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Geology News
Gemstones Current Events

The Dallas Fine Mineral Show is an annual event that is growing rapidly. This year it will be held in Dallas on May 2nd to May 4th. Promoters say that they have a 60% increase in the number of dealers over last year.

DId you know that emeralds have been mined in North Carolina? How about Hiddenite? The-Vug.com has photos of the North Carolina Emerald/Hiddenite exhibit from the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. You will be surprised at the size of some of these specimens.

There is only one active diamond mine in the United States - at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. The mine yields a few hundred carats per year, mostly found by pay-to-dig visitors. A report at FakeMinerals.com says that a person has been sneaking look-alike diamonds from an Indian mine into the park and claiming that they were found there. The stones are then sold to people willing to pay high prices for stones that represent the Arkansas locality.

Diamond is the world’s most popular gemstone and it’s qualities as the hardest natural substance make it an excellent abrasive. However, diamond is used for many other things which include: heat sink, speaker dome, laser windows and microbearings.

Nine purple diamonds were discovered in surface rock samples collected from the Ekomiak Conglomerate on a property in James Bay, Quebec.

We leave Tucson soon and have posted a final few photos of the gem and mineral show. We spent five days at the show and believe that we only saw about 25% of it.

We are starting to find the “good stuff” at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show. Here are a few more photos of things that we saw today.

We are at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show and it would be impossible to take enough photos to do the show justice. However, here is just a few of the things that we have seen.

There are over 3000 vendors at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, so planning ahead is important. Arizona Vacation Planners have a list of good tips to help you make the most of the show.

Kyanite is a mineral that is used to manufacture items that must retain their strength at high temperatures. It is used to make a variety of refractory products such a fire brick, mortar and kiln furniture. It is also used to make porcelain and is sometimes cut as a gemstone.

If you are going to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, which begins in just a couple of weeks, you might want to read John Betts’ advice in “A Guide to the Tucson Mineral Shows for First-Time Visitors”.

The United States House of Representatives voted to sanction Myanmar’s gemstone and natural gas industries. This is in response to the military’s pressures against human rights movements. The gemstone industry is mostly run by the government, the natural gas sanctions will hurt Chevron’s interests in Myanmar.