is our great pleasure to now host this event in Switzerland, 39 years after the last IGC Conference was held in Switzerland in 1972.

The IGC has always been a platform to present and discuss the latest research in gemmology. But apart from this, it has also been a great opportunity to meet old and new friends and to share not only science, but also friendship during the meeting.

In this spirit, I wish you in the name of the whole organising team an exciting and inspiring IGC Conference with lots of gemmological inputs for your own gemmological research and work.

Michael S. Krzemnicki, SSEF

Photo of the IGC Executive Board, taken in July 2011 in Interlaken (Switzerland): (From left to right) John Koivula, Hanco Zwaan, Emmanuel Fritsch, Gamini Zoysa, Henry A. Hänni, Jayshree Panjikar, Tay Thye Sun, John Saul, George Bosshart (†), Michael S. Krzemnicki. Long-standing Board members Dr. Jan Kanis, Mr. Alan Jobbins are also on this picture.

Conference

Interlaken (Switzerland)

Thursday 14th July

Coloured Stones

9.00-9.20 Opening ceremony and Announcements

9.20-10.05 Invited lecture by Prof. T. Armbruster, University of Berne, Switzerland : Gemmology at the Interface between Mineralogy and Crystallography Tourmaline, Garnet, Spodumene, Spinel, Turquoise (Chairman John Koivula)

10.05-10.25 Karl Schmetzer et al : Trapiche tourmaline from Zambia –chemical and structural zoning

10.25-10.45 Federico Pezzotta et al: Gem tourmaline from Elba Island, Italy

10.45-11.05 Coffee break

11.05-11.25 Ulrich Henn et al: Mn-bearing grossular garnet

11.25-11.45 George Bosshart et al: Colorimetric investigation of unstable and stable spodumene colours

11.45-12.05 Furuya Masaki Colouring agents and their spectra in blue spinel

12.05-12.25 Jean Marie Dereppe et al : EPR of turquoise and some of its imitations

12.25-14.00 Lunch

Quartz, Opals

14.00-14.20 Jurgen Schnellrath et al.: Quartz cat’s eyes with unusual fibre distribution patterns

14.20-14.40 Claudio Milisenda et al : Irradiated blue common opal from Brazil

14.40-15.00 Benjamin Rondeau et al : Play-of-colour opal from Wollo, Ethiopia: a new pedogenetic model for gem opal formation 15.00-16.00 Poster session (see below)

15.40-16.00 Coffee break Beryls 16.00-16.20 Henry Hänni : Beryl – 30 years later

16.20-16.40 Liu Shang-I et al: Study of an extraordinary Cs- and Li-rich beryl from Madagascar

16.40-17.00 Hanco Zwaan et al. : Preliminary report on emeralds from the Fazenda Bonfim region, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

17.00 Conference closes

19.00 Meeting point Kursaal entrance for walk to Harder Kulm train station

19.30-22.00 Dinner at Harder Kulm Restaurant

Friday 15th July

8.00-8.45 EXECO reunion

Pearls

9.00-9.20 Elisabeth Strack : An overview of production techniques for Chinese freshwater cultured pearls

9.20- 9.40 Michael Krzemnicki et al.: External and internal structures of Tokki pearls: additional cultured pearls formed during pearl cultivation

9.40-10.00 Nick Sturman et al. Cultured Queen Conch pearls – A comparison to natural Queen Conch pearls

10.00-10.20 Federico Bärlocher : The natural Melo pearls from the Andaman Sea, Myanmar

10.20-10.40 Coffee break

Diamonds

10.40-11.00 Laurent Cartier Diamond production in Sierra Leone since 1930

11.00- 11.20 N. N. Zudina, et al.: Orange diamonds from the Siberian placers: the features of structural defects

11.20-11.40 Thomas Hainschwang et al.: Photoluminescence spectroscopy and imaging of type Ib diamonds

11.40-12.00 Emmanuel Fritsch et al.: ”Birefringence” in diamond: a useful tool to separate natural from synthetic diamond

12.00-12.05 Announcements

12.05-13.30 Lunch

13.30-14.20 Poster session

14.20-14.40 Yuri Shelementiev et al.: Distinction between well and poorly cut diamonds on the basis of dark zone analysis

14.40-15.00 Joe Yuan et al.: Using synchrotron radiation to analyse diamond crystal structure

15.00-15.20 Israel Eliezri: From Rough to Report – Use of Technology

15.20 Conference day closes

17.00 Meeting point Kursaal entrance for walk to boat pier Interlaken East

17.30 Boat leaves for Giessbach

19.00 Conference photograph will be taken with all participants at Giessbach

19.30-22.00 Gala Dinner at Giessbach Hotel

Saturday 16th July

Corundum, Heat treatment

9.00-9.20 Walter Balmer et al.: Re-assessment of the characterisation of UV-Vis spectra for rubies from marble-hosted deposits

