Extraction of precious stones. List of the most famous gems What stones are mined

During the time of the Arab merchants, the island was named Serendip, or the island of precious stones. Under the name "Serendip" Sri Lanka entered the stories about Sinbad the sailor who visited Sri Lanka twice, and the stories of 1000 and 1 nights. The famous traveler Marco Polo saw a ruby as thick as a human hand that adorned the Ruvanveli Dagoba in Anuradhapura. The famous blue sapphire "Blue Beauty" of 400 carats, which adorns the English crown, as well as the sapphire "Star of India" of 536 carats, exhibited in the Museum of New York, originally from Sri Lanka, namely from the city of Ratnapura, which has been important for centuries center for the extraction of precious stones.

01. Mining is done by hand only. From the automation equipment, only pumps that constantly pump out water. Digging right in the rice fields. If you turn off the pump, the mine will be flooded in about an hour. If the mine is deep, then the air in the adit is supplied forcibly by a motor pump.

02. Previously, excavators and other heavy equipment were used for mining, but after them lakes remained.

03. In Sri Lanka, about 90% of the land contains almost half of the 200 varieties of precious and semi-precious stones that exist in the world.

04. To mine stones you need a license, it costs $ 5,000 per year.

05. It is in such wicker baskets that the soil is transferred upward, where it is washed in search of precious stones.

06.

07. More serious development from several mines. The depth of the mine is from 7 to 30 meters.

08.

09. Development here stopped a few months ago, the mine is abandoned.

10.

11. All of the raised clay is washed.

12.

13. After 10 minutes, only small stones remain in the special basket.

14. Among them are precious sapphires, rubies, alexandrites, etc. Sometimes you can dig for 2-3 months and not find a single stone.

15.

16. Here are some semi-precious stones. After the end of the shift, they are handed over to the market. Until you start processing the stone, it is not clear how valuable it is, so no one will give much for an unworked stone. But if the stone turns out to be clean, without foreign impurities, it can be very expensive, but the person who mined it will not know about it. In order not to lose money in the event of such a success, many prospectors work as families, some mine, others process.

17.

18. A real kauboy Marlborough.

19.

20.

21.

22. After processing, the stones go to the store.

23.

24. Store them in envelopes. Only a professional can understand where a real valuable stone is. Sapphires, for example, are heated to give them the desired color. Real pure sapphire does not need heat treatment and is very expensive. The price of one carat goes up to $ 10,000.

25. A handbag for expensive stones.

26. In Sri Lanka there are garnets of various types: essonite (orange-brown), almandine (fiery red), rhodolite (pale red), spesartite (brown-red), as well as yellowish red garnet. You can also find here greenish-yellow Alexandrite, Cat's Eye, Moonstone (light, translucent, with bluish reflections), Amethyst, Aquamarine, Beryl, Topaz (usually yellow-brown), Zircon, Tourmaline Chrysoberyl (golden yellow or greenish) , and Spinel.

27. Sapphires, average price of $ 300 per carat.

28.

The beginning of the extraction of precious stones can be considered those distant times when a person first raised a transparent beautiful pebble from the ground or found a piece of orange amber on the seashore.

The extraction of stones begins in the offices of scientists: with the study of rocks, their origin, analysis of their content. Exploration of deposits is carried out, samples are taken from drilled wells. It happens that mining is carried out along the way with exploration. When it becomes clear how much precious material can be mined in a particular deposit, then such a deposit is considered explored, and work can begin on the extraction of gem stones.

The way gemstones are mined depends on the form in which they are found in nature. Stones can lie deep veins in the parent rock, and one cannot get close to them, except underground. This is rare enough. More often gems are found in

placers ... They also contain hollow nodules with chalcedony walls, lined with crystals from the inside - geodes ... The outside of a geode is no different from an ordinary boulder, and only if you split or saw it, you can find the splendor of sparkling crystals inside: purple amethysts, yellow citrines and other minerals. Opal, chalcedony and agate often form in voids - gas bubbles of basaltic and andesitic lavas.

