GEMS MINED IN THE UNITED STATES, MEXICO, SOUTH AMERICA, CANADA

When you think of geographical areas that produce gemstones, you probably think of South Africa, Thailand, China, or Russia. The U.S. and other areas in the Western Hemisphere produce gemstones as well. This is a summary of producing mines primarily in the U.S.

Many thanks to Dave Federman from whose original article, “Born in the USA”, this summary was developed.

TOURMALINE
Gem quality pink tourmaline was mined in large quantities around San Diego early in the 20th century. China sent buyers to San Diego to buy as much of the prized pink tourmaline as was available, and the city’s economy prospered. Maine produces first quality green tourmaline. Pink tourmaline is now extremely rare and is mined in Thailand or Myanmar.

PERIDOT
A large peridot mine near the Grand Canyon, on an Apache reservation, produces one of the world’s largest supplies of high quality peridot. Arizona peridot is much in demand.

GARNET
Garnet mines are scattered over the U.S. Colorado produces a good share of jewelry-quality garnets.

SAPPHIRE
Montana sapphire is a lovely and very rare stone, deep blue, mined in very small carat sizes. From 1901 to 1929 the New Mine Sapphire Company, a British organization, mined sapphire at Utica, Montana. Fancy color sapphires have also been mined in Montana near Rock Creek.

PEARLS
When the New World was in its early settlement years, rare pearls could be purchased from Natives. America was for millenia one of the world’s greatest pearl-hunting paradises. When Spanish explorers raided the tombs of Native Americans in the 16th century they found bushels of freshwater pearls that had been buried with the dead. Some of the pearls exceeded 3/4 inch in diameter. Pearls discovered in New Jersey sparked a pearl rush in 11 other states that produced significant pearl finds in the 50 years between 1857 and 1907. See below for a more complete report on pearls.

DIAMOND
The largest diamond found in the U.S. was 40 carats, discovered in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. Other states that have produced diamonds include Colorado, Kentucky, and Michigan, but never in quantities great enough to justify establishing full scale mining operations. Huge diamond finds in Canada promoted hopes for a U.S. diamond rush, but it won’t happen. At present, there are no commercial diamond mines operating in the United States. The Kelsey Lake Mine near the Colorado-Wyoming border was closed in April 2002. About 50-65% of the diamonds produced at Kelsey Lake Mine were gem quality and almost one third of the gems produced were over one carat in size. The two most valuable stones reported from the Kelsey Lake Mine were valued at $89,000 and $300,000.

There is good potential for commercial diamond production in the United States. Multiple diamond discoveries in Canada have prospectors looking at comparable areas in Alaska and Minnesota. The Wyoming Geological Survey believes that a $1 billion diamond industry could develop in that state. Wyoming has comparable conditions to the Canadian deposits and hundreds of kimberlite pipes are believed to exist. Twenty diamondiferous pipes have been discovered so far but assessment results have not been released to the public.

AQUAMARINE

Beautiful aquamarine in large sizes, perfectly clear jeweler quality, is mined in Brazil.

TURQUOISE
The most famous and productive turquoise mine, the King Mine, is in Colorado. Most of the turquoise mined today comes from rediscoveries of old workings. Other famous mines include Mexico’s Azure mine, renowned for the sky blue color of its turquoise, and Nevada’s Royal blue and Cortez mines. The Sleeping Beauty Mine in Arizona produces beautiful blue stones prized among collectors.

SCIENCE CANNOT EXPLAIN WHY

Why do you fall in love with a certain gemstone, its vibrancy and color? Science cannot explain why a certain gem “speaks to you”.

Although scientists and gemologists devote their careers to unraveling the mysteries of the wonderful gemstones that Mother Nature makes, our response to the beauty of a gem is completely emotional.

However, science can indeed explain how the diamond got its perfect hardness and transparency; how the ruby became incarnidine; how the sapphire mirrors the sky, the daffodil, the peach; how the aquamarine looks like a solidified chunk of the clearest South Sea; how the amethyst exhibits the deepest and most astounding purple like nothing else on earth except certain flowers like clematis or iris. How did lowly copper give birth to treasured turquoise?

When I look into facts about a diamond’s hardness or a gem’s origins, I find a dry pedagogical discussion dealing with the diamond’s atomic structure. The diamond is crystallized carbon, but so is graphite. However, the atomic structure of graphite is incomplete in comparison. To simplify, the forces exerted by the nucleus in each diamond atom are so powerful that nothing but another diamond can break off any of the trillions of atoms joined in the jewel’s perfect structural linkage.

The diamond’s perfection can be explained by words such as octahedron, dodecahedron, electric forces, molecule, electronic shell.

But at the end of the day who cares? We love the diamond, any gemstone, for its perfection and the fact that it could only be revealed by a dangerous process of humans going into the earth–or the sea.

(By the way, pearls are the only precious gem immediately ready to wear.)

For a more complete technical explanation refer to the book Five Centuries of Jewelry by Jean Lanllier, 1983, Arch Cape Press.

Diamonds are nature’s royalty and their powers will never be surpassed. Thrones won and lost, lovers torn apart, lives lost, diamonds are an obsession and a prize.

Gemstones are an age-old way to reduce unwieldy clots of cash into a tiny handful of value, very necessary if a wealthy person is on the lam.

DeBeers no longer owns all gem diamond production. Diamond mines in Canada, Russia, and Brazil now contribute gem quality diamonds. Only 20% of diamonds mined possess gem quality.

Among the most astounding diamonds because of their huge size, are the Cullinan, 530 carats (owned by the Queen of England), the Jonker, 726 carats, the Lesoto, 601 carats.

The Allure and Mystique of Pearls

Pearls have been revered for centuries. The difficulty of discovering gem quality pearls made them a highly valued jewel.

Out of 10,000 oysters a diver might find one pearl of gem luster and size.

Pearl mania reached its height during the Roman Empire. Cleopatra wagered with Mark Anthony that she could serve the world’s most expensive meal, whereupon she dropped a large pearl into a goblet of wine and drank it.

He conceded.

Unlike gold, other precious metals, and gemstones, the pearl arrives in perfect condition ready for use.

Pearls were the foundation for Iran’s currency system until the early 1980s.

You can see a photo of the priceless Merman pendant with its huge natural pearl at http://beadsbymail.com/v&a.htm . This pearl may have come from a 100-year-old oyster.

The Priceless Merman Pendant also called the Canning Jewel

Smaller baroque pearls may have taken the oyster 15 years to make. (Courtesy Victoria & Albert Museum, London)

Here is a likeness of Queen Elizabeth I’s wrist draped in pearls.

A natural pearl is an accident. A speck of foreign matter, a grain of sand, a microscopic sea creature, lodges in certain internal parts of an oyster or mussel. The mollusk deposits layers of nacre in order to render the foreign matter harmless.

A perfect 6mm round pearl would be the result of more than 5 years’ growth in the oyster. Millions of beautiful pearls remain unseen because no one dived for them.

In the 1920s Cartier sold a strand of naturals for more than a million dollars US.

During the 16th through 19th centuries people thought that consuming pearls contributed to one’s good health.

Much of the above information came from the August 1985 issue of National Geographic Magazine as well as author’s interviews with pearl experts and sellers.