True Namibian Mandarin Garnet from Namibia – Last of the Alan Roup Legacy

This exceptional Mandarin Garnet is one of the few remaining treasures from the legendary Namibian mine developed by the late Alan Roup, a seasoned geologist with decades of gem-mining expertise across Africa. In the early 1980s, Roup opened the renowned Mandarin garnet deposits in the remote Kunene Region, near the Angolan border.

Mining here was an extreme endeavor—requiring a Cessna-accessible airstrip, dug-out housing, and collaboration with the local Ovahimba people. Open-cast methods, dynamite, and heavy machinery yielded only 4–5 kg of cuttable garnet per month. When surface mining ceased, the area’s remoteness kept the deposit untouched.

This brilliant trill-cut gem represents the enduring legacy of those operations—its vivid, fiery orange and exceptional clarity embodying the rare beauty that made these garnets famous. With supplies now nearly exhausted, this stone is more than a jewel—it’s a piece of gemological history. Secure it now—there may never be another like it.