Blue sapphire rough is in very high demand, especially the blue with a light cross table; as we find them we are listing them on this website for sale. They sell very quickly. The intense bright blue sapphire is a particular favourite in the United States and is still the best selling sapphire!

At Gemhunters we try to leave our sapphires natural and untreated; that means no heat treatment!

Sapphires have been commercially mined in Australia since the late 1800’s making Australian mines a major producer of gem-quality sapphires worldwide.

We would also like to make everyone aware of the other sapphire that Gemhunters has on offer:
Green sapphires and bi color sapphires with the beautiful swirls of green and yellow, these gemstones are more popular in Australia and preferred by the folk on the sapphire gemfields.

This month we also have on offer three very large natural gold nuggets found in Queensland six years ago and only put up for sale now. All three nuggets are huge; between one and two ounces in weight.

Tanga Garnets, Hessonite garnet and Moambique rhodolite have been selling fast recently, it is good to see the faceters appreciating these excellent gems. They are absolutely magnificent when cut and getting very high valuations once faceted.
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After the floods we had in Central Queensland the gemfields were left waterlogged; with mine shafts collapsed and the tunnels caved in. Jackhammers and ladders along with buckets, picks and mining equipment was lost under meters of sapphire bearing dirt. Some sapphire mines were closed down indefinitely and others cleaned out their mine and started again.

Our mine was luckier than some, the area that was producing sapphire in the past collapsed and the large processing machinery was ready to fall off a newly made cliff.
With the help of neighbours we managed to move the machinery to a new area and have started digging in a hole that we were exploring last year. The floor is only 8 foot down but large boulders have trapped the sapphire and we are on a ‘run’ again, finding good sized sapphires, some blue with light cross tables and some nice greens and parti sapphire.

There aren’t as many tourists arriving on the gemfields this year, all the locals enjoy the peak season of winter and the new faces that come to town. The townships of Sapphire and Rubyvale are still great places to come and find your own sapphire; fossiking is always a terrific way to spend the holidays with the family, camping out or staying in the cabins or caravan parks. Some good pieces of sapphire have already been found by tourists this year.
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