RU Gemstones found here: Russia
15 deposits listed · 17 species catalogued
Known origins & mines
Elizavetinskoye Urals · demantoid
Fabergé's favorite green: Ural demantoid with horsetail byssolite inclusions set into imperial eggs; alluvial diggings near Yekate…
Ilmen Mountains Amazonite · amazonite
Near Miask in the Urals, the first-known historic amazonite deposit - it supplied imperial lapidary workshops and Faberge carvers.…
Inagli Massif Yakutia · chrome-diopside
Eastern Siberia's Inagli ring complex produces virtually all world chrome diopside — deep forest-green gems from peridotite chromi…
Mednorudyansk Urals Mine · malachite
Ural malachite clad the Winter Palace Malachite Room and St Isaac's columns — Demidov-era workings exhausted by 1900 remain legend…
Mirny Mine · diamond
Stalin-era gulag labor carved this Siberian funnel 525 m deep and 1200 m wide; permafrost kimberlite made Mirny the Cold War diamo…
Sirenevy Kamen Charoite · charoite
Chara's lilac stone: swirling purple charoite occurs only at this Siberian site near the Chara sand dunes — seasonal mining from p…
Tokovaya Mine · alexandrite
Where alexandrite was discovered in 1830 (emerald miners mistook green day crystals for emerald until evening red revealed them). …
Yantarny Baltic Amber Mines · amber
Palminikh open pit holds 90% of world amber reserves — Eocene "earth" resin 44 million years old extracted by hydraulic washing ne…
Ospinsk Eastern Sayan Nephrite · nephrite
Ophiolite-belt mines southwest of Lake Baikal producing what researchers call the highest-quality green and chatoyant nephrite in …
Udachnaya Pipe · diamond
Arctic circle open pit famous among collectors for octahedral diamonds and unusual halide-rich xenoliths; Alrosa's flagship beyond…
Lake Baikal Malby Lapis · lapis-lazuli
Baikal lapis discovered 1851 supplied Russian imperial workshops — Malby violet-blue material appears in St Petersburg palace deco…
Malysheva Mine · emerald
The Urals emerald belt discovered by accident in 1830 when a root exposed green crystals on a felled tree. Soviet-era state mine n…
Malyshevo Rhodonite Workings · rhodonite
Ural rhodonite carved into imperial Fabergé-era treasures — Ekaterinburg lapidary works consumed the best veins by 1900.…
Murzinka Ural Mines · amethyst
The "Siberian" color benchmark came from these 18th-century Ural miarolitic pockets that supplied Catherine the Great's court lapi…
Taganay Ridge · aventurine
Ural aventurine from Taganay ridge once rivaled Indian material; Soviet-era carvings in pale green glitter remain collectible.…