Saturday, June 27, 2015

The Inaugural Mineral & Gem Asia Fair Opened Today


The first edition of the Mineral & Gem Asia opened Saturday and will run until Tuesday at the AsiaWorld-Expo, Hong Kong. Organized by UBM Asia, the fair has 101 local and overseas exhibitors in about 12,000sqm of exhibition space. Participants include exhibitors from about 27 countries and regions around the world displaying a variety of rough and polished gemstones, fossils, art pieces and rough, loose, semi- and fully finished mineral products.

Exhibitors include Amberstream from Poland; Blue Gems, Chili Jewels, Iskcon Gems, KGE Rough & Gems and Rusgems from Hong Kong, Duarte & Bastos from Brazil; Ram Narayan from India; and Star Mountain Mining from the US.

Apart from the rare mineral specimens, three dinosaur fossils are on display. They include a pair of dinosaur fossils in fighting position, Allosaurus atrox and Suuwassea emiliea, which are being shown for the first time in Asia. Tyrannosaurus rex – King Kong, which was displayed at the June Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair 2014, will be at Mineral & Gem Asia as well. In addition, a three-dimensional model of the Thermopolis archaeopteryx specimen, the first of its kind, is on display.


“The launch of Mineral & Gem Asia is an important milestone in UBM Asia’s fair history. We are glad that the fair is receiving great support from the industry,” said UBM Asia Senior VP Wolfram Diener. 

This support includes The Stephen Hui Geological Museum of The University of Hong Kong and The Mineralogy Society of Hong Kong. The organizations are showing their latest mineral and fossil collections and are hosting onsite activities, such as a game and workshops, to give students the opportunity to explore, learn and appreciate mineral specimens, fossils and rare stones from around the world.


The Stephen Hui Geological Museum is displaying rare fossils including the skull of a Hipparion coelophyes, a well-preserved Jurassic plant fossil from Lantau Island and a two-cm large fossilized cone of pine from Tertiary rocks of Dong Ping Chau found in Hong Kong.

The Mineralogy Society of Hong Kong is showcasing valuable mineral specimens found from around the world including Calcite, Dioptase, Tourmaline, Tsavorite.

Mineral & Gem Asia at the AsiaWorld-Expo is running in parallel with the 2015 edition of the June Hong Kong Jewellery & Gem Fair, which at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, June 25-28. The June fair features 2,273 exhibitors from 45 countries and regions. 

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