Aquamarine Gemstones Around the World
You may have heard that overall aquamarine is a plentiful stone when compared to its cousins, so you might be tempted to think that you can find it almost anywhere. While the stone is commonly found in many places throughout the world, not all aquamarine is the same, with some being more valuable than others. Generally, the deeper the color, the more valuable the stone.
Brazil, as is the case with many gems, is one of the leading sources of quality aquamarines, but other significant finds are coming from the African countries of Namibia, Nigeria, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Previously, Madagascar was also an important source, but this is no longer the case, though a new mine at Vangainrano is producing some large sized stones.
Famous among African aquamarine is Santa Maria Africana, mainly coming from Mozambique. But do not confuse these with the original Santa Maria from the Itabira mine in Brazil. This more recent find in Africa picked up its name from its Brazilian predecessor to call attention to its deep color.
It might seem that Brazil and Africa are the only two places, geologically speaking, where anything exciting is going on, but of course this is not true. Not long ago, in Sri Lanka, another one of the world’s gem havens, miners discovered an important aquamarine deposit in the Balangoda region of Ratnapura which was producing high quality stones. And Pakistan could become increasingly important since much of its gem resources have been untouched. Already, some world famous aquamarines have been found in the Karakoram ranges that borders Pakistan Afghanistan and China.
In the United States, Colorado is one of the country’s leaders in aquamarine, so much so that in 1971, aquamarine become the state’s official gemstone. Specifically, the stones can be found in some of Colorado’s highest peaks, at Mount Antero and Mount White. These high mountains are the perfect homes for mineral-bearing pegmatites, which is one of the main sources of aquamarine.
