This beautiful GIA video captures the mystery, passion, and love of nature that draws opal hunters to Australia.
Category: Ooh . . . Shiny!
Metamorphic Gem: Garnet
This post (with a couple of updates at the end) is from 2018. Mantle gems include diamonds and peridots. These form under intense heat and
Repost: Guest Video: Mining Zircons in Cambodia
Watch as red zircons are dug out of the soil in Ratanakiri, Cambodia, and turned into sky-blue gemstones by heat treatment in somebody’s back-yard mini-furnace.
Repost: Zabargad: Island of Green Stones
What do former Russian royals and the Red Sea have in common?
Gems, of course–in particular, one famous peridot plus a few smaller ones. All of these stones came from Zabargad Island in the Red Sea.
What is natural ruby?
This post, based on something I wrote for Helium back in 2011, was first blogged here in 2013. However, it’s a natural tie-in to yesterday’s
Guest Videos: Aquamarine
Aquamarine is a beryllium mineral like bertrandite or beryl, but its chemical formula is slightly different. Who would suspect that the addition of a little
