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Australia's most famous opal mines lie on the periphery of this Great Artesian Basin. Mintabie, Coober Pedy, Andamooka, White Cliffs, and Lightning Ridge form an arc along its southern edge. Yowah, Quilpie, and Opalton project on a line north/northwest from Lightning Ridge. Some believe that untold riches, just waiting discovery, lie beneath the unexplored areas of this vast region. However.... (1999) Complete Story
Every opal is unique in appearance. Opals contain fireworks of every possible color dancing inside them. The flashes of color that make opal such an interesting stone are referred to as play of color. Opals will vary in body color, which is the background color of the stone. White body color is most common. The most valued body color is gray to black, with black considered best because it emphasizes and accentuates the play of color. Fire opal is material with yellow, orange, or red body color. In rare cases, opals will have green or blue body colors.... (1999) Complete Story
The Oro Fino Mine in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, about ten miles east of the Manoel Mutuca mine, was the legendary source of some of the worlds finest red tourmaline, called rubellite. Stones from this source have a pure red primary hue and a purplish secondary hue, yielding a lovely purplish red that has been compared to the color of the Bing cherry. Although Oro Fino has been closed for more than a decade, the term Oro Fino Red has come to designate the very finest red tourmaline, regardless of source....
(2006) Complete Story
The idea that a given material is, by nature, precious, is a relatively recent one. The idea that one material was precious while another was merely semi-precious simply did not exist in ancient times. The idea of dividing gemstones into the categories of precious and semi-precious is a relatively modern idea. The word semiprecious itself entered the English lexicon only in the nineteenth century..... (2003) Complete Story
Quartz is generally divided into two groups: the transparent crystalline varieties and the translucent to opaque chalcedonies that are microcrystalline forms of quartz. There are many different varieties in these two types but they have one thing in common: they are low in cost. Some are downright cheap! Quartz is one of the most abundant minerals on the earth's crust. It is also one of the most interesting.... (1999) Complete Story
