WHAT IS A GEMSTONE?

"... for “the earth is the LORD ’s, and all its fullness.” 

1 Corinthians 10:26

What makes a gemstone, a gemstone? Value and beauty! Any natural (or synthetic) mineral (or rock) that is attractive to its beholder and placed in jewelry, is considered a gemstone. Personally, I like to separate gems into groups: (1) the most important being natural, inorganic minerals or rocks - in other-words, those created by earth processes and enhanced through lapidary. Diamond (and a few other gemstones); however, challenges this definition. 

Iolite gemstones in jewelry

Most diamonds are isotropic. The majority are recovered by open pit and underground mines. These diamonds were plucked from the depths of the earth (upper mantle) by kimberlite, lamproite or lamprophyre magma, and blasted to the earth's surface in rare volcanic eruptions. Diamonds from these host rocks include by P-diamonds and E-diamonds. P-diamonds are considered inorganic carbon recovered from a rock-type known as peridotite. But E-diamonds are found in eclogite and have isotopic ratios indicating an organic precursor. In other words, these were originally carbon from plant life (even fish), and subducted to great depth in the earth's mantle by tectonic processes. 

Then there are diamonds made by humans such as those known as LifeGems, made in laboratories under tremendous pressures and temperatures (similar to most industrial diamonds used for drill bits). Pet dogs and grandmothers have been reincarnated in these gems. 

Then, there are a variety of high-pressure forms of carbon, such as lonsdailite, that are derived from the cosmos that fell to the earth in a meteorite or comet. Thus, an all-encompassing definition is not easy to come by. I even know of people who gave away rare, untreated, diamonds attached to a ring, ear-rings, necklace and bracelets that could be considered gemstones since they are a form of jewelry. 

(2) Another variation of gemstones, are those organic gems - gems produced by organic processes, such as amber. (3) Then there are synthetic diamonds produced in a lab. 

Apparently, few geologists in Wyoming had any idea of what a gemstone looked like in nature. Up until 1977, about the only known gemstones in Wyoming were jade and agate.

Gemstones can be tiny stones or minerals, or they can even come in giant packages. Typically, the giant gems end up in museums, or they are fractured and separated into many different sizes. For example, some years ago, the author tracked down hundreds of mineral deposits & found some of the largest individual gems and gemstone deposits on earth: some were as large as Smart cars! These were found in the wilds, along roads, highways and even next to Interstates. The discoveries were published in papers and books, listed on wiki and Amazon, with others available at the Wyoming Geological Survey and in versus professional books and journals.

After discovery of the Palmer Canyon iolite deposit in the central Laramie Mountains, the author noted that the area next to the iolite gneiss, had some ruby, sapphire and kyanite. The ruby & sapphire were associated with a small outcrop of vermiculite (referred to as 'glimmerite' in some counties). Glimmerite is a rock composed almost entirely of vermiculite mica and is geochemically enriched in alumina (just like vaccines). Ruby & sapphire are aluminum-oxides; thus, under the right geological conditions and right chemistry, pressures and temperatures, amphibolite-grade metamorphism created alumina (silica-poor) rock with ruby and sapphire. Some samples of the Palmer Canyon vermiculite contained 20 to 25% corundum (ruby & sapphire), with rubies weighing more than 12-carats after faceting. Armed with this information, the author found another half-dozen ruby deposits simply by searching known vermiculite deposits in Wyoming! Must be some vermiculite deposits in Montana and Canada! See if you can find old geology reports on vermiculite in your area - vermiculite was one time sought for insulation. 

Using geological, mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of iolite at Palmer Canyon, the author developed an exploration model that led to a few more deposits and provided additional predictions where other gemstones will be found. So Wyoming, which, at one time, was thought to be almost devoid of gemstones, is now the 'King of Gems' and the most diversified gemstone state in the US, and now a popular place for rock hounding. And gold! The author found hundreds of gold anomalies in Wyoming, and was on the discovery team of one of the largest gold deposits ever found on Earth. Six other geologists including the author were responsible for putting Donlin Creek on the map in Alaska - a deposit that could have more gold than the original Hometake mine in South Dakota! This one discovery contains more gold than mined in the entire Klondike during its entire mining history! 

The author found gold the Rattlesnake Hills district in 1981. The district has gold-bearing breccias comparable to Cripple Creek, Colorado. But also has characteristics of some great gold districts in greenstone belts, and who knows what else? Hidden skarns? Jasperoids? It may take many years, but one day, that area will have a gold mine. 

The author made gold discoveries in the Seminoe Mountains, South Pass, Sierra Madre and elsewhere. To make gold and gemstone discoveries requires an understanding of geology and gold prospecting. No, the author is not rich. Like the words of a song, "they got the gold mine and I got the shaft".

In 1977, the author became one of the few diamond geologists in North America and mapped the State Line diamondiferous kimberlite district, the Iron Mountain kimberlite district, the Sheep Rock kimberlite district and the Leucite Hills lamproite district. The author also consulted for companies and recommended diamond prospects in Colorado and Montana, where diamonds were found, and also found several previously unknown diamond deposits, along with greater than 300 crypto volcanic structures and heavy mineral anomalies - any one could be a diamond deposit - nearly all are unexplored.

So, the gems found by the author include iolites, garnets, chromian diopsides, beryls, apatites, fluorites, tourmalines, specularites. Nearly every year, new gold and or gemstone deposits were found.  

Giant iolite gems discovered in Grizzly
Creek, Laramie Mountains, WY

Giant iolites of extraordinary color and
clarity found in outcrop in Wyoming

In the US, there are likely undiscovered diamonds associated with kimberlite within the old cratonic rocks - such as in Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Wyoming, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, New York, Kentucky and even some rare diamond deposits in lamproites and lamprophyres in Arkansas, Kansas, and Montana. I described many of these in a book in 1998 and few people ever followed up on these reports. However, one prospector followed up on occurrences in Colorado and North Carolina and panned out several diamonds from both localities! While working for a Canadian diamond company, I came across some gem-bearing lamprophyre in Montana and identified an area that likely had diamond-bearing lamproites - later, another consultant found diamond in kimberlite in that same area.

Agates, quartz, and jasper deposits are found most everywhere in the US. There are sapphire and ruby deposits in North Carolina, Montana and Wyoming. Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona and Nevada have some great opal deposits. Based on geology, there are many more opal deposits to be found in the West. North Carolina has many different gemstones including emerald. And how about the turquoise and other gems in Arizona. In California, many diamonds have been found from undiscovered sources, and there are fabulous benitoite gemstones. While working for a US diamond company, I recovered many nearly flawless benitoites out of the Sacremento River. South Dakota has many gem-bearing pegmatites containing helidor, aquamarine, smoky quartz, rose quartz, and amethyst. Peridot is a beautiful gemstone. Arizona has peridot, quartz, chalcedony, amethyst and likely opal deposits. New Mexico has some great peridot deposits as does Arizona and Wyoming. Then there is topaz and red emerald in Utah. And the list goes on and on. And back to Wyoming, there are literally hundreds of deposits awaiting discovery that I know of - this is based on both geology and known minerals - and most of these I described in my recent gemstone book and even provided the reader with GPS coordinates. 

So, get off the couch, and go out and find us some gemstones!