The parent rock is subject to weathering, erosion, and the stones contained in it accumulate around (

eluvial placers) or carried away by rainwater and deposited in the soil of rivers, the coastal strip of the oceans and seas (alluvial, coastal). In the pebble deposits of Sri Lanka, wonderful sapphires, rubies and spinels are found. The coastal oceanic placers on the west coast of Africa, in Namibia, are rich in diamonds, and many tons of sand are washed to extract them. On the Baltic coast, amber is washed up by the surf.

Having a generally higher density than the rock-forming minerals, gems carried away by the current settle faster with the weakening of the water flow. There is, one might say, a natural "washing" of precious stones, and in some places they accumulate quite a lot; even primitive soil washing in basins gives good results. However, gemstones in placers are not of the highest quality; they are crushed, damaged, rolled or completely worn out. This is understandable: hundreds of kilometers of stones traveled, torn from the primary,

indigenous deposits to be deposited in the secondary. In the parent rock, the stones are preserved in their original form, and it is in the primary deposits that the best samples of precious stones are mined, but in order to get to them, you need to crush the hard rock, separate the semi-precious raw materials from it. This method is not very productive: you need to remove a lot of waste rock, spend time and effort, this, in turn, leads to an increase in the cost of mining - jewelry stones. So in our time, they are widely mining for diamonds inkimberlite pipes- pipe-like bodies of various sizes, formed during the breakthrough of gases through the earth's crust. Viewed from above, the pipe looks like a huge round tapering cone with roads running along its sides for transporting ore. The kimberlite rock consists mainly of olivine, pyroxenes, pyrope-almandine garnet, less often zircon, apatite. At a depth of several hundred meters from the Earth's surface, the pipes gradually narrow, and they contain less diamonds. Pipes up to 1.5 km in size (the Mwadui pipe in Tanzania) are of the greatest industrial interest. More than 1,500 kimberlite bodies are known, but only a few of them have an industrial grade of diamonds (pipes "Premier", "De Beers", "Kimberly", etc. in South Africa; "Majgavan" in India; "Koidu" in Sierra Leone and etc.). In kimberlites, diamonds are unevenly distributed: they occur as single crystals or intergrowths, but nowhere do they form large clusters. It was in South Africa that the world's largest diamond "Cullinan" was found, which originally weighed 3106 carats (621.2 grams!).

It is considered profitable to develop deposits with a diamond grade of about 0.4-0.5 ct / m3 (one carat equals 0.2 g). If the pipe contains diamonds of exceptional quality, this figure may be lower, and towards the end of the pipe the count goes to fractions of a carat per ton. It is scary to imagine how much diamond ore needs to be processed so that a jeweler can make a pair of earrings and a diamond ring. But, I must say, some pipes produced significant amounts of diamonds in the middle of the 20th century: Premier - about 55 million carats a year, but the average figure is kept at the level of 2-2.5 million carats a year.

In Russia, diamond deposits are concentrated in western Yakutia (pipes Mir, Udachnaya, Aikhal, etc.); explored deposits in the Arkhangelsk region. Unfortunately, some pipes in Yakutia, such as Mir, International, have reached their design depth, and now they will have to switch to underground mining, which is extremely expensive.

Gemstones are mined using

underground works , otherwise mine workings, oropen way- in quarries. Underground work, as already mentioned, is the most expensive and primarily affects the cost of mined stones. They are produced only if it is known for sure that there is a vein with precious stones in the rock. A vein is a mineral body that fills a crack in a rock. In this way, some minerals are mined along the way with other minerals, for example, jet, accompanying coal, or rock crystal and other gem-quality quartz that come across with iron ore. It is good if the associated production is organized at a high level, but more often it happens that it simply does not exist. In the rock, adits are laid - horizontal or inclined workings, first exploration, then for the development of bedding. In addition, a network of adits and pits (vertical workings) is needed for ventilation, transportation, water discharge, etc. It is obligatory to have two exits from underground workings. For all these works, special equipment is used, which costs a lot of money. Therefore, this kind of extraction of gems (except, perhaps, diamonds) is unprofitable. Fortunately, it is not suitable for the vast majority of stones that are mined in an open way.

