Canadian Journal of Pure & Applied Sciences

Abstract: A new province of invaluable precious and semi-precious gemstone resources has been explored from parts of Eastern Ghats Mobile Belt (EGMB) in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, India for the first time. The chief precious minerals are alexandrite, chrysoberyl, chrysoberyl cat’s eye, aquamarine, ruby and the semiprecious stones are moonstone, zircon, sillimanite, garnet, tourmaline, and a variety of silica minerals viz. rock crystal, amethyst, rose quartz, smoky quartz, citrine and green quartz. These gem variety stones have their hostage in pegmatites, and potential when criss-crossed by the basic and ultrabasic rock types. The pegmatites are the immediate hostages and intruded through the gneissose bands of khondalite and leptynite; thus made the EGMB, India as a special precious province of gemstones. The exploration carried out in the pegmatitic bodies of the EGMB region, the potentiality of the gemstones in various pegmatitic colluvium bodies, their nature of characterization, their reserve positions, the activities of the government, the outcome of the mining activities, the illegal practices of mining, the beneficiaries of the precious stone scenario and the mineral dressing activities carried out by the mining organizations are briefly presented in this paper.