| Fine aquamarine crystals have been found at the Fernandes Quarry, Mimoso
do Sul, Virgem da Lapa mine, and Linopolis area of Minas Gerais, Brazil;
Jos mine, Nigeria; Mt. Antero, Chaffee County, Colorado; Alabashka, Ural
Mts., Russia; and at Dusso, Gilget division, Pakistan. Dusso is extremely
remote and very high at about 4,270 meters. Numerous pegmatites have produced
many wonderful pale blue aquamarine crystals in euhedral form. Doubly-terminated
crystals are quite common. Many aquamarines are jacketed at the center with
white albite leaving the terminations exposed. Some deposits are still being
worked. Aquamarine, which has been found in Egyptian,
Greek and Roman Tombs, was highly prized by the ancients and was called
the 'sweet tempered' stone. It was thought to cure numerous ailments and
to guide the wearer through all manners of difficulties. |
