Rubies and Fancy Sapphires from Vietnam

Gem-quality rubies and pink to purple sapphires are being recovered from the Luc Yen and Quy Chau mining regions of Vietnam, This article briefly reviews the history and geology of these areas, as well as the mining methods used.The gemological characteristics of more than 100 of these stones are described in detail, The most notable internal features are blue color zones, swirl-lilze and angular growth features, bluish "clouds," and inclusions of rod-like calcite and pyrrhotite as well as the rare mineral nordstrandite.ntil recently, little was lznown about the gem poten-1 'a1 of Vietnam, in spite of the fact that it is surrounded by countries with significant gem riches.In 1983) however) corundum was reported near the towns of Ham Yen and An Phu! north of Hanoi, Major exploration began in 1987) when geologists brought to the attention of the local government their discovery of rubies near the town of Luc Yen, 28 lzm west of Ham Yenl in Yen Bai (formerly Hoang Lien Son) Province.In a five-month period!from November 1989 through March 19901 one deposit in the Luc Yen district produced more than three million carats of rough pinlz sapphire and ruby.Several other deposits are currently being worked in this gem-rich district.According to various trade sources) the finest rubies from this locality rival the finest stones from Myanmar [formerly Burma; see) e.g.) "Vietnam Claims Major Ruby Find," 1990;Hughes and Sersen, 1991;and Weldon, 1991).In December of 19901 rudimentary mining operations began at Quy Chau in Nghe An (formerly Nghe Tinh) Province, south of Hanoi.Stones examined thus far from this latter deposit compare favorably with those mined at Luc Yen (figure 1).Two of the authors, Messrs. Khai and Khoa! have been involved in the geologic study of the gem deposits of Vietnam and the marketing of the stones recovered.Messrs. Mora and Repetto are participating in a joint venture between the Italian firm Tecno-Resource [a subsidiary of FIMO Inc., of Switzerland) and the Vietnamese government to establish a cutting operation and gemological laboratory in Vietnam.They provided GIA with numerous samples of rubies and pinlz to purple sapphires obtained in Vietnam, which formed the basis of the current research.This article reviews the Luc Yen and Quy Chau mining regions) and provides a gemological characterization of the rubies and fancy sapphires found there.Vietnamese geologists believe that there is consider-136 Rubies and Sapphires from Vietnam