In most countries, especially in African and Asian countries, open pit mining is carried out using primitive methods (except for diamonds). The easiest open way is to collect gems from the surface of the earth. This is possible in the beds of dried up rivers, in crevices of rocks, on the coast near the surf; some crystals are knocked down directly from the rocks, using ordinary hammers, and jackhammers, and by blowing up rock (amethysts on the coast of the White Sea). In the river, mining is carried out by flushing the soil in baskets and other similar devices by damming the river: the water flows faster, carrying away the soil raised by the workers from the bottom. Heavier stones settle to the bottom, and then flushing begins. Unfortunately, lighter gemstones like beryl, tourmaline or quartz are lost. Such gems, with a density of about 3 units on the Mohs scale, are extracted from primary deposits, as well as from placers on the ground or underground. If the placer was formed in ancient times, then it is covered with a multi-meter layer of soil, which must be removed - to open the deposit.

Stripping worksmade by hand or mechanically. The celestine deposit in Beineu-Kyr in Turkmenistan, now completely forgotten, is being developed by manual labor of enthusiasts and lovers of minerals.

To remove thicker loose overburden masses, scrapers are used (earth-moving machine, which cuts the soil with a bucket and transports it to the dump); conveyor loaders, draglines (a machine with a bucket suspended on a boom); bucket bucket wheel excavators (reminiscent of a water mill, which draws not water, but earth) and many other unusual equipment. Not only dump trucks and conveyors are used to move waste rock out of the open pit, but in some cases, high pressure water is also used. If the overburden is too strong, then they are processed using tractors equipped with rippers, or destroyed by drilling and blasting.

The reservoir (or formation) is now prepared for extraction. At the next stage, it is determined how the development will be carried out. Beautiful semi-precious stones are extracted using the burrocline method or manual disassembly. In some quarries, auger installations (with a propeller for drilling) are used. Sometimes for opencast mines, pneumatic devices such as a jackhammer or perforator are used; finishing and ornamental stone is cut in blocks. This takes into account the fragility of the most valuable rocks - mining is carried out without blasting.

In the very center of the Kola Peninsula, there is the Keivy mountain range, where Ploskaya Mountain, the world's largest amazonite deposit, is hidden. This breed of amazing color lies almost at the surface in huge layers. But to get to this place, you need to overcome huge areas of swamps on all-terrain vehicles. Helicopters are used to take out the prey. The world's largest deposits of kyanite, garnet (almandine) and staurolite lie there. Of course, there is no equipment there, and enthusiasts or small workers' parties occasionally work in the quarries.

Each country has its own rules regarding exploration and mining rights. In the United States, in the state of Utah, in the famous topaz valley of the Thomas Range, anyone can get topaz, which literally lie there underfoot. The condition is only hand tools. If in Russia the law defines precious stones that cannot be mined without special permission, then, for example, in Mozambique, the mining of gold and precious stones is the way of existence for entire villages. The poorest segments of the population are becoming miners in many countries; whole families are working on mining the placers. There are deposits in Mozambique

