World production of precious stones and gems, deposits. Explanation of the text "when the precious stones were discovered"
Gemstones are minerals (mainly crystals) that have no color or have a uniform, beautiful color, moderate tone, high transparency, high hardness (6-10 on the Mohs scale), bright brilliance and high ability to scatter light. At the same time, the stone must be wear-resistant, resistant to fading and exposure to moderately aggressive environments.
Such stones are high quality raw materials and are mainly used for cutting.
Ornamental stones include some transparent, translucent, translucent and opaque crystals, mineral aggregates, rock masses and other stone formations with various inclusions and various patterns. Ornamental stones are used both in jewelry and for the production of carved products. These can be figurines of various shapes and sizes, figurines, vases, busts, massive decorative elements for facades and interior decoration of residential premises, etc…
Determining the value of an ornamental stone is of a spontaneous nature, with a pair that does not have clear edges. It is clear that it should cost an order of magnitude lower than gems. But let's take as an example or! High-quality beads made of bright green jade, with a uniform color and rare dark spots, can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Well, after that, how can such a stone be called ornamental ?! Or a translucent jadeite cabochon with a smooth grassy green color that costs from $500 per carat?! How do you like this ornamental stone?
Hence the conclusion - all the stones can be divided into groups and by significance. But in no case can one determine the value, value, based only on the group in which the mineral is located. IMHO.
There are many classifications of gemstones. Each has a common underlying principle. But there are also differences. Various factors influence the construction of mineral orders: fashion trends for, demand, development of old deposits, or the discovery of new ones, etc ...
Below is the most common classification of precious stones, which is already 30 years old, and it is successfully used in Russia and the former USSR among amateurs and professionals.
The first group: jewelry (precious) stones, gems
First order: diamond, emerald, ruby, sapphire blue.Second order: alexandrite, noble black opal, noble jadeite, pearl, sapphire (orange, purple and green).
Third order: aquamarine, noble spinel, demantoid, noble white and fire opal, topaz, rhodolite, adularia, red tourmaline.
fourth order: amethyst, tourmaline (blue, green, pink and polychrome), chrysolite, zircon, beryl (yellow, golden and pink), turquoise, noble spodumene, pyrope, almandine, chrysoprase, citrine.
The second group: jewelry and ornamental, colored stones
First order: lapis lazuli, jadeite, jade, malachite, aventurine, charoite, amber, rock crystal, smoky quartz, hematite (bloodstone).Second order: agate, amazonite, colored chalcedony, cacholong, heliotrope, rhodonite, rose quartz, opaque iridescent feldspars (belomorite and others), iridescent obsidian, ordinary opal.
The bulk of jewelry ornamental stones is used for making souvenirs, figurines, and various kinds of handicrafts. And not a large percentage of these stones are used in jewelry.
Most often, the extraction of precious stones takes place underground, in mine workings, less often in open pits. It also happens that under the influence of erosion, the stones are gradually freed from the parent rock and they are carried downstream by streams of water. In such places, the development of these alluvial deposits is carried out by manual washing, using dredges.On the territory of modern Afghanistan, lapis lazuli mines existed 6 thousand years ago, and the famous traveler Marco Polo wrote about this. Persian turquoise, which is recognized as the best, is brought from Iran. Loose deposits are more profitable than mountain deposits. Mined in this way in Sri Lanka, rubies and spinels, in Namibia - diamonds, on the Baltic coast -. But the stones in the placers are not of the best quality, as they roll, wear out and are damaged in other ways over many kilometers of their way from the original deposit.
It is not uncommon for boulders that are inconspicuous at first glance to be hollow from the inside and completely lined with crystals. Such stones are called geodes, and the stones found in them are always better than others in purity and quality. More often than others, amethysts and citrines are found in geodes.
Mining methods
Scientists are currently beginning to mine jewelry, who are studying the origin of rocks and analyzing their contents.After it is produced on the ground and samples are taken from drilled wells, a calculation is made to extract the material in the developed field. After that, the place is considered explored, work can begin.
