History · Geology
About Mogok Stone Tract
The Mogok Stone Tract in upper Myanmar (Burma) is the world’s most historically significant ruby and pigeon-blood ruby source — yielding the great “Burmese rubies” celebrated since antiquity. The district also produces world-class spinel, peridot, and a remarkable suite of metamorphic gem species.
Geology
The Mogok belt is a metamorphosed Paleozoic-Mesozoic carbonate-pelite sequence within the Mogok Metamorphic Belt. Gem corundum forms in marble-hosted skarns and pegmatite-vein-cut marbles. Late retrograde fluids enrich Cr, V and Mg.
Notable Minerals
Corundum (ruby — pigeon-blood standard, sapphire), spinel (red, lavender, hot-pink), forsterite/peridot, jadeite, scapolite, lazurite, fluorapatite, phlogopite (large books), calcite, dravite tourmaline. Several rare gems (painite, johachidolite) have Mogok as type locality.
Collector Notes
Mogok ruby in matrix is the gem-mineralogy benchmark; pigeon-blood color is exclusive to this region. Sanctions-driven supply restrictions and exhaustion of the original mines elevate provenance value continually.
Minerals Produced Here
- Calcite (方解石)
- Corundum (刚玉)
- Dravite (镁电气石)
- Enstatite (顽辉石)
- Fluorapatite (氟磷灰石)
- Forsterite (镁橄榄石)
- Jadeite (硬玉)
- Phlogopite (金云母)
- Sillimanite (夕线石)
- Spinel (尖晶石)
