Australian Sapphires and Mining Practices

Australian Sapphires are an appealing proposition, largely due to the mining practices and regulations, ensuring that all stones are mined ethically and sustainably. Combined with support from the Australian Government, Australian sapphires are mined under Government oversight with strong pro-environmental and worker laws. Following mining, a deposit is rejuvenated to its original state once the supply has been exhausted. The final result being the mined area being returned to normal.

Mining in Queensland

Our sapphire suppliers FURA have 100% ownership of Capricorn Sapphire and Great Northern Mining, close to Emerald in Central Queensland. FURA uses open-pit mines which deliver an estimate of 6 million carats of sapphire each year.

Queensland mines are recognised for their greens, yellows, teals and parti sapphire.

What makes Australian Sapphires special?

Ethics

Australian sapphires are internationally recognised as they are ethically mined. The Australian Government implements and monitors mining practices closely, ensuring that these processes are environmentally friendly and aligned with worker laws.

These processes, whether large or small, employ restorative measures to return the environment to its original state.

Colour banding and Parti Sapphire

An important feature displayed by many Australian sapphires is prominent colour banding. Often a sapphire will be coloured by bands of blue and yellow, blue and green or green and yellow. Well separated colour bands allow the stone to be cut as a distinctive bi-colour stone.

Stones where the mixture of colours are less separated, may produce sought after “parti” sapphires. A Parti sapphire displays two or more colours within a single stone. These colours are clear in different lighting, ranging from highly juxtaposed blue and yellow stones, to more common blue and green or green and yellow.

The Colour Range

Australian sapphire comes in the complete range of colours to be found in sapphire. From pure blue, through green to yellow and gold, even occasional orange/pink. The majority of rough occurs in a shade of blue, however there are still significant amounts of green, teal, yellow and more. Teal sapphires are another one of Australia's most recognised colours, sitting between blue and green on the colour chart.

The rough produced from each of the major fields has its own characteristics:

NSW fields produce slightly more pure blues and less greens, yellow and parti stones. Very large stones are rare and the majority of a mine run would be in the size range of less than one carat.

The QLD fields produce slightly darker/less pure blues, a greater proportion of greens, yellows and parti material. Average mine run parcels tend to be overall of larger carat size.