In African and Asian countries, all stones, with the exception of diamonds, are mined in a primitive way. In the beds of dried rivers, rock crevices and on the coast near the surf, the simplest type of collection is applicable - from the surface of the earth. Often, crystals are knocked off the rocks using jackhammers, blasting. In rivers, soil is washed in baskets, but light stones such as tourmaline, quartz and beryl can be lost in this process - they are mainly extracted from the primary deposit.
The placers, formed in ancient times, are covered with multi-meter layers of soil, which are removed manually or mechanically, opening the deposit. In this case, a lot of unusual equipment is used: earth-moving machines that cut the soil themselves and transport it to dumps (scrapers), conveyor-type loaders, machines with buckets suspended on an arrow (draglines). To remove waste rock from quarries, not only dump trucks with conveyors are used, but in some cases high-pressure water is also used.
People have been decorating themselves with precious stones since ancient times. Then the extraction was of a spontaneous nature. People learned to extract natural stones specially not so long ago. The development of deposits and the sale of jewelry bring huge money to enterprises.
What are the types of deposits
Jewels include rare, beautiful minerals. There are not so many of them, the most famous are diamonds, sapphires, topazes. A large group consists of ornamental minerals that look no less beautiful and are used to make jewelry.
Each mineral has its own deposit, depending on the composition of the surrounding rocks. As a rule, the development of these deposits has been going on for several hundred years, new deposits are rarely discovered. Known mining sites for gemstones:
- Yakutia and Namibia - diamonds;
- Iran - turquoise;
- Pakistan - rubies;
- Sri Lanka - sapphires and rubies;
- Ural - topaz.
There are three types of deposits: mine workings, open pits, placers. In the latter case, minerals are separated from rocks in the process of erosion, they are carried away by water flows. The extraction of stones in placers is carried out by manual washing.
Mine workings are underground mines in which precious stones are mined with the help of manual labor. First, an exploration working is built to determine the quantity and quality of minerals.
is the development of minerals and minerals in rock layers. As the quarry develops, they dig deeper and deeper. The largest quarry is located in Chile, its size is 3x4 m, the depth is 850 m. The largest diamond deposit in Russia is located beyond the Arctic Circle, this is the Udachnoye quarry.
Mining enterprises
As a rule, a deposit is discovered by accident, without the use of technical means or a scientific basis. Specially, scientists are looking for only the most expensive stones - diamonds. A mining enterprise is being built on the site of deposits of precious stones.
Types of mining enterprises:
- Mines - large enterprises for the extraction of minerals underground or open pit;
- Mines - mines and quarries for extracting gems;
- Mines are hand-dug mines for the extraction of minerals.
Available ways to mine gems
The methods of extraction of semi-precious stones remained practically the same as in ancient times. With the help of shovels they dig a mine, rocks are lifted in baskets on ropes. Usually, work begins next to a river in which rocks can be washed. During the washing process, workers find 1-2 gems per rock basket. After that, the process is repeated from the beginning. Finders sell their finds at auctions or local markets. Specialists process them and hand them over to stores.
Gems without impurities are valued on the market. Only a specialist can determine this. He carries out preliminary processing and faceting of minerals. For example, sapphires are heated to give a beautiful shade. The master must know the properties of stones in order to distinguish a jewel from a fake.
Mining in Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, stones are mined by hand. Of the automatic means, only pumps are used that pump out groundwater. Mines are dug right in the rice fields. Excavators and other equipment are not used, as they leave behind lakes and swamps.
Sri Lanka is known for the fact that the entire island contains a huge amount of minerals. Half of the known types of stones that are used for jewelry are located here. The development is carried out by private searchers under a special license, it must be paid annually.
Primitive mining methods
The easiest way to develop gemstones is to collect placers along mountain rivers. Growths of crystals are on the surface, they can be seen in the crevices of rocks. They are knocked down with a hammer and a chisel, in some cases jackhammers and explosives are used. Explosives are rarely used because they can damage valuable minerals.
