A world tour on the trail of colourful gemstones

Longing for an exotic getaway? Get inspired by your preferred gems and choose your destination accordingly. From Africa and Asia to Australia and South America, you can head to all corners of the globe to discover where the semi-precious stones come from.

During our last conference, we invited the participants to join us for a world tour, on the trail of stunning gems. Today, you’ll discover a sneak peek of this beautiful trip.

Before taking off, let’s review the gem classification. Diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds are the precious gemstones. This classification dates back to ancient times. In Egypt, Greece and Rome, these rare and valuable stones were treasured for their beauty and religious importance. Amethysts were also considered precious until the 18th century when a large deposit was found in Brazil.

Outside of these “Big Four”, any gemstone is called semi-precious within the industry. They are often more abundant and therefore less expensive, yet as beautiful.

Our world tour starts in East Africa, home to many gemstones including tanzanite, alexandrite, aquamarine, garnets and tourmaline. They are mined in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique, which also produce precious gems like rubies and sapphires. 

Over the past two decades, the island of Madagascar has become a leading producer of sapphires. The country is also an important source of semi-precious gemstones such as aquamarine, quartz, morganite and tourmaline.

On the Asian side, Myanmar is known as the source of ca. 90% of the world’s rubies, but it is also home to many other gemstones, including spinel, peridot, garnet and imperial jadeite. 

Brazil is also renowned for its abundance of gemstones such as tourmaline, amethyst, topaz, beryl, morganite, aquamarine and quartz. It is also home to the rare Paraiba tourmaline. 

Over to Australia, this country is the world’s leading supplier of colourful opals.

Let’s have a look at the maps.

Diamond

Diamond

Sapphire & Ruby

Emerald & Beryl

Quartz

Topaz & Tourmaline

Opal & Jadeite

While traveling, you may choose to bring some of these treasures home. In this case, we recommend you to get all the needed documents ensuring the quality and ethic provenance of the gemstone. When you are back, don't forget it appraised and thus, insure it properly.

We’ll give you more information about appraisal here. Please feel free to contact us for any question you may have.