Malawi Agate History

Malawi Agate has a wide variety of gemstones including agate, ruby, sapphire, garnets, amethyst, rose quartz, tourmaline, and more. These stones are found in pegmites, volcanic and basic host rocks. The main color inclusion elements of iron, chrome, lithium, and manganese provide a particular color for the Malawi stone materials. The southern area of Ngabu, along the Mozambique border, in the Shire Valley, contains volcanic basalt which is where Malawi Agate is found. The material was formed when chalcedony formed from aqueous solutions and filled in the volcanic cavities, which formed in the upper parts of the basalt lava piles.

There has been documentation of the agate fields dating back to the 1930s, but larger commercial mining doesn’t seem to have taken hold in the southern region of Malawi near the town of Ngabu until the later half of the 20^th century. Since about 2017 Joshua Ritter has been involved with mining Malawi Agate. Joshua had a favorite agate that came out of a decades old collection, that sparked his interest in the Malawi Agate. He had a contact and reached out to Gem Shop owner and president, Veronica Woods, who had a different contact for Joshua to contact as well. Joshua was able to use the contacts to develop his current relationship and business partner that has since developed into an international love for distributing Malawi Agate.

The 1970s location is the oldest commercial mine in Malawi. This is where much of the originally mined material comes from. It tends to be pretty heavily fractured and is a bit larger in size with some pieces up to seven inches in length. A lot of this material also contains a variety of colors like blue, orange, yellow, red, green, and purple. This agate was first collected on the surface by hand in collaboration with the neighboring communities. After a time this mine was closed and not reopened until Ritter began his inquiries.

Since that time there are now about 10 or so locations where Malawi agate can be found. The most popular location is the Alimajo location. It is very close to the original location, but the material in this location averages only one to two inches in size. This material is sold in the rough and is known for its strong, vibrant coloring and deep banding. Pretty much every color can be found in these small candy agates, which make them fun to cut for both the professional and hobbyist lapidarist.

Since Ritter and his business partner have begun investing in the Malawi mining operations, they now have to dig between five to fifty meters down into the host rock in order to get to the new material! 

 A special thank you to Joshua Ritter of Agate Bay for the information on Malawi Agates and the photographs of the mine.