Another way is mining at the mouth of the river. It is specially accelerated so that the water flows faster. Workers stand in the water and muddy the bottom with long poles. Light sandy components are carried away by water, and semi-precious stones remain at the bottom.
The most difficult way to get gems is to build deep mines. They are dug with special equipment, ceilings are built so that the walls do not crumble. The entrance is covered with a rain cover. Ground water is pumped out. Natural stones lie in the sandy layer, and mining is carried out in it. Horizontal workings occupy several meters underground.
Use of explosives
Mining adits are built in hard rocks using explosives. This method is costly in time and effort, so they resort to it if there is confidence in the deposits of precious stones. Usually, gem mining is combined with geological exploration and mining of other minerals.
The main problem of all mines and mines is theft. They not only bring losses to prospectors and mining enterprises, but also reduce the price of gems on the market. Therefore, serious companies carefully guarded their mines.
The development of precious stones is carried out in rocks, estuaries and in open ground. In some countries, independent mining is prohibited; only industrial enterprises can do this. Other countries allow such fishing with the purchase of a license.
Video: Gem mining in Sri Lanka
No one knows when gemstones were first discovered, but man has admired them since ancient times. For thousands of years, jewelry has been worn to ward off spirits and disease. Even today, some people believe in the special power of stones. The first mention of precious stones we find in the Bible. In the 28th chapter of the book of the Old Testament, it speaks of a body plate worn by a high church minister, Aaron. The plate was decorated with 12 precious stones. The ancient Egyptians used gemstones in ornaments and jewelry. They were skilled in the art of working gemstones, and their designs on stones have survived to this day.
The Egyptians wore amulets known as scarabs. These were precious stones cut in the shape of the sacred Egyptian beetle. It was believed that the one who wears scarabs is protected by good spirits. In ancient times, different gemstones differed in color. The name "ruby" was given to all red-colored gemstones. All green stones were called emerald, and blue - sapphire.
Later it turned out that some gems were harder and more durable than others. It became obvious that the value of a stone depends not only on color, brightness, rarity, but also on its hardness. For example, a diamond is considered today the most precious, because in addition to its magnificence, it also has the greatest hardness among all stones. Many stones are called precious. But in reality, this name refers only to the four most valuable stones - diamond, ruby, emerald and sapphire.
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The largest number of clown reprises. Charlie Kings. The most inventive clown was Charlie Kings. Speaking with his father in 1927-37. at the Circus Medrano, Paris, he came up with over 700 different reprises. At the Blackpool Tower Circus, UK, he worked for 40 consecutive seasons without repeating a reprise in any season.
The largest frog. Goliath frog. Goliath frog (Conraua goliath), caught in April 1989 by a resident of Seattle, pc. Washington, USA, by Andy Kofman in the Sanaga River, Cameroon, weighed 3.66 kg.
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Even prehistoric man used precious stones for decoration, and there is probably not a single era in the history of mankind when people would not find charm in the multi-color splendor of minerals.
Gemstones vary in degree of hardness. Only diamond, which the Greeks called invincible, "adamas", has the highest hardness of 10 units.
Stones with a hardness of 9 to 7 were previously defined as genuine gems, which, with decreasing hardness, become semi-precious or simply decorative. Until now, there is no single point of view on this matter, because the evaluation criterion is not only hardness, but also rarity and beauty.
In the scale of hardness developed by Friedrich Mose, diamond appears with a degree of 10 units, followed by ruby and sapphire - 9, cat's eye, alexandrite, chrysoberyl, spinel, emerald, aquamarine and noble topaz - 8, amethyst, hyacinth, tourmaline, garnet, citrine , smoky topaz and rose quartz - 7 and other colored or transparent stones, pleasing to the eye in a beautiful frame, polished or carved. The measure of a gemstone is a carat.
