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In Our Opinion

Although sapphires come in all colors from any of the mining areas around the world.
It has been our experience that most of the smaller deep blue sapphire. Found in commercial
verities of jewelry are from three primary areas. Australia, Thailand and Sri Lanka (Ceylon).

As with turquoise and the term Persian, being more a statement of color, rather than location.
So is it, with dark blue sapphire. For many years Thailand was the major producer of dark blue
sapphire. Therefor most of us think, Thai or use the term Thai Sapphire when we see a rich
royal blue sapphire.

As with most mining areas. Depletion at some time or another becomes a factor. As is true
in the case of Thailand sapphire. More recent discoveries of rich royal blue sapphire have
come from Australia. Allot of Australian sapphire is being cut in Thailand and may even be
represented as Thailand Sapphire.

In any event this type of sapphire still enjoys wide popularity. As we stated earlier small
stones may come from anywhere. But in most cases larger sized stones do come with specific information of their locality. We will include this information whenever possible. We have also
found an interesting article about the Australian sapphire fields.

Recent Sapphire Digs in Australia

The Central Queensland Sapphire Gemfields is one of the worlds significant Sapphire resources. Sapphire was discovered here about 125 years ago near Retreat Creek and has been mined intermittently ever since. The earliest mining was by hand and included mining conducted by emissaries of the Russian Czars. Providing many of the gems for the lavish Czarist crown jewels.

The early 1970's witnessed the introduction of machinery mining and the Sapphire Industry boomed until 1977 when a downturn began. Mining activity waxed and waned due to the price fluctuations of rough sapphire and in 1997 only two machinery miners continued to operate. This was mostly due to the collapse of the Asian currencies (especially the Thai Baht) and the flooding of the world market with sapphire from new fields in Madagascar.

In mid 1999 the Australian Sapphire Industry took a more positive turn as economies strengthened and the supply from Madagascar diminished. As a result of slightly improved prices there are now several medium to large machinery mining operation on the Gemfields. These are mainly family companies that employ 2 to 6 people, the largest company is GTN Resources which employs 15 people.

Many small hand mines still exist on the Gemfields. The small miners are normally working the areas of richer 'wash'. Whereas the machinery miners are limited to the less concentrated or deeper deposits. Conditions set buy the Mines Department.

A large proportion of the sapphire produced on the Gemfields is to cater to the export market. Annually some $ 10 to $ 12 million of rough sapphire is sold mostly to Thai agents who ship the rough sapphire to Thailand where it is cut and processed.

The best of the material is on-sold as "product of Thailand", and only the lower grade material is being sold as Australian stone. This deceit has been going on for decades. The Tourism potential of the Gemfields has developed significantly over the years.

In the early days it was mainly the dedicated 'Rock Hound' who came out and roughed it for a chance to find their own gems. With the continual improvement in roads and infrastructure, especially over the last 10 years, the Gemfields has become a much easier and more comfortable place to visit.

The main towns in the area are connected by bitumen road. Anakie, Sapphire and Rubyvale now have a town water supply. Well-established caravan parks exists in all the townships. The Outpatients clinic and Ambulance Station have greatly improved the health care services available.

Perhaps the biggest boon for travelers and tourists has been the development of fossicking parks. These parks have made it easy for anyone to have a real chance at finding a Sapphire. Most provide the equipment needed to find sapphire, washing drums, sieves and sorting table.

The visitor purchases a bucket of Wash and can them sieve that bucket for Sapphire. The Wash comes from sapphire bearing ground but all the back breaking work of digging down to the wash layer is already done. The parks also provide valuable experience on how to correctly sieve and identify sapphire.

Most also offer gems cutting and jewelry services For the serious fossicker/prospector they is still the opportunity to go out in the bush and dig for sapphire. The Qld Mines Department has reserved areas of the gemfields as Fossicking Areas.

As for the cost of a fossicking permit. A visitor can dig in these areas, any stone you find is yours to keep. The fossicking areas have been selected for relatively shallow digging with a good chance of finding quality material. To dig outside the fossicking areas other regulations apply and normally a mining claim or lease must be plotted and registered before digging can occur.

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