In our newsletter this month:

   The Future of Gemstones
   New in Gems
   Staff Selections
   Gemstones Worth Knowing
   Customer Questions

Gemstones, like oil, are not a renewable resource. At some time in the future, virtually all the world's accessible gem-quality material will have been mined, and gem dealers will be trading in second hand or synthetic gems. That's certainly not a happy thought. But how quickly are the world's gemstone resources being depleted?

In the developed world where more sophisticated technology is available, gemstone production is definitely declining. In the USA, for example, the production of natural gemstones fell 25% from 2000 to 2004. To a large degree, this is the result of the high cost of mining the remaining material. This has happened in Australia as well, where many of the biggest sapphire mines have shut down because of the high cost of mining there.

In the developing world, many famous mining regions have been almost entirely worked out. In our October 2006 newsletter we told the story of ruby and sapphire mining in our home province of Chanthaburi, Thailand. These days there is only one small functioning mine left in the province, though many dealers here speculate that large sapphire deposits remain undiscovered in the military buffer zone along the border with Cambodia.

Many of the world's colored gemstone mines are in troubled places -- Burma, Pakistan, Kenya, Afghanistan, Columbia -- and this affects the rate at which supplies are depleted. In addition, in the developing world most mining is still "artisanal." In Africa, the vast majority of colored gemstone mining is done by independent, small-scale miners, working in remote locations. Gem mining in Southeast Asia continues to use primitive methods which cannot be scaled up when demand increases. Most deposits are too small to exploit economically with heavy equipment in any case.

In Sri Lanka, there are more than 5,000 registered colored gemstone mining locations on the island. The majority of these pits measure no more than three by three meters, and go down to a maximum depth of 25 meters. Colored gemstone mining is so labor intensive that it is estimated that more than 500,000 people in Madagascar are involved in the gemstone sector, despite the fact that Madagascar became an important gemstone source only in the 1990's.

While most colored gemstone mining worldwide is highly distributed and small scale, a notable exception is in South America. Amethyst, citrine, and ametrine are produced at the Anah? Mine, which is located in eastern Bolivia in the province of Santa Cruz. This mine is known for the volume and uniform quality of its gemstones and is the only known deposit of ametrine. In 2005 the mine produced a total of 11 million cut stones in a variety of grades and sizes. This included six million carats of amethyst, three million carats of ametrine, and two million carats of citrine. But this is not a sustainable production. The output at the mine has gone down in the last year, and dealers are reporting a shortage of better amethyst rough, as well as ametrine.

In our own business we see many signs of declining production -- smaller gemstones, lower quality, more treated stones, and higher prices. We have to work harder to find the gems we want at the prices we are willing to pay. One only has to look at the skyrocketing prices and dwindling supply of a gemstone like tanzanite to get a sense of how scarce many gemstones may become in the future. But in 10 years we may well look back at today and marvel at the abundance of fine material at prices that are still affordable.

We have been busy rebuilding our stock after a very busy holiday season. Our buyers have been in the market every day finding the best values for our customers, and we are adding new gems to our website every day. Here's the latest. Click on the gem names to view the latest samples.

• Watermelon Tourmaline from Nigeria: Some very lovely pieces of this distinctive tourmaline in the 1.5 to 3.5 carat size. Excellent color and clarity at a very attractive price.
  
  
• Peridot from Burma: In the past we've had peridot from Pakistan, China and, most recently, Vietnam. But we think this Burmese peridot is as nice as any we've seen, with a bright apple green coloration and wonderful clarity. If you love peridot, these are some special pieces. Very limited stock in these.
  
  
• London Blue Topaz from Brazil: We've just bought a new stock of blue topaz in the most coveted color, the deep blue known as London Blue.
  
  
• Green Amethyst from Brazil: This is a new product on the market and the first time we've carried them. These lovely mint green pieces are produced by heat treating amethyst. The color is stable and permanent. In a range of cuts and sizes, with most pieces in the 7 to 16 carat range.
  
  
• Spessartite Garnet Cabochons from Namibia: Every once in a while we find something interesting that we've never stocked before. Here's an example: cabochon cut mandarin spessartite. These are lovely pieces, beautifully polished, in a range of sizes and shapes, with a few pieces over 20 carats. Collectors take note!
  
  
• Lemon Quartz from Brazil: We've just acquired a range of sparkling lemon quartz, mainly in ovals and octagons. These are large pieces in the 20 to 30 carat range, with a few pieces over 50 carats.
  
  
• Prehnite Cabochons from South Africa: Prehnite has been very popular recently with our customers and we think these new cabochons are the nicest prehnite we've bought in the last year. We think you'll agree.
  
  
• Rhodolite Garnet from Zimbabwe: We've just bought some lovely red Zimbabwean rhodolite, in round and octagon shapes, in the 1.5 to 2.5 carat range.
  
  
• Chrysoberyl from Pakistan: We have just purchased a small lot of very nice Pakistani chrysoberyl. If you're not familiar with this brilliant gemstone, it's worth checking out -- chrysoberyl has a hardness of 8.5, almost as hard as ruby and sapphire.
  
  
• Smoky Quartz from Brazil: We've acquired some nice pieces of Brazilian smoky quartz, mainly in the 10 to 20 carat size. These are very clean pieces, in a lovely smoky brown, in a variety of shapes and cuts. These make wonderful pendants.
  
  
• Golden Diamond Lots from India: We've just added some lots of dazzling golden diamonds from India. We have several sizes, in lots of 8 or 15, with total carat weight of each lot in the .75 to 1.2 carat range.
  
  
• Blue Green Apatite from Madagascar: We've bought a number of pieces of apatite with the strong paraiba-like blue green that has become so popular. These are good-sized ovals, mainly between 2.5 and 3.25 carats. They have some very slight inclusions but represent very good value at the price.
  
  

In a few feature beginning this month, our staff selects some of their favorite gemstones from our inventory. Click on the photos to go to the detail page for the item.

Each month we focus on one of the lesser known gemstones. This month's featured stone is Prehnite.

Prehnite was once a very obscure and rare gemstone. But new deposits have made this very interesting mineral more widely available. Prehnite is a form of calcium aluminum silicate with a vitreous mother-of-pearl luster. It has a hardness rating of 6 to 6.5. It was first discovered in South Africa by Colonel Hendrik Von Prehn, an early Dutch governor of the Cape of Good Hope colony. Prehnite was actually the first mineral to be named after a person, an interesting bit of gemological trivia.

Prehnite is typically found in yellow-green or brown-yellow, and though it is translucent, it is cut in many ways -- faceted, en cabochon and carved. Click here to see more Prehnite samples.

Every month we answer questions of general interest from our customers. Please feel free to send your questions to help@gemselect.com, with "Newsletter question" in the Subject line.

This month we have some interesting questions about gem faceting.

A final note -- If you send us email, please be assured that we answer all our email very promptly, 6 days a week. But we sometimes have problems with spam filters on the receiving end, so please adjust the settings on your mail client so you can receive mail from help@gemselect.com.

Happy gem hunting!

Your friends at GemSelect