Sapphire

 The name is Eric and this is my page about Sapphire ... it's a gem...



What are they?
Sapphires are any color of a mineral corundum that aren't red.the most well known sapphire is the blue sapphire. However, they also come in yellow, green, white, black, violet, and orange... The red sapphire is refered to as a "Ruby". This is a nonrenewable resource that can be found naturally or made in a factory in large bolues. Sapphires are found all over the world. The most valueable sapphires once were found in Kashmir, India and it is the sapphires from there that all other sapphires are compared too. Sapphires can also be found in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Australia. It wasn't until 1895 that sapphires were founded in the United States in the state of Montana, but in 1923 the mine was badly damaged by rain and all attempts to restore the mine since then have ended in economic failure.



What are they used for?
Sapphires are used for many things. They are ranked second to best in hardness, beaten only by diamonds, which makes them extreamly attractive for jewelry. Most sapphires are only used for high quality jewelry pieces. However colorless sapphires can also be used to make a type of abrasive. Because of the sapphires deep cornflower blue color many society members love to have them hanging around their neck or dangaling from their ears surrounded by silver or gold. Sapphires have been used for ages as a trading chip because of it's brilliant color it has been adored for hundreds of years. We have used sapphires for large numbers of fancy jewelry such as braclets, necklaces, broaches, earings, ect..."]]



How they are Mined
Sapphires are found in a layer of earth between the top soil and the bedrock in a layer called the pay layer. Mining the sapphires usually entails removing the layer of top soil so that the miners can reach the pay layer. However, before the miners can actually remove the sapphires they have to was the sapphires. This washes away larger rocks and removes any clay that might be coating the sapphires. Then once the washing is complete the sapphires are extavated they are shifted through a screen so that the particles that are too small to be sapphires can be picked out.