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I hope you are enjoying QVoyager and our whirlwind trip to Brazil. The most adventurous part of our journey begins today. We are actually traveling deep into the mountains of Minas Gerais, the richest gemstone mining area in the world, to the tourmaline mines. The unpaved road winding through the mountains was very rough and had death defying hairpin curves. More than once, while moving way too fast, I looked over the edge and saw the spectacular, but very deep valley. Whenever we would turn a curve and the sun would come out, the road would sparkle. We finally stopped and walking along the road, I realized that it wasn't just gravel but minerals. I was amazed to see quartz and mica every where, we truly were in the center of the gemstone world.



The Morro Redondo Mine contained one of the greatest discoveries of gem quality tourmaline ever found. First discovered in 1992 the final pocket was mined out by 1997 and the mine was closed. Over 400 miners were working in the mine at one time and named the final pocket, Elbe, after the Isle of Elba, where tourmaline was first discovered. In 1996 one of our suppliers purchased a large amount of pink tourmaline rough from the mine and locked it away in his vault. Twelve years later QVC has joined forces with him to bring the rough out of vault and into jewelry for you. The Morro Redondo Mine was known for tourmaline crystals which are extraordinarily clean and rich of color. We are proud to have the exclusive chance to share these gemstones with you. There is nowhere else today that these vibrant pink tourmalines can be found except in private collections or the single piece of jewelry.



Today we actually get to tunnel into the mines where our green tourmaline and Rubellite are found. Once we reached the top of the mountain, the mine owners greeted us and prepared a spectacular barbecue. Sitting on top of the mountain, eating way too much, I could see pegmatite dikes throughout the hills and realized what made this area so special. Pegmatite dikes are a group of minerals that were formed millions of years ago and tourmaline crystals are mixed in with a combination of feldspar, quartz, and mica. I checked the quality of the rough tourmalines with the mine owners and was thrilled with what I saw. Please note the pictures of the actual rough. Tourmaline is the only gemstone to form in a three sided crystal prisms. The rough lends itself to longer, narrower gemstones.



We are finally ready to go into the tunnels. After donning special boots, we traveled deep into the mountain through tunnels, at the most, five feet in height. Water is used to loosen the gems and there is several inches of water throughout the mine. We reached a large area that had been dug into the side of the tunnel. This was a pegmatite dike that had been discovered and just mined out. There was plentiful feldspar, mica, and quartz but the tourmaline had already been removed. Deeper into the mountain we went, until we reached the end where the miners were working. They were so proud to walk us through the different mining steps and hopeful that the pegmatite they were working on would be as rich as the last.


What an experience to see the actual mines where these beautiful gemstones are found. Please tune in to Gem Fest and travel with us to Brazil. The tourmalines are gorgeous and what a treat to know the story behind each one. We will be sharing film clips taken during our trip. The TSV Extra launching at midnight contains a fabulous tourmaline from the Morro Redondo Mine. The only other piece on at midnight will be a pink tourmaline and diamond pendant. The special cut of this stone exemplifies the beauty of the long narrow tourmaline crystals. Also tune in at 8:00 PM on Thursday night for the four hour Gem Fest. Scattered throughout the show are 12 fabulous tourmaline products containing Morro Redondo pink tourmaline as well as green tourmalines and Rubellite from our trip.


Please tune in and don't miss a moment.


Take care, Peyton