Although Britain is a major gemstone trader, it currently produces little from indigenous sources. There are, however, records of a wide variety of gem material, particularly in Scotland. In addition to sapphire, ruby and possible diamond, the country has yielded topaz, beryl, and many varieties of semi-precious stones including cairngorm, amethyst, garnet, tourmaline, agate, zircon, ‘Blue John’ flourite and jet. There is also an unconfirmed report of Scottish emerald. Most of these gemstones were found by amateur geologists and gemmologists but recent discoveries, particularly of iamond indicator minerals in Scandinavia and Ireland, have raised commercial interest in the potential of Britain as a source of precious stones. <...>0

Geologically, the Carpathian Range is the continuation of the Eastern Alps towards the East forming an arching bow-shaped mountain chain of 1,500 km in length that extends through several countries, (i.e. the Czech Republic. Slovakia, Poland. Hungary, Ukraine, and Romania). From a mineralogical viewpoint, the Carpathians, with its more than 1,000 mineral species, is an extremely interesting area. Its geological formations vary in ages and compositions. The structural evolution is highly complicated. It has also been a traditional mining area since prehistoric times. More than fifty valid mineral species were first described from this region (karpatite. koktaite, libethenite, native tellurium, pilsenite, rozenite. rhodochrosite.  etc.). Some very rare species, originally discovered in other parts of the world, also occur here (cymrite, hetaerolite. nambulite, segnitite, capgaronnite, etc.). <...>

With the 1982 Minerals Yearbook, the Federal Government begins its second century of annual reports on the mineral industries. This edition discusses the performance of the worldwide mineral industry during 1982 and provides background information to assist in interpreting developments during the year being reviewed. Content of the individual volumes follows
Volume I, Metals and Minerals, contains chapters on virtually all metallic and nonmetallic mineral commodities important to the U.S. economy. In addition, it includes a statistical summary chapter and a chapter on mining and quarrying trends.
Volume II, Area Reports: Domestic, contains chapters on the mineral industry of each of the 50 States, the U.S. island possessions in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. This volume also has a statistical summary.
Volume III, Area Reports: International, contains the latest available mineral data on more than 130 foreign countries and discusses the importance of minerals to the economies of these nations. A separate chapter reviews the international mineral industry in general and its relationship to the world economy.
The Bureau of Mines continually strives to improve the value of its publications to its users. Therefore, constructive comments and suggestions by readers of the Yearbook will be welcomed.