Natural Gemstones - Loose Precious & Semi Precious Gemstones

AFRICA

Africa has numerous deposits of gem quality corundum and has recently been a source of new sapphire and ruby discoveries.

Tanzania
UMBA River - Some blue, lavenders and purples to plums, yellows, golds to orange browns, pinks, and padparadschas.

SONGEA
Deep red rubies, blues, blue greens, greens, yellows, pinks, alexandrite-type (blue in sunlight and fluorescent light, lavender to purple in incandescent).

TUNDURU
Full spectrum of colors.

Madagascar
Blue, very much like Sri Lankan blue. The rubies are clear red and often unheated. Range of pink from pale to intense.

Kenya
LODWAR - Clear deep blue to very dark blue-green and an abundance of opaque blue stars.

GARBATULA
deep, blackish blue-green to intense pleasant green.

ASIA

Sri Lanka
The island nation south of India was known as Ceylon for many generations. Consequently "Ceylon-blue" is a color name outliving the change in national name. Sapphires of note in large sizes - over 5 carats - of outstanding color are predominantly of Sri Lankan origin. White, blue, purple, pink, yellow, gold, and padparadaschas.

Mysore (India)
Star rubies.

Myanmar (Burma)
Ruby and sapphire mines of Burma are legendary and have produced some of the world's finest rubies and blue sapphires.

MOGOK STONE TRACT
Star rubies, star sapphires, rubies. Sapphire - violet, yellow, color-change, and blue.

MONGSHU
Ruby.

TADJIKASTAN
Ruby.

Thailand (Siam)
Thailand is a traditional supplier of sapphire and ruby. The majority of sapphire production from the Kanchanaburi field has been mined in the last ten years. This deposit is approaching depletion.

CHANTABURI
blue, rubies, dark blue, green, yellow, and black star - 6 and 12 ray.

KANCHANABURI

blue and green, yellow and rubies.

Vietnam

Rubies and sapphires have been found in Vietnam since the late 1980's. They are very rarely seen in the jewelry market.

LUC YEN AND QUY CHAU
red and red-pink rubies, hot pink and purple sapphire.

Cambodia
PAILIN - blue sapphire and color change ruby.

AUSTRALIA

Australia also has several deposits and contributes greatly to the sapphire jewelry market in mostly Inky blues to less known brilliant true blues, green, blue-green, yellow-green, yellows, oranges, and some pinks.

NORTH AMERICA

Montana
Montana has four main deposits:

DRY COTTONWOOD CREEK
yellow, gold and green, some pink, blue, and very, very rarely a ruby.

MISSOURI RIVER
green, blue, yellow, orange, pink, and very rarely ruby.

ROCK CREEK
full spectrum of colors including many bicolors, and also very rarely ruby.

YOGO GULCH
blue and purple.