In addition to the famous tea plantations, Sri Lanka is also famous for its precious stones. It occupies a leading position in the extraction of precious stones. The very process of mining stones has remained unchanged since ancient times. This is still manual labor. The mines are dug with a pick and shovel, usually near the riverbank. The rock itself is lifted up in baskets or buckets with the help of ropes, and then washed under running water or in the nearest river. Then special people start to work, trying to find a jewel in a handful of stones. Sometimes you can find one, two or even a whole handful of stones, but often seekers are left empty-handed. And the whole process starts over. Almost all gemstones, especially large ones, are sold at auction. During the time of the Arab merchants, the island was named Serendip, or the island of precious stones. Under the name "Serendip" Sri Lanka entered the stories about Sinbad the sailor, who twice visited Sri Lanka, and the stories of 1000 and 1 nights. The famous traveler Marco Polo saw a ruby as thick as a human hand that adorned the Ruvanveli Dagoba in Anuradhapura. The famous blue sapphire "Blue Beauty" of 400 carats, which adorns the English crown, as well as the sapphire "Star of India" of 536 carats, exhibited in the Museum of New York, originally from Sri Lanka, namely from the city of Ratnapura, which has been important for centuries center for the extraction of precious stones. 01. Mining is done by hand only. From the automation equipment, only pumps that constantly pump out water. Digging right in the rice fields. If you turn off the pump, the mine will flood in about an hour. If the mine is deep, then the air in the adit is supplied forcibly by a motor pump.
02. Previously, excavators and other heavy equipment were used for mining, but after them lakes remained.
03. In Sri Lanka, about 90% of the land contains almost half of the 200 varieties of precious and semi-precious stones that exist in the world.
04. To mine stones you need a license, it costs $ 5,000 per year.
05. It is in such wicker baskets that the soil is transferred upward, where it is washed in search of precious stones.
06.
07. More serious development from several mines. The depth of the mine is from 7 to 30 meters.
08.
09. Development here stopped a few months ago, the mine is abandoned.
10.
11. All of the raised clay is washed.
12.
13. After 10 minutes, only small stones remain in the special basket.
14. Among them are precious sapphires, rubies, alexandrites, etc. Sometimes you can dig for 2-3 months and not find a single stone.
15.
16. Here are some semi-precious stones. After the end of the shift, they are handed over to the market. Until you start processing the stone, it is not clear how valuable it is, so no one will give much for an unworked stone. But if the stone turns out to be clean, without foreign impurities, it can be very expensive, but the person who mined it will not know about it. In order not to lose money in the event of such a success, many prospectors work as families, some mine, others process.
17.
18. A real kauboy Marlborough.
19.
20. 21.
22. After processing, the stones go to the store.
23.
24. Store them in envelopes. Only a professional can understand where a real valuable stone is. Sapphires, for example, are heated to give them the desired color. Real pure sapphire does not need heat treatment and is very expensive. The price of one carat goes up to $ 10,000.
25. A handbag for expensive stones.
26. In Sri Lanka there are garnets of various types: essonite (orange-brown), almandine (fiery red), rhodolite (pale red), spesartite (brown-red), as well as yellowish red garnet. You can also find here greenish-yellow Alexandrite, Cat's Eye, Moonstone (light, translucent, with bluish reflections), Amethyst, Aquamarine, Beryl, Topaz (usually yellow-brown), Zircon, Tourmaline Chrysoberyl (golden yellow or greenish) , and Spinel.
27. Sapphires, average price of $ 300 per carat.
28.
Original taken from

Gemstone jewelry was invented even before our era. But in those days, their extraction was more spontaneous than planned. Humanity began to extract precious natural minerals recently, by the standards of history, of course. By itself, the development of deposits and the sale of jewelry has already brought a lot of money to enterprises and will continue to do so in the future.

Deposits of famous stones

Very rare and beautiful stones are considered precious. Among them, the most famous are sapphire, ruby, diamond, topaz and emerald. A large number of popular, but not precious minerals are included in the group of ornamental. They look no less beautiful than the same rubies, they are just as popular in jewelry making, but they are much cheaper and are more common.

The most famous minerals have their own deposits. It all depends only on the composition of the rocks on the territory. Most often, the development of deposits has been going on for several centuries in the same place, new ones are discovered very rarely. The most famous countries for the extraction of precious stones are as follows:

Namibia and the Russian region - Yakutia - specialize in diamonds.
Turquoise is mined in large quantities in Iran.
Most of the rubies on the world market come from Pakistan.
Sri Lanka is the place to buy sapphires and rubies.
Topaz is mined in the Urals.

