Ruby
The July birthstone — "ratnaraj", king of gems in Sanskrit. Chromium gives ruby its red glow and fluorescence. Mogok (Myanmar) "pigeon blood" rubies with silk inclusions command record prices; Mozambique is today's volume leader. Fine stones above 5 carats can exceed the price per carat of diamonds.
Known origins & mines
Mogok Valley · Myanmar
The 2000-year-old "Valley of Rubies" produces the benchmark pigeon-blood red with strong fluorescence. Mogok stones typically show syrupy co…
Ratnapura Gem Fields · Sri Lanka
"City of Gems" — 2500 years of pit mining in river gravels yield ruby alongside nearly every other gem species. Sri Lankan ruby leans pink (…
Ilakaka-Sakaraha Fields · Madagascar
The 1998 sapphire rush along Route 7 created southern hemisphere's biggest gem boomtown. Every sapphire color emerges here including padpara…
Luc Yen District · Vietnam
The An Phu market trades cobalt-blue and hot-pink spinels found since 1983 in marble hills — Vietnamese cobalt spinel is among the rarest co…
Montepuez Ruby Mine · Mozambique
Since 2009 the world's largest ruby source. Montepuez stones are often cleaner than Mogok but show iron-tinged red and blue rutile "fingerpr…
Aappaluttoq Mine · Greenland
The world's northernmost ruby mine opened commercially in 2016 in Archean gneiss. Pinkish-red Greenlandic rubies carry full provenance docum…
Ambondromifehy · Madagascar
Northern Madagascar basalt fields feeding the Andapa trade route since the 1990s. Stones resemble Thai rubies: dark, iron-rich, mostly heate…
Chanthaburi Trat Belt · Thailand
Basalt-hosted alluvial rubies with high iron — darker red lacking Mogok fluorescence. Chanthaburi town itself became the world's gem-trading…
Chimwadzulu Hill (Nyala Mine) · Malawi
Malawi's largest corundum deposit, known since 1958: fine Nyala rubies plus orange and blue sapphires from a unique ultramafic pipe.…
Ganesh Himal Ruby Mines · Nepal
High-altitude marble-hosted rubies of Dhading district, worked since the 1980s - Nepal's answer to Himalayan corundum.…
Hunza Valley Ruby Mines · Pakistan
High-altitude marble mines above Hunza river produce small but intensely pink-red crystals since 1970s government operations; fine unheated …
Jegdalek Ruby Mines · Afghanistan
Marble-hosted ruby workings in Kabul Province mined since antiquity - the source that supplied the Taj Mahal's inlay rubies and still Afghan…
John Saul Ruby Mine · Kenya
Discovered 1973 in Tsavo West by geologists John Saul and Tim Miller - then touted as the world's richest ruby deposit and still Kenya's fla…
Mong Hsu Fields · Myanmar
Discovered 1991: dark-booted crystals that turn bright red only after heat treatment — the first commercial source requiring diffusion-era s…
Quy Chau Ruby Fields · Vietnam
Ruby discovery of 1987 in Nghe An province that sparked Vietnam's corundum boom; fine pigeon-blood crystals from marble are museum-grade.…
Snezhnoe Ruby Deposit · Tajikistan
Pamir 'Snowy' deposit on the Bartang river producing star rubies and sapphires since WWII era - among the highest mines on Earth at 4,500 m.…
Winza Sapphires & Rubies · Tanzania
The 2007 Winza rush produced spectacular unheated red and pink rubies in marble-free amphibolite — unusual clean crystals with vivid saturat…