But they were satisfied not only with the beauty and play of light; at all times, precious stones were also used as a material for small plastic arts - for example, carving in stone (glyptics) was known and popular among all peoples of antiquity. These are intaglio gems (in-depth carvings) and cameos (protruding carvings). Even now it is difficult to find anything equal to the works of the ancient masters.
But along with precious stones, stones of natural origin, such as pearls and amber, were also used.
Pearls are equal in beauty to precious stones. Even, round shape, large pearls are called large or Burmite pearls; especially large pearls are called “parangons”, and angular, large pearls of irregular shape are called “freaks” - because of their fantastic shape, they were used in products of applied art, for example, as fragments of a human or animal body.
The smallest pearls were used to decorate women's clothing, and in baroque times, a garment embroidered with pearls or threads in several rows was a necessary accessory for a high society woman's toilet.
Amber has been used as a decorative material since ancient times - amber finds in Mycenaean tombs, which date back to about 2000 BC, testify to this, and in the north, amber jewelry was worn by people of the Stone Age.
They mined the “gold of the sea”, collecting it on the seashore; later caught with nets and spears. It happened like this: sitting in a boat, on clear days, they turned the seabed with a long hook and the current of water picked up amber, which was then caught with nets. Amber jewelry has always been valued and attributed to them with healing properties.
In Russia, precious stones were not only a symbol of beauty, but with their help, symbols of supreme power were given even greater significance. In the 14th-16th centuries, the symbols of the supreme (royal) power - the scepter, the crown, the orb, the royal baton were decorated with numerous stones.
The brightest example of such art is the Monomakh's Hat. Its top is richly covered with precious stones: emeralds, sapphires, rubies, tourmalines and pearls. "The Cap of Monomakh", as a symbol of the highest state power in Russia, was crowned to the kingdom of all Moscow grand dukes.
Huge wealth was collected in the Kremlin by Ivan IV (the Terrible). Products with turquoise, corals, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and other precious stones replenished the royal pantries under him.
Made in 1552 in honor of the capture of Kazan by the troops of Ivan the Terrible, the "Cap of the Kingdom of Kazan" is an example of a successful combination of oriental and Russian art: a carved ornament with kokoshniks in the Russian style is made on the golden crown, and it is trimmed with pearls, garnets and turquoise - stones, which the jewelers of the East liked to use.
Research of our days has shown that in products with precious stones made before the 17th century, stones were used that were brought from abroad. Academician A.E. Fersman wrote that during that period of Russian history, the extraction of Russian gems and Russian stone for jewelry was not yet carried out. A.E. Fersman believed that in the XIII-XVI centuries Russia received colored stones from Byzantium and from the East.
The extraction of Russian gems began around the middle of the 17th century. At that time, malachite was discovered in the Urals, and at the end of the 17th century, deposits of agates, chalcedony, jasper and carnelian were discovered along the rivers of Eastern Siberia.
Under Peter I, the development of the "black business" received a powerful impetus, since the tsar personally supervised the search for and extraction of precious stones. During his reign, deposits of rock crystal, amethysts, beryls and other gems were discovered. Ural gems have become widely known.
In the 20s - 50s of the last century, deposits of emeralds, topazes, rubies, chrysolites, diamonds and other precious stones were discovered in Russia.
The art of stone processing in Russia in the 19th century reached a very high level. During the construction of the world-famous palaces of St. Petersburg (Winter, Stroganov, Marble, Tsarskoye Selo, Peterhof, Pavlovsk), as well as cathedrals (St. malachite, lapis lazuli, rhodonite, etc.).
Wonderful vases, tabletops, candlesticks, writing instruments and other products were made from Ural malachite, which were in high demand both in Russia and in the West.
At the 1st World Exhibition in London in 1851, the Russian exposition of jewelry and jewels was a well-deserved success. Many Russian products and stones received prizes.
