A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal that, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments.

Most gemstones are hard, but some soft minerals are used in jewelry because of their luster or other physical properties that have aesthetic value. Rarity and notoriety are other characteristics that lend value to gemstones. Examples of gemstones are turquoise, emerald, diamond, labradorite, Kyanite, sapphire, ruby, aquamarine, topaz, garnet, amethyst, ammolite, benitoite, zircon, and many more. Tourmaline leads in the list of most popular types of gemstones in Nigeria. The colors of tourmaline include blue, white, green, pink, watermelon, red and lots more.

Tourmaline

Tourmaline can be found in many locations in many states like Kwara State, Nasarawa, Kaduna, Osun, Kogi, Bauchi, Taraba, and Oyo State have tourmaline deposits.

Sapphire

Sapphire ranks second in the list of most popular gemstones in Nigeria after tourmaline. Sapphire is a blue gemstone that is most valuable and costly. In Nigeria, it comes in colors like pale green, rich blue, colorless, indigo blue, and lots more. The quality of Nigeria’s sapphire is of a high grade and a gram of the unpolished sapphire in the international market is worth about $10,000 US dollars. This gemstone can be in Nigeria in the following places; Bogoro in Bauchi State; Mambila Plateau in Taraba State; Gunda in Yobe State; Antah, Nisama, Gidan waya in Kaduna State, and Bokkos in Plateau State.