Addis Ababa · Est. 2013
Emerald, ruby, sapphire, opal, lithium and gold, sourced at the mine in Ethiopia and East Africa and exported to buyers on four continents.
The collection
Every lot is sorted, weighed and documented in Addis Ababa before it leaves the country. Choose a stone to see grades, origins and how we supply it.
Our work
We don't trade from catalogues. Our team is on site with the excavator crews, sorts ore by hand, and follows every load to the warehouse and onto the ship.
Charis Export has shipped lithium ore to processors in China and traded with partners in Dubai. Now we are opening the rest of the world.
Sourced at origin
From our gallery
Rough crystal and finished stones photographed in hand. Video and lot photography are supplied for every offer.
How an order moves
The same six steps for a 50-carat gem parcel or a 500-tonne lithium shipment.
Material, grade, quantity and destination. We confirm availability and indicative pricing.
Photos, video and physical samples. Gem lab reports or third-party assays on request.
Price, payment and Incoterm agreed in writing. Letters of credit and escrow welcome.
Export permit, certificate of origin and chain-of-custody records prepared in Ethiopia.
Sealed, insured and tracked, with the full document set sent ahead of arrival.
Receipt checked against the contract. Repeat orders on a monthly or quarterly schedule.
Gemstones & gold
Addis Ababa → ADD Bole International → insured air freight
High-value lots fly as secure air cargo, usually FCA Addis Ababa or CIP your airport.
Bulk minerals & lithium
Mine site → road corridor → Port of Djibouti → sea freight
Bulk bags or containers, typically FOB Djibouti or CFR / CIF your discharge port.
A word from the CEO
“We stand for integrity, respect and transparency, from the miner in the field to the buyer who opens the parcel.”
Monthly news
By appointment
Tell us the stone, grade and quantity. We reply within two business days with availability, pricing and sample options.
Start an enquiry →Our work · Lithium, southern Ethiopia
This is how Charis Export mines, sorts and ships lithium ore: filmed on site by our own team. No stock footage, no middlemen.
Boots on the ground
Every shipment we sell starts with a flight south, a drive into the hills, and a day at the pit with the people who dig it.
Ethiopia's lithium sits in pegmatite: veins of coarse crystal running through the hills of the south. Reaching it means working with local landholders, licensed operators and artisanal crews who know the ground better than any map.
Our team travels to site for every new source. We inspect the outcrop, agree terms face to face, and stay through extraction so we can vouch for what goes into the bag. That is what lets us put our name on a shipment to a buyer on the other side of the world.
The lithium process
Filmed by our own team at partner sites and our warehouse, 2023–2024.
01
Lithium in southern Ethiopia occurs in pegmatite. We walk the outcrop, trace the veins and break hand samples to read the minerals by eye: pale spodumene, lilac lithium mica, quartz and feldspar.
Promising samples go for laboratory testing before any machine is brought in.
02
An excavator strips the overburden and breaks the pegmatite face, while local crews work alongside to free the ore by hand. It is open-pit, shallow and selective: we follow the vein rather than move the whole hillside.
Working with the community brings jobs and income to the area, and keeps the site safe and orderly.
03
At the pit, ore is broken and sorted by hand. Lithium-rich pieces are separated from barren rock and stacked in graded piles.
This simple step lifts the grade before the ore ever leaves site, which means buyers pay to ship lithium, not waste.
04
Sorted ore travels by truck to our secure warehouse. Each load is weighed and logged on arrival, so every tonne in a shipment can be traced back to its pit.
05
In the warehouse the ore is crushed to a uniform size and blended into lots. Representative samples are taken from every lot and assayed for Li₂O content.
Buyers receive the assay before they commit, and can appoint their own inspector to sample alongside ours.
06
Approved lots are bagged and stacked in our warehouse, then sealed and loaded into containers under our team's supervision. With the export permit, certificate of origin and assay in hand, the cargo travels by road to the Port of Djibouti and on by sea.
Typical terms are FOB Djibouti or CIF to the buyer's port.
Track record
Charis Export has built working trade relationships in the two markets that matter most for East African minerals.
Exported
Lithium ore shipped to Chinese companies in the battery-materials supply chain, on assay-based contracts.
Trading partner
Completed deals with Dubai companies, supported by our trading office in Ras Al Khaimah, the gateway between Africa, Asia and Europe.
Home base
Licensed export from Addis Ababa, with our own team at the mine, the warehouse and the port.
What comes next
With supply proven and partners in Asia and the Gulf, we are now building long-term relationships in new markets. If you buy in one of these regions, we would like to meet you.
Partnerships
Offtake agreements, regular container supply, or a first trial shipment. Tell us what you need.
Start the conversation →
About Charis Export
Since 2013, Charis Export has supplied rare rough and cut gemstones, minerals and raw materials from Ethiopia to buyers around the world.
We began in Addis Ababa with a simple aim: to give international buyers direct, documented access to the stones of the Ethiopian highlands, without the long chain of middlemen that hides origin and inflates price.
Today we operate from Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States. We work with licensed mines and artisanal cooperatives, grade every lot ourselves, and ship with full export documentation.
Vision
To be the most trusted source of East African gemstones and minerals for buyers worldwide.
Mission
Superior quality, cost-effective and ethically sourced stones and minerals, delivered on time with strong customer focus and continuous improvement.
Quality
A quality management system built on risk-based analysis, continual improvement and close cooperation with our suppliers.
Responsible sourcing
High safety, social and environmental standards are conditions of doing business with us.
Every shipment leaves Ethiopia under the export permits and certificates of origin required by Ethiopian authorities.
Each lot is recorded from mine site or licensed cooperative to export, and those records are shared with buyers.
Supplier checks follow the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for responsible mineral supply chains.
We help formalise artisanal and small-scale miners, with fair prices, safer conditions and proper records.
Responsible resource use and land rehabilitation are conditions we set with every supplier.
Part of what we earn returns to infrastructure and welfare in the communities where we source.
Message from the CEO
Dear customers, employees and stakeholders,
Charis Export was founded to provide focused services in the mineral resources and mining sector, and it has grown steadily ever since. Through the pandemic we held to our core values of safety, sustainability and innovation, and kept a fair, competitive approach that delivers value to our clients.
Thanks to our employees and partners, we have expanded to the UAE and the USA, increased production, and invested in technology that improves efficiency and reduces our environmental impact.
We remain committed to excellence in every part of our business. Thank you for your continued trust.
Tomas Vacilevich
Chief Executive Officer
Offices
Private enquiry
Tell us what you need and where it is going. We reply within two business days with availability, indicative pricing and sample options.
Shared with you as soon as you send an enquiry.
Monthly news
Shipments, new parcels, site visits and market updates from Charis Export, published every month.
Stay informed
Buyers on our list hear first about new parcels and shipment slots. Send an enquiry and tick "monthly update" in your notes.
Contact the desk →Photography
Mineral photographs on this site are representative specimens from Wikimedia Commons, used under the licences listed. Gallery images are Charis Export's own. Photos and video of the actual lot are provided with every offer.
