Rough gemstones collected in South Africa

Rough gemstones

BERYL

Aquamarine - faceting grade material, various shades - blue, green, pale blue and green

Feldspar

Feldspar - solid material, takes excellent polish, various colours, orange to dark red

Unakite

Unakite Unakite - pink feldspar, green epidote and quartz

Sodalite

Sodalite - solid massive material, dark blue with white Ankerite

GARNET

Pyrope Pyrope - alluvial diamond fields, faceting grade material, brownish orange to red and red to red brown

Hydrogrossular - known as ``Transvaal Jade´´, massive, translucent to subtranslucent to opaque, green due to chromium and pink due to manganese or mixed colours, even texture, polishes well

- Hydrogrossular - various green, dark and light

- Hydrogrossular - light pink

- Hydrogrossular - pink and light green mixed

QUARTZ CRYSTALLINE

Amethyst

Amethyst - faceting grade material, purple to light violet

- Amethyst - purple to light violet with colourless material

Rose Quartz - deep pink, always included and cracked, from chip size to large blocks, cuts and polishes well

QUARTZ CRYPTOCRYSTALLINE

Agate Agate - distinctly banded Chalcedony, layers differing in colour, from several locations in South Africa

Blue Lace Agate - translucent Chalcedony with white and blue bands, various shades from light blue to deep blue

Moss Agate - clear to milky translucent Chalcedony with moss appearances in red (iron) black (manganese) and green (chlorite)

Rainbow Chalcedony - brilliant mixed colours - white, yellow, red, brown, blue, grey and black, contains soft inclusions and fine cavities

Carnelian - a yellow, orange, red or brown chalcedony, normally tumbled to expose the colour and recut thereafter

Jasper

- Red Jasper - with white and black Quartz inclusions

- Kalahari Picture Stone - yellow Quartz layers separated by iron stained bans, porous material

- Mugglestone - banded red, brown, white and cream material with brown to black Hematite layers

- Porcelain Jasper - yellow, red, brown, green or blue in colour, very hard, takes beautiful polish

Tigerseye - yellow brown, medium thickness slabs

Budd Stone - distinctive contoured green and white layers, swizling appearance

Green Quartz - nice solid material colour due to Fuchsite

Pudding Stone - red, yellow, white, green, brown and black Jasper and other rounded pebbles in solid or translucent chert

IRONSTONE

Ironstone - yellow to yellow brown and ironoxide banded, tends to undercut but takes good polish

MALACHITE

Malachite - beautiful banded material, takes good polish

SERPENTINE

Serpentine - massive green serpentine, striped light green to dark green to brown, takes a matt polish

Bowenite - Namaqualand Jade - mottled pale green and dark green - takes a fair polish

SUGILITE

Sugilite - purple to reddish purple

AFRICAN TURQUOISE

African Turquoise - massive material - ideal for cutting and carving

VERDITE

Verdite Verdite - massive fine grained, vibrant dark green to emerald green, a soft rock, takes a matt polish

Content by courtesy of :
AFRIGEMTEC