The Russian Federation is rich in various minerals, not only oil and gas, but also precious, semiprecious minerals. In addition, there is a kind of reserve workings - spare places in case of complete depletion of large ones.

Types of deposits

There are only three types of deposits that are used all over the world: open pits, placers and mine workings. A little more about each:

Placers are places where valuable minerals were washed ashore by a stream of water. This occurs as a result of the natural separation of minerals from the base rock, soil erosion is to blame for everything. Extraction of precious and semiprecious stones from placers is carried out only by manual washing of the slag.
Open pits are a popular way of mining minerals and minerals in rock layers. The more time passes from the beginning of work, the deeper the quarry. Moreover, the largest of them is located in Chile, its depth is already 850 meters. If we talk about Russia, then there are giants here too. The Udachnoye open pit can be considered the largest diamond deposit; it is located beyond the Arctic Circle and fully justifies its name.
Mine workings are traditional underground mines, where precious stones are mined by hand. First, a test drive is created, it is needed to determine the quantity and quality of stones, and after that, if it has justified itself, workers are launched.

The most dangerous way to develop deposits is rightfully considered mining. If safety rules are not followed, landslides can occur. Sometimes workers find a way out of gas or underwater water, this does not lead to anything good.

Mining enterprises

Most often, a deposit of precious stones is discovered absolutely by accident, not depending on the technical means or the intelligence of scientific workers. Scientists can specifically search for only one stone - diamond, it brings in more money and is a very valuable production material. If a reconnaissance group stumbles upon a deposit or illegal mining of precious stones in Russia, for example, sapphires, they will simply inform their superiors and continue their search. A mining enterprise is being built on the site of any source found.

Types of enterprises

Of course, everything in this world is divided into groups, and this trend has not been spared by mining organizations. There are several definitions that explain how and what an enterprise produces:

Mine - quarries and mines specializing in the extraction of gems.
Mines are enterprises that obtain minerals by developing mines by hand.
The mines are rather large organizations, where the extraction of precious stones and metals is carried out in the open pit or underground.

All of these concepts are often confused with each other. Few people delve into facts and explanations, and most people just don't care.

Available methods

Little has changed since ancient times, and the various methods of mining precious stones have undergone little change. Until now, as before, mines are dug with shovels, and everything that has been mined is lifted for sorting in baskets on ropes. Most often, the beginning of the work of the mine takes place near the rivers, where you can wash the rock. As a result of washing, gems are most often found, but only a couple per basket, and again the whole process is over again. Finds of such seekers are sold at auctions or local territorial markets. And already purchased stones are processed by jewelers and handed over to large or not so large stores. This is how the extraction of precious stones in the world by private traders takes place.

Gems without any additives are considered the most valuable in the world market. But only a specialist can determine whether the stone is clean, it is he who prepares the jewelry and metals. Every jeweler must be a real professional, he must know all the properties of stones and minerals, this is necessary in order to recognize a fake.

Sri Lanka

This country has already been mentioned as a center for the extraction of precious stones of a special kind. But there are several notable nuances in the developments themselves. The extraction of precious stones there is carried out manually, automation is used only as pumps for pumping out underground waters. The mines themselves are dug right in the fields with rice, large working equipment is not used during excavation, so as not to get swamps.

Sri Lanka is famous for its variety of minerals and stones, here you can find about half of the varieties of all known jewelry. But the state is not engaged in the development of deposits, for this there are special seekers who pay for an official license annually.

Simple mining methods

The most primitive way to get precious stones was and is to collect placers of minerals near rivers. Everything is simple here, there are crystal growths right on the surface, it is not difficult to find them. Seekers knock down valuable minerals with a hammer or chisel. But they try not to use explosives so as not to damage valuable materials.