Among the Russian jewelry firms in the second half of the 19th century, there was a firm founded in 1848 in St. Petersburg by Carl Faberge, large jewelry workshops of that time (Reimer, Holstrem and Collin) worked, the products of which were distinguished by a clear pattern with relief details. Jade, jasper, rock crystal, lapis lazuli and various quartz were used in Faberge products. Many products were made by the Faberge workshops on orders from members of the royal family.
At the World Exhibition in Paris, Russian art stone products were a great success. The Faberge firm after this exhibition opened its branch to serve the countries of the West and the East.
At the end of the 19th century, the synthesis of precious stones of the corundum group was carried out, and since 1902, synthetic rubies began to be supplied to the market, and a little later - sapphires and spinel. This gave a new impetus to the development of the production of jewelry stones. But the appearance of synthetic stones in large quantities on the market did not reduce, but significantly increased the role and cost of natural jewelry.
In the 70s - 80s of our century, the cost of gem diamonds almost tripled. Jewelry made from precious natural stones is still highly valued, and in the future their value will only increase.
Human interest in jewelry and adornments is rooted in more than a thousand years of human history. The first jewels were discovered in ancient burials dating back approximately 20,000 years. They were jewelry made of processed shells, necklaces made of bone. At a later time, precious stones were used as symbols of divine and earthly strength and power, talismans that protect against misfortune.
The beauty of gold and precious stones, interest in them stimulated the development of decorative arts. Jadeite carving was common in China as early as 4500 years ago. At the same time, master jewelers from Sumer and Egypt made complex jewelry from lapis lazuli, carnelian, turquoise, amethyst, and garnet. Cameos and other agate jewelry were especially popular in ancient Rome, and also later in the Middle Ages. Masters skillfully used the variety of colors of different layers of stone. An example of their work is the cameo with the image of Emperor Augustus, which in the Middle Ages became part of the diadem.
The history of the development of jewelry art and the closely related culture of precious stones as jewelry has about five millennia. Only very scarce information has been preserved about its earliest stages, as there are archaeological finds dating back to those times. extremely few. The Cairo Museum (Egypt) stores bracelets recovered from the tomb of Pharaoh Djoser (Abydos), who belonged to the 1st dynasty (3200 - 2800 BC). The ancient culture of Greece and Rome adjoins the culture of Ancient Egypt and the Ancient East. This is followed by the medieval culture of the Celts, Franks and Germans, in the development of which several stages are distinguished: the era of the Carolingians, the era of Otto I and the Saxon dynasty, the Romanesque and Gothic eras. The Middle Ages are replaced by the Renaissance, and the pomp of the absolutist era (baroque and rococo eras) is replaced by modern culture of the 19th and 20th centuries.
In Egyptian inlays of the XII-XVII dynasties (2000-1700 AD), red carnelian, blue lapis lazuli (lapis lazuli), turquoise and amazonite, as well as colored glass were used mainly. The tombs of the kings of ancient Ur allow us to judge the art of the goldsmiths of Sumer, which reached its peak in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e. and clearly relied on a long tradition of working lapis lazuli, red limestone and mother-of-pearl. From the Egyptians, the art of inlay was adopted by the Greeks. They decorated their statues with precious stones, covered with plates of gold and ivory, inserted these stones into the eye sockets of the sculptural images of the gods of the ancient pantheon.
How and where were the stones mined? The first stones were probably found in river pebbles at the bottom of rivers and on the banks. In advanced ancient civilizations, stone mining became a branch of the economy. Turquoise (Sinai) and amethyst (near Aswan) were mined in Egypt, lapis lazuli was imported from Afghanistan, where Badagshan was the only known mining site at that time. In the mines of Badagshan, lapis lazuli of the best quality is still mined after 6000 years. The ancient Romans mined agate in a deposit near Idar-Oberstein (Germany), where the development of agate resumed in the Middle Ages and continues to this day. Also famous are the deposits of precious stones (diamonds, sapphires, rubies, spinels) of very high quality in India, Sri Lanka, Burma. One of the Sanskrit manuscripts noted that Indian diamonds were an important source of government revenue as early as 2000 years ago.
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