9.20- 9.40 Jayshree Panjikar et al.: Importance of various “feather type” inclusions in the identification of natural, treated, synthetic and treated-synthetic yellow sapphire

09.40-10.00 John Koivula: High temperature fusion of corundum mimics so-called residues in heat treated rubies and sapphires

10.00-10.20 Visut Pisutha-Arnond et al.: Blue coloration of heat-treated zircon

10.20-10.40 Coffee break

10.40-11.00 John Saul: Emplacement of deposits of coloured gemstones at the intersection of faults with the perimeters of large circular structures

11.00-11.20 Lore Kiefert: Sapphires from exotic sources: Azad Kashmir and New Zealand

11.20-11.40 Lin Sutherland et al.: The New England, New South Wales, Australia gem field: geographic typing of a world class giant gem deposit of basaltic placer origin

11.40-12.00 Nguyen Ngoc Khoi et al.: Three main types of corundum gem deposits in Vietnam

12.00-12.20 Terry Coldham : Basaltic corundum. A case for the promotion of increased cooperation between gemmological researchers and gemstone producers ?

12.20-12.25 Announcements

12.25-14.00 Lunch

Olivine, Jadeite

14.00-14.20 Jaroslav Hyrsl, Historical use of olivine – the origin of peridots in baroque-period jewellery

14.20-14.40 Thanong Leelawathanasuk et al.: Pallasitic peridot : The gemstone from Outer Space

11 14.40-15.00 Loredana Prosperi: Italian gemstones: Peridot from Sardinia, Demantoid garnet from Val Malenco, Omphacite “jade” from the Po Valley, Piedmont, Amber from Sicily

15.00-15.20 Tay Thye Sun et al.: Preliminary studies to distinguish omphacite from jadeite

15.20-15.40 Edward Boehm: Recent coloured gemstone production & market trends

15.40-16.00 Coffee break

Canadian gemstones

16.00-16.20 Willow Wight: Rare gemstones from Mont Saint-Hilaire, Québec, Canada

16.20-16.40 Karen Fox: New Canadian occurrences of gem scapolite and demantoid

16.40-17.00 Bradley Wilson: Gemstones from southern Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada

17.00 Conference day closes

18.30 Apéritif and Dinner at Restaurant Spycher, Congress Centre Interlaken

Sunday 17th July

08.00-08.45 EXECO meeting

Testing Techniques

9.00-9.30 Prof Thomas Pettke: LA-ICP-MS and its applications in gemmology

9.30- 9.50 Pornsawat Wathanakul et al.: AFM: an alternative technique for indicating gem treatments

9.50-10.10 Manfred Eickhorst: Putting LEDs to work for gemmology

10.10-10.30 Michael Hügi: The characteristics of digital photography applied to photomicrography of gemstone inclusions

10.30-10.50 Coffee break

Rare stones, Organic materials

10.50–11.10 Sutas Singbamroong et al.: Gem characterization of sérandite from Québec, Canada

11.10-11.30 Michael Gray: The care and handling of large gemstones

11.30-11.50 Stephen Webb et al.: An organic gem material of proposed name “rostellite” derived from the fossilized beaks of whales of the family Ziphiidae

11.50-12.10 Stefanos Karampelas: Identification of organic gems from endangered species: An overview

12.10-12.15 Announcements

12.15-14.00 Lunch

14.00-15.00 Conference closing ceremony

15.00 Conference ends

15.15-15.45 Execo meeting (if needed)

Posters

Thursday 14th July

15.05 Wilawan Atichat et al.: Mozambique ruby: Indication of low-temperature heat treatment

15.10 Edward Boehm: A photo collage in memory of Dr. Edward J.Gübelin and the many years of his participation in the International Gemmological Conferences and excursions

15.15 George Bosshart: Do bi-coloured green and blue beryls exist, which consist of emerald and aquamarine zones ?

15.20 Emmanuel Fritsch et al.: Cr3+-green common opal from Turnali, North-eastern Turkey

15.25 Henry Hänni et al.: A portable Raman system for gemstone identification: The GemExpert Raman probe

15.30 Franz Herzog et al.: Colour by Rare Earth elements, as exemplified by a colour changing bastnäsite from Pakistan

Friday 15th July

13.35 Arunas Kleismantas: XVIIth century doublets in liturgical items

13.40 Francine Payette et al.: Gem-quality green and blue tourmaline from a Coolgardie pegmatite, Western Australia.

13.45 Boontawee Sripasert et al.: Properties of blue spinel from Sri Lanka

13.50 Elizabeth Su: Jadeite trading in China

13.55 Chakkapan Suthirat et al.: Fancy sapphires from Deniyaya deposit, southern Sri Lanka

14.00 Panjawan Thanasuthipitak et al.: Bi-coloured sapphires from basaltic and metamorphic affiliations

14.05-14.10 R. Wirz: Bruker FTIR

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