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Tourmaline

Tourmaline is a gemstone noted for the large and unsurpassed range of colors in which it occurs. It is a tough stone hard enough to be used for a pendant or a ring. Tourmaline is the family name which includes the following varieties: chrome (green), indicolite (blue), and rubellite (red). Yellow and green tourmalines are simply called tourmaline with the color as a prefix.  Important deposits of tourmaline are in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka (Ceylon), and the United States (California and Maine). Several African countries have recently become big producers of gem quality  tourmaline, specifically Madagascar, Namibia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Malawi.