Does New York have gems and precious metals?
New York has several minerals that can be cut into beautiful gemstones. Unfortunately, most of these are too fragile to wear as jewelry. Despite many stories and newspaper reports, precious metals are very scarce and none has ever been profitably mined. Gemstones are rare and exceptionally perfect specimens of what may be relatively common minerals. These may be faceted or polished for use in jewelry. However, these minerals are constituents of certain, specific rocks. If these rocks are not present in a given area, then that region will not be the host of gemstone deposits. This is the case in New York, at least with regard to minerals that are most commonly considered gemstones such as diamonds, emeralds, rubies or sapphires. While New York is geologically diverse, it does not have the correct rocks to host gemstone deposits. Diamonds, for instance, are found in rocks known as kimberlite. None exists in New York. A closely related rock does exist and a century-old newspaper report st
