Legislative Decree 119-2008 declared the zones of San Andrés and Erandique (Lempira, Honduras) as reserve zones for the exclusive exploitation, extract and trade of opal –nonmetallic mineral- by inhabitants of that region.
German organizations interested in those zones, such as Fundación de Comercio Justo de Minerales y Gemas, Cooperación Técnica Alemana en Honduras (GIZ) and recently Geo-Expert, have managed to promote the honduran opal in the European Community, especially in Germany.
Professional workshops have been installed in Erandique for the processing of opal which is turned into impressing gems and precious stones out of the four main kind of opal that can be produced: white opal, black opal, crystal and matrix.
The idea is to export the processed mineral in a near future. So far almost 10 metric tons of rough opal has been exported to Germany and Hong Kong. It could also be exported to India and Thailand where some prominent buyers have shown interest in the Honduran opal.
Honduras is one of the five countries around the world that has authentic opal deposits together with Brazil, Australia, United States and Ethiopia. Specialists say that matrix opal can also be found in Australia while the crystal type can compete with the best diamond, the black opal is one of the more fine stone with a very high international demand and the white opal is very well known around the globe.
In the mentioned zone there are four active mines out of which almost 5 tons are extracted on a monthly basis and there are around ten mines that remain inactive.
Honduras has an impressive potential in mining, not only of nonmetallic minerals as the opal but also of zinc, copper and iron which constitute metallic minerals.-
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