A Brief Summary of Alexandrite of The Urals (Russia)

The International Colored Gemstone Assocation (ICA) recently published a lengthy article in their InColor Magazine Publication (Issue 44- Fall 2019) regarding the current status of Alexandrites from Russia. We recently blogged on the topic regarding Yakov Kokovin’s historical connection with Alexandrite, and how he had been washed from the history records. The InColor Article confirms our suspicions, when concluding about Kokovin’s contribution : “Undoubtedly, it is necessary to restore the historical truth regarding this extraordinarily talented and honest man who was the first to find alexandrite and realized that this was still a gem unknown to science.” (InColor Issue 44, Page 25).

The Article goes on to discuss the current availability of Alexandrites in each of Russia’s known mines. It must be noted that the Article is extremely short on details of the current availability of Russian Alexandrites. We attempted to summarize the article and boil down the essence in short form:

The main Russian Alexandrite deposits are: Marinsky, Sretenskoye, Cheremshanskoe, Krasnobolotnoye, Krasno-armeyskoye, Aulskoye, and Shag. The article also notes five more: Lublinskoe, Troitskoe, Glinsky, Ostrovnoye, and Section 616, but does not give any further information on these 5 Russian Alexandrite deposits.

Marinsky Russian Alexandrite Deposit

Year of Discovery: 1833

Last Known Attempted Exploration: 2019.

According to the Article, it is the only working mine for alexandrites, emeralds, and beryllium. Apparently, the best samples are purchased by the Gokhran of Russia (Government Ministry of Finance). Little is known as to the quality and quantity of the material flowing from this deposit.