Post by Trade facilitator on Jun 16, 2022 9:38:58 GMT 1
Gemstones In Nigeria: Types And States Where You Can Find Them In - Part I
Gemstone business is one type of business that I have seen buyers both local and international cap in hand begging producers and merchants for products.
Nigeria is a country that is highly blessed with large deposits of gemstones. The country is richly blessed with one of the world’s most sought-after semi-precious and precious stones that ever existed.
One good thing about gemstones in Nigeria is that they are all not deposited in just a location in the country. Every state of Nigeria has at least one or two gemstone deposit.
It can be found in many places and they come in very great quality.
What’s more, they sell very high in the international market because of the value attached to them.
Properties of Gemstones
When trying to analyze Gemstones, they are mainly categorized into precious or semi-precious stones.
Gemstone is a piece of mineral crystal and is of different kinds, colors, and grades.
There are certain rocks like lapis lazuli that are not minerals like amber but are all considered to be gemstones and can still be used for jewelry.
Gemstones are generally hard; and before using them, especially for jewelry you must cut and polish them up. Nevertheless, no matter what it is used for, gemstones are always admired and valued because of their rare characteristics and qualities.
Gemstones' physical properties:
The physical properties of gemstones, their hardness, their specific gravity, or density, and the way they break depend on chemical bonding and the atomic structure within the stone.
Specific gravity or density:
The specific gravity and density of a gemstone is its weight when compared with the same volume of water at a temperature of 4 degrees Celsius.
The denser the minerals in the gemstones are, the heavier the weight or specific gravity will be. Heavier gemstones are usually harder as well.
Looking at just a few, the range is from Amber which has the specific gravity of 1.08 and Opal with a specific gravity of 2.05 all the way to corundum (sapphires and rubies) with a specific gravity of 3.99.
Hardness:
Gemstones are tested by using the Mohs' hardness scale to determine just how hard they are.
The harder minerals are more durable because they do not scratch easily and will hold up better in jewelry.
Talc is the softest mineral with a hardness of 1 and can be easily scratched with a fingernail.
The gemstones with a rating of 7 or above are relatively hard.
Quartz gemstones (citrine, amethyst, etc.) range in the 7s, topaz rates 8 and conundrum, (sapphire and rubies) rates 9 on the Mohs' hardness scale.
Diamond registers a 10 and is the hardest known naturally occurring material on earth, more than 10 times the hardness of conundrum at 9.
The hardness is relative, but it is, nevertheless a useful identification tool. Hardness is almost never used as a separation test with gemstones since it is considered a destructive test and other non-destructive tests exist to enable separation and identification.
Cleavage and fracture:
Cleavage is the splitting of gems and minerals along one of the planes related to the stone's structure.
Crystalline minerals have cleavage and fracture, whereas amorphous or massive stones only fracture.
Cleavage is considered perfect for the stone parts and produces perfect smooth planes (diamond and topaz) is very important in diamond cutting.
Fracture is the way a stone breaks.
Consider fracture to be similar to a piece of wood breaking in a direction other than the direction of its grain.
Conchoidal fracture, which is most common in gemstones, shows a series of arcs that spread outwards.
When a gemstone breaks along a surface that is not related to its internal atomic structure, it is said to be fracture.
Our company is one of the best companies in Agro-Export Business in Nigeria today, we train individuals and corporate organizations on how to do Export Business the right way; if you are interested, please contact the admin of this forum now for further details.
Gemstone business is one type of business that I have seen buyers both local and international cap in hand begging producers and merchants for products.
Nigeria is a country that is highly blessed with large deposits of gemstones. The country is richly blessed with one of the world’s most sought-after semi-precious and precious stones that ever existed.
One good thing about gemstones in Nigeria is that they are all not deposited in just a location in the country. Every state of Nigeria has at least one or two gemstone deposit.
It can be found in many places and they come in very great quality.
What’s more, they sell very high in the international market because of the value attached to them.
Properties of Gemstones
When trying to analyze Gemstones, they are mainly categorized into precious or semi-precious stones.
Gemstone is a piece of mineral crystal and is of different kinds, colors, and grades.
There are certain rocks like lapis lazuli that are not minerals like amber but are all considered to be gemstones and can still be used for jewelry.
Gemstones are generally hard; and before using them, especially for jewelry you must cut and polish them up. Nevertheless, no matter what it is used for, gemstones are always admired and valued because of their rare characteristics and qualities.
Gemstones' physical properties:
The physical properties of gemstones, their hardness, their specific gravity, or density, and the way they break depend on chemical bonding and the atomic structure within the stone.
Specific gravity or density:
The specific gravity and density of a gemstone is its weight when compared with the same volume of water at a temperature of 4 degrees Celsius.
The denser the minerals in the gemstones are, the heavier the weight or specific gravity will be. Heavier gemstones are usually harder as well.
Looking at just a few, the range is from Amber which has the specific gravity of 1.08 and Opal with a specific gravity of 2.05 all the way to corundum (sapphires and rubies) with a specific gravity of 3.99.
Hardness:
Gemstones are tested by using the Mohs' hardness scale to determine just how hard they are.
The harder minerals are more durable because they do not scratch easily and will hold up better in jewelry.
Talc is the softest mineral with a hardness of 1 and can be easily scratched with a fingernail.
The gemstones with a rating of 7 or above are relatively hard.
Quartz gemstones (citrine, amethyst, etc.) range in the 7s, topaz rates 8 and conundrum, (sapphire and rubies) rates 9 on the Mohs' hardness scale.
Diamond registers a 10 and is the hardest known naturally occurring material on earth, more than 10 times the hardness of conundrum at 9.
The hardness is relative, but it is, nevertheless a useful identification tool. Hardness is almost never used as a separation test with gemstones since it is considered a destructive test and other non-destructive tests exist to enable separation and identification.
Cleavage and fracture:
Cleavage is the splitting of gems and minerals along one of the planes related to the stone's structure.
Crystalline minerals have cleavage and fracture, whereas amorphous or massive stones only fracture.
Cleavage is considered perfect for the stone parts and produces perfect smooth planes (diamond and topaz) is very important in diamond cutting.
Fracture is the way a stone breaks.
Consider fracture to be similar to a piece of wood breaking in a direction other than the direction of its grain.
Conchoidal fracture, which is most common in gemstones, shows a series of arcs that spread outwards.
When a gemstone breaks along a surface that is not related to its internal atomic structure, it is said to be fracture.
Our company is one of the best companies in Agro-Export Business in Nigeria today, we train individuals and corporate organizations on how to do Export Business the right way; if you are interested, please contact the admin of this forum now for further details.