There is a way to get it right in the water. Rivers are accelerated in a special way, and workers stand and muddy the bottom with long poles. As a result, all the silt and sand is washed away, and the precious stones remain at the bottom.

No matter how many years pass, the extraction of precious stones will remain a profitable business, especially for large corporations. But private seekers have little luck, rarely one of them can get very rich on simple excavation of sand and sorting out pebbles. In Russia, if a person has found a deposit of precious minerals, it is necessary to report to the authorities.

At all times the existence of civilizations on Earth, the list of which always consisted of many items, were a sign of wealth. They personified the presence of a high social status. Hundreds of years ago, in some countries there was a law according to which precious jewelry could only be worn by persons of the ruling elite. Today, if a family has a list of gems, then they are wealthy and prestigious.

Russia is a leading country in the sale and production of such precious stones. Here, a huge amount of stones are produced for the manufacture of jewelry. Gemstones are mainly used:

rubies;
diamonds;
emeralds.

The laws of the Russian Federation clearly and strictly regulate the production and sale of jewelry stones and products.

Existing classification of gemstones

The variety of precious stones made it necessary to start their classification. They are classified into several types.

Gems are natural gemstones that make up the first type:

alexandrite;
Emerald;
chrysoberyl;
euclase;
ruby;
diamond;
sapphire;
noble spinel.

The list of the second group includes varieties of gems:

topaz;
heliodor;
vorobievite;
beryl;
aquamarine;
tourmaline (various colors);
zircon;
amethyst;
phenakite;
opal;
hyacinth.

The third included:

amber;
cornelian;
jet;
turquoise;
chrysoprase;
rauchtopaz;
rhinestone;
bloodstone.

Colored minerals and their features

First grade:

malachite;
nephritis;
lapis lazuli;
amazonite;
rhodonite;
aventurine;
granite
chalcedony;
Labrador.

The second class includes minerals, the characteristics of which are somewhat different from the rest:

agalmatolite;
ophiocalcite;
selenite;
jasper;
meerschaum;
fluorite.

What is the household classification?

This list is understood as a simplified classification. This catalog contains precious and semi-precious ornamental stones. They come in several varieties.

ruby;
sapphire;
alexandrite;
diamond;
chrysoberyl;
opal;
Emerald;
euclase;
spinel.

topaz;
aquamarine;
red tourmaline;
phenakite:
beryl;
demantoid;
opal;
blood amethyst;
almandine;
hyacinth;
zircon.

The list of semi-precious stones includes:

Garnet;
dioptase;
turquoise;
epidol;
tourmaline;
rhinestone;
rauchtopaz;
chalcedony;
Labrador;
amethyst.

Gemstones have always been distinguished by their expressiveness. These minerals include:

nephritis;
lapis lazuli;
amazonite;
jasper;
spar;
Labrador;
quartz;
vesuvian;
bloodstone,
nacre;
jet;
amber;
corals.

Stones for jewelry

They have many different classifications. For work, only certain precious and ornamental stones are taken. They are easy to process, it is easy to make all kinds of jewelry items from them.

Mineral raw materials are classified according to a number of characteristic features:

origin;
chemical composition;
crystal cell;
dimensions.

For the first time in 1860, a German scientist compiled a classification of gemstones. He created a directory that included several classes and groups.

The first had three subclasses. The first included:

diamond;
spinel;
chrysoberyl;
corundum.

The second included:

tourmaline;
Garnet;
zircon;
topaz;
opal;
beryl.

The third class of steel includes:

kpanit;
axinite;
cordierite;
chrysolite;
vesuvian;
staurolite;
andalusite;
turquoise;
epidote;
xpastolite.

The second group also has two subclasses.

First subclass:

chalcedony;
quartz;
feldspar;
lapis lazuli;
amber;
fluorite;
diopside;
obsidian.

