Jewelry made of gemstone was invented before our era. But in those days, their extraction was more spontaneous than planned. Mankind began to extract precious natural minerals recently, by the standards of history, of course. The development of deposits and the sale of jewelry in itself have already brought a lot of money to enterprises and will bring in the future.
Deposits of famous stones
Very rare and beautiful stones are considered jewelry. Among them, the most famous are sapphire, ruby, diamond, topaz and emerald. A large number of popular, but not precious minerals were included in the group of ornamental. They look no less beautiful than the same rubies, they are also popular in jewelry making, but they are much cheaper and more common.
The most famous minerals each have their own deposit. It all depends on the composition of the rocks on the territory. Most often, the development of deposits has been going on for several centuries at the same place, new ones are rarely opened. The most famous countries for the extraction of precious stones are as follows:
- Namibia and the Russian region - Yakutia - specialize in diamonds.
- Turquoise in large quantities is mined in Iran.
- Most of the rubies in the world market come from Pakistan.
- Sri Lanka is a place where you can buy sapphires and rubies.
- Topazes are 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 are a kind of reserve workings - spare places in the event of complete depletion of large ones.
Types of deposits
There are only three types of deposits that are used around the world: open pits, placers and mining. About each a little more:
- Placers - 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 main rock, soil erosion is to blame. The extraction of precious and semiprecious stones in placers is carried out only by the method of manual washing of slag.
- Open pits are a popular way to develop minerals and minerals in rock layers. The more time passes from the beginning of work, the deeper the quarry. At the same time, the largest of them is located in Chile, its depth is already 850 meters. If we talk about Russia, then there are giants too. The largest diamond deposit can be considered the “Udachnoye” quarry, it is located beyond the Arctic Circle and fully lives up to its name.
- Mines are traditional underground mines; precious stones are mined there by manual labor. First they create a test development, it is needed to determine the quantity and quality of stones, and only then, if it has paid off, workers are launched.
The most dangerous way to develop deposits is rightly considered mining. Failure to comply with safety regulations may result in collapses. Sometimes workers find a way out of gas or underwater, this does not lead to anything good.
Mining enterprises
Most often, a precious stone deposit is discovered completely by accident, not depending on the technical means or intelligence of scientists. Scientists can specifically search for only one stone - a diamond, it brings more money and is a very valuable production material. If the intelligence group stumbled upon a deposit or illegal mining of precious stones in Russia, for example, sapphires, then they will simply inform the authorities, and continue the 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 mining organizations have not bypassed this trend. There are several definitions explaining how and what an enterprise produces:
- Mine - quarries and mines specializing in gem mining.
- Mines are enterprises that obtain minerals by manually developing mines.
- Mines are large enough organizations, the extraction of precious stones and metals in which is conducted in an open way or underground.
All these concepts are often confused. Few people delve into the facts and explanations, but for most people this is simply not important.
Available ways
Little has changed since ancient times, and various methods of mining precious stones have undergone few changes. Until now, as before, mines are digged with shovels, and everything that is mined is picked up for sorting in baskets on the 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, most often there are gems, but only a couple per basket, and again the whole process 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 very shops. So here is the mining of precious stones in the world by private traders.
The most valuable in the world market is considered gems without any impurities. But only a specialist can determine if a stone is clean, it is he who conducts the preliminary processing of jewelry and metals. Each jeweler must be a true 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 in the developments themselves there are several noteworthy nuances. Precious stones are mined there manually; automation is used only as pumps for pumping underground water. The mines themselves are dug up right in the fields with rice, a large working equipment is not involved during excavations, 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 the famous jewelry. But the state is not engaged in the development of deposits, for this there are special seekers who pay for the official license annually.
Simple mining methods
The most primitive way to get precious stones was and is to collect a placer of minerals near the rivers. Everything is simple here, crystalline growths are directly on the surface, it is not difficult to find them. Searchers 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 method of extraction directly in the water. The rivers are accelerated in a special way, and the workers stand and muddy the bottom with long poles. As a result, all the silt and sand is washed off, and the precious stones remain at the bottom.
No matter how many years have passed, and the extraction of precious stones will remain a lucrative affair, especially for large corporations. But private seekers are unlucky, rarely one of them can get rich very much on simple excavations of sand and sorting out pebbles. In Russia, if a person has found a deposit of precious minerals, it is necessary to inform the authorities.