Beautifully sparkling aquamarine has the color that resembles the ocean waters. From the name aqua it is ordinarily misunderstood to be originating from the sea. No it is not. It is an earthly gem found in rocks.
Adorable aquamarine is ordinarily found in granite and metamorphic rocks. It is obtained from nature by the process of mining.
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Surface Mining by hand, the prevalent institution of collecting gemstones from nature, is surface mining using an open-pit. In South Africa, aquamarine gem mining is achieved literally by using just hands with no complex machinery involved.
To make the rocks those consist of the aquamarine roughs to split open, fires are set beside giant boulders. Blasting the rocks with dynamite is rarely done. Once the rock, rich in minerals, is split open, manpower is used to collect the invaluable gems. Using hammers, chisels, picks and axes aquamarine is gathered as crystals breaking the rocks.
Aquamarine Mining-The perfect Process Geological site investigation is the first step in the process of gemstone mining. Eia-environmental Impact evaluation is the next step. These two steps are first done in sequence on the mines that are believed to consist of these gem stones. Using Geomorphology, a extremely industrialized technical process, the land form is defined by slowly consuming the surface and raising it above the sea level. This process diminishes the depth and facilitates the mining process.
The area thus identified above is rich in Precambrian metamorphic rocks. These rocks consist of minerals-rich crystals such as quartz, garnet, mica, feldspar, biotite etc, And not to mention the other invaluable and costly gemstones. The light bluish 'Gem of the Sea'-Aquamarine stone is one among them.
Aquamarines are hosted in pegmatite, the veins present in metamorphic rocks. These veins are ordinarily sheared and vary in thickness from 10m to 40m. The town of the pegmatite is ordinarily massive. So it has to be fractured and banded. By the opencast mining method, the veins are fractured using pneumatic tools.
Some of the tools that are used in mining aquamarine gems are compressor, jack hammer, ladders, shovels etc. Bulldozers are also used to aid the process of mining the these gems. After the gemstones are freed from the rock they are cleaned and washed with water.
Aquamarine Mining- Mining of aquamarine is truly an environmental amiable process. It is devoid of usage of any toxic material like cyanide and mercury that are ordinarily used in gold and silver mining. So, all hearts that wish a green planet can wear aquamarine jewelry without the guilt of spoiling the mom nature`s purity.
Mining of this particular gem is a simple and mild process in which the metamorphic rocks that consist of aquamarine are first split into pieces by inserting air/gas pressure into the rocks.
Moreover, even after exhausting, the mines are not left barren. A 2m to 4m thick soil layer is settled over the filled and concluded mine pits. So grass and trees can all the time be grown on that surface and the area gets its natural look back.
This costly bluish aquamarine gemstone is mined incorporating a mild and environmental amiable simple process.
How is Aquamarine Mined?