Tourmaline
October's birthstone and the rainbow gem: watermelon, chrome green, indicolite blue and more in one mineral group. Brazil's Minas Gerais polychrome pockets, Maine's Mt. Mica (first US gem mine, 1820) and San Diego's Pala district are legendary localities.
Known origins & mines
Anjanabonoina Pegmatites · Madagascar
The preeminent historic source of polychrome liddicoatite tourmaline near Antsirabe — watermelon slices and pictorial crystals that set the …
Mount Mica Quarry · United States
America's first gem mine (1820) still yields Maine tourmaline — green-pink watermelon crystals made Maine famous when Tiffany showcased them…
Pederneira & Jonas Tourmaline Pockets · Brazil
Itinga-Aracuaí pocket pegmatites produce the full rainbow: watermelon slices, chrome greens and giant rubellite — Pederneira remains the ben…
San Piero in Campo (Elba) · Italy
Elba island's granite cavities have produced Europe's finest red elbaite since Roman times - the type material that defined tourmaline scien…
Cruzeiro Mine Sao Jose da Safira · Brazil
One of Minas Gerais' most productive tourmaline pegmatites since the late 1960s, famed for royal-blue indicolite as well as fine aquamarine …
Paprok Nuristan Mines · Afghanistan
Paprok pegmatites yield spectacular multi-zone tourmalines with glassy luster plus kunzite and rare minerals — conflict-logistics keep prove…
Umba Valley Fields · Tanzania
Umba river flats produce grape-purple rhodolite plus sapphire and spinel byproducts — the 1960s Umba rush put Tanzanian garnet on the trade …
Alto Ligonha Pegmatites · Mozambique
Historic colonial-era pegmatite province spanning Zambezia-Nampula, famed for gem elbaite alongside morganite and aquamarine.…
Coronel Murta Watermelon Fields · Brazil
Jequitinhonha river gravels yield sliceable watermelon tourmaline crystals — the affordable heart of the watermelon market.…
Himalaya Mine Mesa Grande · United States
San Diego's Himalaya mine dominated world pink tourmaline 1898-1914 supplying Chinese emperors via Pala; tailings digging for tourists conti…