World's Largest Quartz Cluster

Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum - Golden - Colorado

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Australia's Largest Rough Pink Diamond

 

An Australian mining company says it has found a 12.76-carat pink diamond, the largest rough pink diamond found in the country.

The rare diamond was found at Rio Tinto's Argyle diamond mine in Western Australia's East Kimberly region.

Estimated to be worth millions, it has been named the Argyle Pink Jubilee, and is being cut and polished in Perth.

It will be sold later this year after being shown around the world, including in New York and Hong Kong.

The process of polishing and cutting, which began in Perth on Tuesday, is expected to take about 10 days. The diamond will then be graded by a team of international experts.

More than 90% of the pink diamonds in the world come from the Argyle mine, a Rio Tinto statement said.

The Argyle Pink Jubilee is a light pink diamond, the company said. It is similar in colour to The Williamson Pink - the diamond found in Tanzania that Queen Elizabeth II received as a wedding gift and which was subsequently set into a brooch for her coronation.

A Rio Tinto spokesperson said that a diamond of this calibre was ''unprecedented''.

''It has taken 26 years of Argyle production to unearth this stone and we may never see one like this again,'' said Argyle Pink Diamonds Manager Josephine Johnson.

In 2010, a rare 24.78-carat "fancy intense pink" diamond was sold for a record-breaking $46 million (£29m), the highest price ever paid for a jewel, to a well-known British dealer at an auction in Geneva.

That diamond had been in a private collection for 60 years.

Tuscon 2012

Wendel Minerals

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Amazing Tourmaline

The prices of high-end minerals are reportedly rising 10% a year or more. What’s driving this? Well, our inside expert who I dub “Deep Mine” says that the stratospheric prices of fine art are driving the wealthy to the relatively cheap minerals markets.

Where the top prices for art can easily run into the tens of millions of dollars (and over $100 million for the most sought-ever items), the world’s best mineral specimens command only a fraction of that, perhaps one million dollars.

It’s really only the more exquisite and rarer pieces that are getting the top increases. (above - tourmaline on quartz; asking price $2.4 million)

So, you shouldn’t expect the $20 chunk of amethyst sitting on your bookshelf to finance your retirement or the kid’s college tuition.

The buyers of the top mineral specimens in many cases did not actually show up in Tucson, instead using expert agents to seek out the best of the best and negotiate the deals. One name circulating widely among sellers is that of Bruce Oreck, heir to the vacuum cleaner business and reportedly a major collector.

Minerals are still not widely collected, at least compared to fine art, suggesting that continued appreciation may be expected at least as long as Matisse’s and Rembrandt’s continue to climb.

By Lee Allison

400 Million Dollar Emerald

“The latest in the saga of the Bahia Emerald, an 840-pound gemstone is set to take place in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday to decide its fate.

Several people have laid claim to the stone in the nine years since it was dug up in Brazil in 2001. Multitudes of lawyers are expected to fill the courtroom where Judge John Kronstadt will review the case of Tony Thomas, a claimant who says he bought the emerald from Brazilian miners for $60,000.

The emerald, one of the largest gems ever discovered and estimated to be worth almost $400 million, has been around the block. Its journey has taken it thousands of miles and in some interesting places. At one point, the emerald was shipped to New Orleans and stored in a warehouse that was flooded during Hurricane Katrina. It has also been listed on eBay, for a Buy It Now price of only $75 million, according to the San Jose Mercury News.”