"Anthill Garnets" The gem mined by tiny Ants

"Anthill Garnet"

Red pyrope garnet Found in Arizona, pyrope garnets are the gems and mineral of the garnet family, found from several localities around the world, but hey why the ones from Arizona are called Anthill garnets?

They are called anthill garnets because of their Unexpected/Unusual origin. Their origin is unusual because these Red Gems are mined by Tiny little Ants, yes Ants,

The gems are found on and around Margins of anthills. The ants while excavating their underground passages kind of dig the Gems, haul them up to the surface and discard them to make some room to live down there. The rain washes the garnets and moves them down the hill and they can easily be collected by people in large numbers. The brilliant lustre and dark red colour makes it Easier to find them in the soil surrounding,

A few areas in Arizona are well known for anthill garnets, the rich red Chromium pyrope garnets with a dark colour and exceptional lustre a Mohs scale hardness of 7.25. The native Americans discovered them a long time ago. Today native Americans and rockhounds collect the garnet gems mineral and sell them to gems dealers which later make cabochons or facet out of the stones. Then they are mounted into jewellery. Their unusual origin also plays a role in the desire for the gem dealers and to those who wear the Jewelry in which these gems are mounted in.

The Anthill garnets found are usually tiny and cab/facet mostly 1ct or under gems, because the ants are smart enough to ignore and excavate around large stones rather than bringing them up the surface. it is fair cause that the larger stones would always appear almost black because of the very high colour but enough light goes through the tiny ones to reveal the deep desirable red colour.

Learn about anthill garnet stones on youtube in our video

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umsxfydu8B4&feature=youtu.be[/embed]