Comeria Garnet is one of the most immediately striking and richly colored Garnet gemstone varieties we've ever been fortune enough to bring you at Gemporia. Sadly, we're beginning to hear news that the mine has now closed.
Gemporia's Purchasing Director Jake Thompson, from the 2018 Tuscon Gem Show in Arizona, USA, has sent news that the Comeria Garnet mine in Northern Mozambique has had to close. The move apparently stems from the fact that the mine had simply stopped producing rough gemstone material, and at the point of writing in February 2018 nothing of gemstone quality had been found since early December 2017. The remarkable gem only launched here at Gemporia in January 2017 and immediately made its mark on customers and colleagues alike.
What Happened?
When a seam of gemstones is discovered in a mine, the miners are able to follow it and continue to find good quality rough that can be turned into faceted gemstones and set into jewelry. However, gemstone seams are finite and when one is exhausted its always a race against time to find a new seam to mine before the costs of running the operation are greater than the value of the stones being mined. Sadly, in this case it appears that a new seam wasn't found in time and the site has had to close. Whether there are any more exquisite Garnet gems hiding beneath the soils of Mozambique remains to be seen, but it could be some considerable amount of time before anybody has the means to finds out.
Can I Still Buy It?
There is a small ray of hope for anyone who wishes to collect the gemstone but has yet to do - we still have a small selection of Comeria Garnet pieces on this website and there are just a few more new pieces still to come from our rapidly diminishing stocks of the gem. Comeria Garnet shows an exquisite and extremely unusual color shift between magenta and a deeper grape purple when seen in different light sources. The world-class colors and properties of the gem are thanks to two 'rock star' elements of the gemstone world, chromium and manganese, which are both found in Comeria Garnet. We will of course update you if the situation changes.
Click here to browse our remaining selection of gorgeous Comeria Garnet pieces.
