In our last blog, we discussed what calibrated gemstones are but have you ever thought that from where these gemstones come from and where can we find gemstones?
So, today we will learn about it. Until now we have only seen and bought stones from jewellery stores but mining is the first process before manufacturing and retailing gemstones.
Yes, mining is the process from where gets these precious stones.
There are many types of Gemstones that human has discovered and might be many more to be discovered.
All such stones are cloistered inside the earth. We should thank mother earth and nature for blessing us with such beautiful, colourful, glimmering, and incredible gems.
Natural gemstones are formed inside the earth’s crust and are not manmade, they can only be found in nature.
So, before jumping to gemstone mining, let’s first know about their formation.
Formation Of Gemstones
Gemstones are formed 3 to 25 miles beneath the earth’s surface in the earth’s crust. They are found much deeper in the earth.
In the form of lava, the molten magma reaches the earth’s surface through the ‘Kimberlite pipes’ and cools off slowly, once it cools off it starts crystallizing and forms minerals.
The size of a natural gemstone depends on its cooling speed if it cools slowly the gemstone would be larger and if it cools down fast it would be smaller in size.
This coarse-grained mineral gives us different types of gemstones that can be found in the three types of rocks that are as follows:
Igneous Rock
This is the first type of rock that forms after cooling and crystallization.
Stones like diamond, garnets, amethyst, topaz, moonstone, and apatite are formed in pegmatites that are inherited from igneous rock.
Sedimentary Rock
The second type of rock is sedimentary which is formed when the fragments of rocks break and reach the ground after that they are transported by winds and water and then are compressed together.
This rock turns into gems like Zircon, Jasper, and malachite.
Metamorphic Rock
It is formed when underground heat changes the existing rocks. Stones such as Emerald, Aquamarine, sapphire, and jade are formed from metamorphic rock.
So, this is how stones are formed, now let’s move forward to Gemstone mining.
Where Can We Find Gemstones?
One can find gemstones through mining. Stone-like diamonds are found through pit mining and it is an industrial process.
It requires heavy machinery, manpower, trucks, and hydraulic shovels. The “Majhgawan mine” located near Panna town of Madhya Pradesh is a one-scale industrial diamond mine in India.
If we talk about colourful gemstone mining it is time-consuming.
The methods used for gemstone mining are open cast mining, Terrace mining, Tunneling, marine mining, and dry diggings.
Rubies are mostly found in the Karur region near Kangayam, Tamil Nadu.
The Karur-Kangayam region of Tamil Nadu and Hole-Nasipur region of Karnataka is famous for their gemstones such as aquamarine, sapphire, garnet, moonstone, and sunstone.
Apart from that, the Madikeri in Karnataka is famous for Star rubies.
The rubies found in Madikeri are of good quality and are light and translucent in appearance.
In Channapatna village near Bangalore, the stones are uprooted from the red and yellow soils in mango and coconut orchards instead of mining.
The opaque maroon star ruby is the one found in this region.
Gemstones can be found in water and creeks too. Dry river beds and creeks near the shallow flowing streams are the best places to find gemstones in nature.
Did You Know?
Indians were the first to mine and use the diamonds i.e around 300 BC. A belt studded with stones like Agate, Carnelian and Jasper was found in a cave in India in 300 BC.
According to researchers, the oldest gemstone on earth is Zircon which was found in Jack hills of Western Australia and is 4.4 billion years old.
Geographical Place Where We Can Find Gemstone
- Countries in Southeast Asia such as India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand, and Myanmar are well known for gemstone deposits and mining. The “Star of India” one of the famous gemstones was found in Sri Lanka.
- East and South East regions of Africa such as Kenya, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Zambia are famous for stones like Garnet, Tourmaline, and Sapphire. The Mozambique belt is the major source of gemstone in Africa.
- The Paradise of Gemstone i.e. Brazil situated in South America is famous all around the world for its gemstones.
Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Bihar, Orissa, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are the places where Gemstones and diamonds are majorly found in India.
These are the places where we can find gemstones. It takes a lot of time and patience from finding the gemstones to making them available in retail markets and finally letting them reach the consumers.
Conclusion
So, we all should be proud that we are living on such a planet which is very rich in resources and nature.
Venus is the most glittering planet in the solar system but the planet Earth is filled with millions of glitters like Venus.
