tanzanite

(Newser) - The small-scale miner in Tanzania who sold two of his finds for $3.4 million in June has made another big sale. Saniniu Laizer collected $2 million for a 14-pound Tanzanite stone, the BBC reports. The rare gemstones—which a geologist said could be gone in 20 years—are found...

(Newser) - A miner in Tanzania has become an overnight millionaire with the discovery and sale of the two largest known tanzanite gemstones ever found. Until last week, the largest known chunk of tanzanite—one of the world's rarest gemstones, believed to be found only in a small northern region of...

(Newser) - Rescuers now fear that 65 miners trapped in a northern Tanzanian mine shaft have drowned, reports Reuters, with six bodies recovered and 59 workers missing. Volunteers raced to the remote gemstone mine near Mount Kilimanjaro yesterday when flash floods swept through the area, but the torrential weather also brought down...