Mozambique Paraiba Tourmaline Gemstone Guide
Welcome to the Sud Pontino Guide. On this site you will find the best information on Paraiba tourmalines and other copper-bearing tourmalines. Look through the pages of this website and you will find information on the history of the Paraiba and Mozambique tourmalines and how you can benefit from buying one of these wonderful stones.
The latest craze in the gemological world points to the Paraiba tourmaline as being one of the most unusual yet very expensive gemstones. It took the world by storm because of its dazzling blue color, which can only be described as “neon” and electric. Retail prices for the Paraiba tourmaline fetch as much as $15,000 per carat for a fine two-carat Paraiba stone, while three-carat to four-carat Paraiba stones are priced at least $20,000 per carat.
About Tourmalines
Tourmalines are known for their pleochroic quality or their ability to show off different colors when viewed under light. For example, in an oval green tourmaline you might see a bluish green color along its vertical axis and a yellowish green color along its horizontal axis.
The tourmaline family of gemstones is the most varied in color than any other gemstone family. In some tourmalines, there are several colors in one stone. The reason for is the basic composition of the tourmaline – an alchemic combination of Buergerite, Chromdravite, Dravite, Elbaite, Feruvite, Foitite, Liddicoatite, Magnesiofoitite, Olenite, Povondraite, Rossmanite, Schorl and Uvite.
The brewing of the different minerals has yielded in different kinds of tourmalines, including:
- Bi-color (more than one color in one stone)
- Chrome (intense green caused by a combination of vanadium and chromium)
- Indicolite (blue in color due to iron)
- Paraíba (electric blue to green due to a large amount of copper)
- Rubellite (red in color)
- Watermelon (pink color at the center and green at the edges)
About The Copper Bearing Tourmalines
The blue color of the Paraiba and Mozambique Tourmalines are attributed to the copper content of the stones, albeit in varying degrees.
Sources of Indicolite tourmalines are the mines in Brazil, Sri Lanka, and in the United States, specifically in Maine and Madagascar, California.
The Paraiba tourmalines, on the other hand, are sourced from Brazil, Mozambique and Nigeria.
