Discover the Costerfield Mine in Victoria, Australia—a high-grade underground gold antimony deposit worth billions. Learn how narrow quartz-stibnite veins formed and why antimony is now a critical mineral in global supply chains.
The Central Queensland Sapphire Gemfields represent one of the largest sapphire deposits on Earth, stretching across hundreds of square kilometres west of Emerald in Queensland, Australia. In this video we explore the geology behind these remarkable Australian sapphires, how ancient volcanic eruptions and erosion concentrated gemstones into rich alluvial gravel deposits, and why this region once supplied the majority of the world’s sapphires. From the historic mining towns of Rubyvale, Sapphire and Anakie to the large-scale operations at the Capricorn Sapphire Mine, this deep dive explains how sapphires formed deep within the Earth and how modern mining operations recover these valuable gemstones today.
