Figure 1. Strands of Nigerian beryl in assorted colors. Photo by Kevin Schumacher. During the JCK show in Tucson, GIA had the opportunity to meet up with Amina Egwuatu, founder of Mina Stones. Mrs.

An 11.23 ct purplish pink cabochon exhibiting multiple cat’s-eye phenomena was recently submitted to the Tokyo laboratory for identification (see above, left). Standard gemological testing results ...

Descending into Peshawar for the first time, a foreign tourist might be surprised to learn that amid the clutter of buildings in this historical city lies an important gem trading center. This market ...

The Karowe Diamond Mine in Botswana, owned and operated by Lucara Diamond Corp., has gained international recognition for producing large, high-quality type IaB or coexistence of IaB with IIa diamonds ...

Sapphire, rough and faceted, from the Rock Creek deposit in Montana has become one of the pillar gems of American origin in the global colored gemstone market. Over the past 10 years, Potentate Mining ...

CARLSBAD, Calif. – June 2, 2025 – Beginning later this year, GIA (the Gemological Institute of America) will start using descriptive terms to characterize the quality of laboratory-grown diamonds and ...

Diamonds have a long history as a premier gemstone—a natural consequence of their beauty, rarity, and superlative physical properties such as extreme hardness. Diamonds that are mined for use as ...

This chart focuses primarily on the types of natural inclusions found in tourmaline, as well as the minerals in which tourmaline can be found as an inclusion. Treatments such as enhancement of ...

In the developed world, the word diamond immediately evokes the allure and sparkle of a polished brilliant. What does the word mean, however, for an artisanal diamond miner living in poverty?

We are used to seeing groups of dark hollandite crystals that resemble sea urchins, but this time Mother Nature offered up a completely different and evocative vision. Crystals of hollandite, with the ...

Earth’s surface is divided into tectonic plates, and the ones that make up the ocean floor are destined to sink. Sheets of oceanic crust typically bend and sink down into Earth’s interior at so-called ...

In November 2022, a parcel of 24 approximately 0.5–1.2 ct spinel crystals, described as cobalt-diffused, were obtained directly from a treater by the research team at GIA in Bangkok. Of these, seven ...