History of the New England Sapphire Resource

History New England Sapphire Resource

In 1854 'Clarke' reported sapphire from a stream in near to Inverell in Northern New South Wales. The first commercial mining occurred in 1919 on Frazers Creek near Inverell.

From 1919 to 1929 sapphire was mined from alluvial deposits on Frazers, Horse Gully and Mary Ann Creek's near Inverell and Reddestone Creek near Glen Innes and Copes Creek near Tingha.

Little production was recorded for about 30 years from 1930. The 1960's with an increase in prices and the introduction of improved mining methods of the 1970's saw most of the known alluvial deposits under mining title.

The arrival of Thai buyers in 1971 opened up markets for the middle to lower grade stones therefore making large scale machinery mining viable. This resulted in a mining boom but when prices fell in the late 1970's this boom came to a grinding halt.

In 1994/94 the New England district produced 55 million carats of sapphire valued at $16,900,000

Commercial production today is undertaken by a small number of Machinery miners with GTN Resources being the largest single producer.

genuine sapphire - made by nature

An Information Resource on the Australian Sapphire Industry

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