Crystals of light blue, blue and greenish-yellow
sapphires, up to 1 cm in size and suitable for cutting, are found in modern alluvial gold-bearing placer deposits of the Nezametny gold mine, in the Big Ussurka River basin, a tributary of the Ussury River, in Primorskiy Kray.
The
sapphire and associated minerals -
zircon (
hyacinth),
spinel (
hercynite), and
rutile - are probably derived from nepheline basalt (ankaratrite), which is part of the Pliocene Shufan formation.
Ref: E.Ya. Kievlenko, Geology of gems, 2003, p. 63
Gemstone List