Second subclass:

hematite;
rhodochrositis;
pyrite;
malachite;
alabaster;
selenite;
marble;
spar;
agalmatolite;
serpentine;
nephritis;
jade.

In 1896, an updated classification of gemstones was proposed. It was taken as a basis and became popular among jewelers. Later it was supplemented by Academician Fersman. According to this catalog, the division of jewelry stones took place. They were divided into:

gems;
jewelry semi-precious stones of different colors;
natural;
precious;
just ornamental.

At the end of the 19th century, the catalog of minerals consisted of 750 species. Today the list has increased. It now contains 3,000 different types of minerals. Progress does not stand still, everything goes forward, new species open up.

However, with all the abundance of precious and jewelry and ornamental items, there are about 100. And only professional craftsmen can name such a number. Ordinary people know about 25 names of jewelry items.

Minerals without which jewelry crafts are impossible

To create a beautiful piece of jewelry or an expensive piece of jewelry, professionals use:

gems;
colored stones;
artificial minerals.

Gems mean certain types of stones:

ornamental;
mountain;
colored;
precious;
semi-precious.

Each stone has characteristic properties:

transparency;
resistance to aggressive environments;
bright color;
beautiful shine;
light scattering;
the possibility of affordable processing.

The most popular gems used in most jewelry are precious minerals. Jewelers most often use emerald, ruby, diamond and sapphire.

Of all the semi-precious stones available, the craftsmen use opal, topaz, alexandrite and rock crystal.

These stones have a unique play of light color, they are easy to process and cut. They are used to make inserts in various types of jewelry, rings and other products in which precious stones are used.

For thousands of years, certain groups of minerals, considered gemstones, have always been prized. They have always been in high demand. It is from them that jewelers make jewelry and luxury products. Such stones include:

turquoise;
Garnet;
quartz;
chalcedony;
jade;
olivine;
amethyst;
centrite;
amazonite;
moon rock;
nephritis;
tourmaline;
lapis lazuli;
spannel.

Gems tend to be slightly translucent, sometimes they are completely opaque.

Gems contain minerals that give them a beautiful hue. For example, malachite has a green color. This color is given by 57% copper oxide.

The hardness of ornamental elements is divided by professionals into several groups.
The hardest are:

charoite;
nephritis;
chalcedony;
jasper;
lapis lazuli;
rhodonite;
agate.

Ornamental stones of medium hardness include marble, malachite and serpentine.

The softest steel:

selenite;
anhydrite;
calcite;
gypsum;
talcochlorite;
alabaster.

Famous jewelry semi-precious stones

Today, many different artificial stones have appeared. They perfectly imitate natural gems. Of course, you need to be able to distinguish ordinary glass from a natural semi-precious mineral. To do this, you must, first of all, know how real jewelry and ornamental items look like.

This is usually a completely opaque mineral, rock, or organic compound. A semi-precious stone is always without shine. However, if it receives a high-quality cut, its beauty will not be inferior to an expensive diamond. Very rare stones are priced expensive, the cost is measured in six figures. The weight of such an original is determined by the carats.

Semi-precious stones have special physical characteristics. They can be easily distinguished by measuring their density, hardness and cleavage.

The most important difference between these gems is a huge range of colors and numerous shades. Such a variety was provided to them by the chemical composition given by nature. They contain various oxides of iron, aluminum, magnesium, sodium, copper and even potassium.

These oxides give the minerals the most unique shades. Such gems are used as inserts required in chic jewelry, as well as raw materials for interior decoration.

Ornamental stones are also divided into several groups. It all depends on the value of the mineral. So there are several groups.

rauchtopaz:
crystal;
amber;
malachite;
jade;
lapis lazuli;
aventurine;
charoite.

chalcedony;
agate;
amazonite;
hematite;
rhodonite;
heliotrope;
opal;
Labrador;
quartz;
obsidian.

jasper;
marble;
jet;
fluorite.

Sometimes ornamental stones belonging to the first group are considered precious gems of the third order.