DISPOSITION OF ROUGH
In nearly every gemstone deposit, the truly useful material is a very small percentage of the whole, on the order of two to five per cent by weight of crystals which appear to be reasonably free of flaws, of good color, and of usable size. In order to make mining profitable, it is […]

GEMSTONE MINING
Aside from the highly mechanized and efficient diamond-mining meth¬ods used in Africa, most gemstones are recovered from small pits sunk in gem-bearing gravel deposits or from short tunnels and shafts in hard rock. While extensive gem-bearing gravels containing rubies, sapphires, spinels, and other splendid gemstones occur in Ceylon and Burma, large quantities of topsoil […]

Supply and Marketing Information
A long chain of events marks the progress of rough gemstones from the time they leave the mine to the time they are placed before a buyer, transformed into brilliant objects of beauty. At each stage the parcel of rough is examined by an expert whose livelihood depends on the infalli¬bility of […]