{"id":6002,"date":"2019-04-05T21:23:29","date_gmt":"2019-04-05T21:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aboriginalbusinessmagazine.com\/?p=6002"},"modified":"2019-04-05T21:23:29","modified_gmt":"2019-04-05T21:23:29","slug":"canadian-arctic-has-all-the-mineral-ingredients-for-prized-blue-gemstones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aboriginalbusinessmagazine.com\/?p=6002","title":{"rendered":"Canadian Arctic has all the mineral ingredients for prized blue gemstones"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vivid blue spinel with white carbonate in calc-silicate rock is seen in this undated handout photo. Baffin Island holds some of its treasure in plain sight with rocks that produce rare gems sitting exposed to the elements, a University of British Columbia study says. The cobalt-blue spinel,\u00a0 is a rare gemstone. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/HO, Philippe Belley, University of British Columbia *MANDATORY CREDIT*<\/em><\/p>\n

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VANCOUVER- Baffin Island holds some of its treasures in plain sight with rocks that produce rare gems sitting exposed to the elements, scientists say.<\/p>\n

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A new study from the University of British Columbia shows the area is home to a mineral that is prized by jewellers and collectors.<\/p>\n

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Study co-author Philippe Belley said in an interview that cobalt-blue spinel, “which is a ridiculously rare gemstone” gets a lot of interest from gemologists and jewellers but there’s not enough supply.<\/p>\n

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The most significant source of the gems is Vietnam, and even then production is limited, said Belley, who’s a PhD graduate within the department of earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences.<\/p>\n

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He and report co-author UBC mineralogist Lee Groat conducted the first scientific study of the cobalt-blue spinel in Canada.<\/p>\n

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Baffin Island is “really unique” because it has all the “right ingredients” needed to produce coloured gemstones but the area is “virtually” unexplored, Belley said.<\/p>\n

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“The rock is extremely well exposed so not only is it easy to see if you have a gem occurrence by just walking on the surface and doing geological mapping, but its also suitable for remote detection methods using drones and satellites to collect data on the rocks.”<\/p>\n

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Using remote detection can’t be done in most other gem-producing areas because of plant cover or challenging terrain, Belley said.<\/p>\n

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The researchers analysed 14 occurrences of spinel on Baffin Island, including two of cobalt-blue spinel, to better understand how it forms.<\/p>\n

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“It’s finding the right chemical components in the right concentration,” he said. “We found that most gem occurrences on Baffin Island were formed from the transformation of a mixture of mud and magnesium-rich limestone under high temperature and pressure.”<\/p>\n

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They found it was formed 1.8 billion years ago at temperatures of about 800 C, but cobalt was only present in high-enough concentrations to produce gem-quality stones in small, localized areas.<\/p>\n

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Baffin Island spinel contains up to 500 parts-per-million of cobalt, giving it a vivid blue colour comparable to the best sources worldwide, Belley said in the news release.<\/p>\n

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Spinel also comes in red, pink and violet, Belley said.<\/p>\n

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Other gems found on Baffin Island include Beluga sapphires, used in the Queen’s sapphire jubilee brooch, and lapis lazuli, a rock used as a gemstone by the Egyptians, he said.<\/p>\n

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Mining for the gems on Baffin Island wouldn’t necessarily leave a large geographical footprint, he said.<\/p>\n

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“Most gemstones are either mined from a relatively small mine and a lot of them a mined by one or a few people or families around the world, which is called artisanal mining.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vivid blue spinel with white carbonate in calc-silicate rock is seen in this undated handout photo. Baffin Island holds some of its treasure in plain sight with rocks that produce rare gems sitting exposed to the elements, a University of British Columbia study says. The cobalt-blue spinel,\u00a0 is a rare gemstone. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/HO, Philippe …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":""},"categories":[32,45,39],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nCanadian Arctic has all the mineral ingredients for prized blue gemstones - Aboriginal Business Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aboriginalbusinessmagazine.com\/?p=6002\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Canadian Arctic has all the mineral ingredients for prized blue gemstones - Aboriginal Business Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vivid blue spinel with white carbonate in calc-silicate rock is seen in this undated handout photo. 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