Understanding the origin of rubies and sapphires to improve prospecting strategies

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Rubies and sapphires belong to the corundum mineralogical family. Corundums exist in a wide range of colours. They consist of aluminium oxide crystals containing impurities which dote them with their various tints: titanium and iron for the blue of the sapphire, chromium and vanadium for the red of rubies.


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All News summaries for December 03, 2007

'Impressionist' Spacecraft to View Solar System's Invisible Frontier

39 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- At the edge of our solar system in December 2004, the Voyager 1 spacecraft encountered something never before experienced during its then 26-year cruise through the solar system — an invisible ...

NASA Successfully Tests Parachute for Ares Rocket

43 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA and industry engineers have successfully completed the first drop test of a drogue parachute for the Ares I rocket. The drogue parachute is designed to slow the rapid descent of the spent first-stage ...

Partial Solar Eclipse visible from the UK on the morning of 1st August

6 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
On 1st August 2008 there will be a total eclipse of the Sun, visible from Canada, northern Greenland, Svalbard, the Barents Sea, Russia, Mongolia and China. From the whole of the British Isles observers will see a partial ...

Rising energy, food prices major threats to wetlands as farmers eye new areas for crops

10 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
Critical food shortages and growing demand for bio-fuels and hydro-electricity due to high fossil fuel prices rank among the greatest threats today to the preservation of precious wetlands worldwide as farmers and developers ...

EPA: Few volunteering to cut greenhouse gases

11 hours ago | User rating: not rated yet
(AP) -- Voluntary pollution-reduction programs touted by the Bush administration as part of the solution to global warming have "limited potential" to reduce greenhouse gases, according to an internal government watchdog.
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