Thousands of kilometres from the ocean, the iridescent sparkle from a long-dead sea creature is creating a business opportunity on the Prairies.
Ron Robak from south of Rimbey, Alta., has created a wholesale jewelry business based on fossilized ammonites.
While ammonite shells are found around the world, only Alberta has the dramatic colours. Robak said there are some in Russia that are blood red but Alberta’s fossils are bright red, pink and mauve as well as the more popular blue and green.
When cut, the shiny, tightly spiralled shells become precious gemstones called ammolite.
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Ammonites lived in the ocean that covered the interior of North America from 320 million years ago. They disappeared 70 million years ago, about the same time as the dinosaurs.
Unique to prairie
Robak said the minerals in the soil in Alberta have created the unique look of its ammolite.
Most of his product comes from the Blood Reserve in southern Alberta.
Robak’s wife Donna, who acts as sales agent for Ammonite World, said she married a rock hound.
Fourteen years ago a friend showed them a piece of ammolite he had mined and the Robaks decided to switch from making amber jewelry to using the unique stone.
Donna said 80 percent of their production is exported, mainly to the United States, Germany and Asia. Little is sold in Canada, which the Robaks say is another example of Canadians not appreciating domestic goods.
The company employs four part-time workers.
“I used to do a lot of the cutting but I’m now doing more gold and silver casting,” said Ron.
He said working with the brittle gem has been a process of trial and error to find the best way to handle it.
Donna said their sales are rising 30 percent a year and Ron said they cut hundreds of gems from the 1,000 to 3,000 sq. inches of ammolite they go through each year.
For more information, visit www.ammoniteworld.biz.
