Gemstone carving, a neglected art in West Azerbaijan

The field of cutting precious and semi-precious stones or in short, gem cutting is one of the old arts and crafts in different parts of our country, which in recent years has been welcomed by the people of this art. Semi-expensive as an ornamental and decorative as well as therapeutic aspect as well as the approach to job creation, this art has received more and more attention.

Making gemstones is a lucrative and easy job that has been neglected

In an interview with ISNA, Ali Ghorbani, a young jeweler from Urmia, stated that sour gemstones are a lucrative and easy job that have been neglected. We are ready to set up a gemstone cutting workshop in the province for those who are interested, because it is a lucrative job and on the other hand it is easy.

He stated that the duration of this training course is between 10 to 15 days and a total of 120 hours and continued: 100 hours are dedicated to stone carving training and 20 hours are dedicated to branding, advertising, entrepreneurship and marketing.

The artist added: “After the end of this training course, people who are interested in continuing to work with our collection will take an exam. If they receive enough points, they can start their activities and have a good and growing income.”

He stated that the net profit of this business is between 6 to 8 million Tomans on average and stated: The capital required for activities in this field is 10 million Tomans, which is estimated at a total cost of 12 Tomans with the cost of training.

The victim stated that we provide the necessary raw materials and stones to the people, on the other hand, they are provided with the necessary training so that they can identify precious and usable stones when they are in the lap of nature. There is 70% of opal in our province, which is full of these stones even near Shahrchai dam, but they can also get it from our production.

The jeweler stated that those interested can participate in this training course without considering age and gender restrictions and without any prerequisites: This art does not have environmental pollution, but due to the use of a desktop dynamo device, the possibility of pollution There is audio, but we have a table for it, which minimizes the noise.

Noting that half a meter to one square meter of physical space is enough to work in this field, the entrepreneur added: Therefore, a large amount of physical space is not needed.

“Since last year, 45 women heads of households have participated in these training courses,” he said.

Processing of precious and semi-precious stones in the country is slow

In an interview with ISNA, Parisa Abedpour, Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Industries of the Industry, Mining and Trade Organization of the province, said: “Currently, 503 mines have valid exploitation licenses with definite reserves of more than 1138 million tons and investment volume of more than 4745 billion rials.” There is.

He added that the mines have provided direct employment for 5,179 people: “We have formed a working group to manage the market and activities related to precious and semi-precious stones, which we hope will be the source of many changes, especially in Turkey has a good market for this area.

The official pointed out that the import of cut stones from other countries is one of the reasons for the slowdown in the processing of precious and semi-precious stones in the country.

The necessity of holding an exhibition of cutting precious and semi-precious stones in the province

Jalil Jabbari, Director General of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts of West Azerbaijan, said in a meeting of the Working Group on Precious and Semi-Precious Stones:

He continued: “West Azerbaijan has a high capacity for processing these types of stones due to its mines of precious and semi-precious stones.”

The Director General of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts of West Azerbaijan added: “In its area of ​​responsibility, the General Directorate has tried to use the province’s capacity to process these types of stones in the field of handicrafts by setting up a workshop for cutting precious and semi-precious stones in Khoy and Urmia.”

He continued: “Also, memorandums of understanding have been signed with the General Directorate of Technical and Vocational Education of the province and Urmia University with the aim of using professors to train young people in the field of cutting precious and semi-precious stones.”

Jabbari added: “This year, 100 people have participated in handicraft training workshops organized by the General Directorate of Heritage, Culture, Tourism and Handicrafts. Also, this year, 14 carving and turquoise licenses have been issued in the province.”

He said: “This department is ready to provide the space and place needed to sell products and works of precious and semi-precious stones in order to support craftsmen in this field and handicraft activists.”

According to ISNA; West Azerbaijan has a pristine and untouched nature, such as mineral resources, including precious and semi-precious stones, and the beauty and variety of colors is one of their most important features. Therefore, employment can be easily created in this area, of course Provided that there is sufficient will in this regard between the officials and interested people to make efforts for education.