Mining for Gemstones
Have you ever imagined finding precious gemstones or treasure? Do you have an interest in Gemology? I recently watched a program called “Cash and Treasures” on the Travel Channel. Basically, the hostess goes around to different locations in search of treasure. The episode that sparked my interest was when the hostess when to the Himalaya Mine to look for precious gemstones. With a name like Himalaya Mine, I expected it to be in some remote location in Asia. Instead, I learned the Himalaya Mine is right in my backyard. I live in San Diego County and as it turns out the Himalaya Mine is just a short drive from my house. The mine has an interesting history that is a bit too long to go into much detail here but it’s claim to fame is that is was the largest producer of pink tourmalines for the last empress of China. What I learned from the show was that for a small fee you could go and dig through the “tailings” from the mine. Tailings are more or less what is left over when they blast or dig in a mine. The mine owner(s) typically look through the material they blast or dig out of the mine once or twice to find any obvious gemstones, then they put everything else into a big pile. That big pile or piles is what is known as the tailings. The hostess of the “Cash and Treasures” show was lucky enough to find a large pink tourmaline while digging through some of those tailings. She later had that pink tourmaline cut into a very nice gemstone and set in a piece of jewelry. The finished product appraised for thousands of dollars according to the show. I have been around long enough to know you don’t get something for nothing but I love Gemology and the thought of digging through a bit of dirt to find a gemstone sounded like a lot Read More This Post ...
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