That Sapphire Place is an exclusive privately owned gemstone gallery specialising in Queensland Sapphires and designer jewellery. That Sapphire Place is a working gallery with resident, skilled lapidary Peter Harrington, fashioning gemstones from raw crystal in the workshop area within the gallery's showroom space. Entry to the gallery is free. Visitors can expect to see high quality, hand crafted, Australian made, unique jewellery set with natural precious Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald, Opal and South Sea Pearls. All jewellery and gemstones are available for sale. Large investment Sapphires are also a must see attraction to the display. Faceted gems up to 25+ carats in size, P.O.A. The largest gem quality Sapphire in the display weighs an impressive 796 carats! It was mined at Rubyvale in Central Queensland in the 1980's and purchased from the miner by Peter Harrington in 1994. That Sapphire Place also provides a gem cutting and jewellery designing service for those who are wanting their own gemstones made into jewellery. Appointments are necessary for jewellery design and gem cutting services. That Sapphire Place also has an impressive natural crystal and mineral specimen display, catering for the serious collector, and to those who are just starting out. That Sapphire Place exhibits works from local Artists Natalia Graham, Desley Solomons, Jenuarrie, Uta Wild and Brigitte Zimmermann, Woodworkers David Benvenuto and Ron Draper, Potter Cheryl Zunker and Souvenir manufacturers Anne and Wally Schuba.

Pjays Jewellery offers a variety of Jewellery in the Sarina area.

The Avenue Jewellery & Gifts is a local business based in Moranbah.

Provides a range of gifts and jewellery

Angus & Coote Emerald Jewellers is renowned for providing expert service and superior jewellery and giftware collections for treasured moments and special occasions. If you are uncertain about the right piece to buy for yourself or someone special, drop in and see us today.

Tours of the gemfields

Jewellery Designers, Sapphire Miners & Gem Cutters

We first ventured to the Gemfields in 1988 while travelling around Australia. Whilst staying at the Anakie Caravan Park we tried our hand at fossicking at the �Glenalva fossicking area� where the first stone we found was a 35ct green. As you all know this is what they call a �sucker stone�. Stones like this turn normal people into Sapphire mad miners! We pegged our first two claims at �Divide� which was 45-foot ground (this means 45 foot to the bed rock, the layer of sapphire bearing wash is found just above this). We then bought our first working mining claim at Deep Lead for $2,000 including equipment, which was a mechanical shaker / Willoughby. The dirt was dug with a kanga jackhammer, shovelled into buckets and then dragged to the bottom of the shaft; it was then brought to the surface by a hand windless, where it was washed. After a few months of this, realism struck. The only way to find more sapphires faster was with machinery. We had arrived at the Gemfields in a Mercedes Camper bus, towing a large trailer, which was filled with tools. On top of this was seated a Daihatsu 4 wheel drive. This trailer was to become the base for a mobile mining plant. See Picture This first claim at Deep Lead was then �dug out� and we moved to our next claims. These we purchased on Bedford Hill. Here we mined for a while but did not have much luck, so we moved to another claim, back in the Deep Lead area. Whilst digging this claim we went from electric jackhammers to air hammers to dig more dirt, faster. This created a new problem, it was much harder work. So not fazed we then built an underground dirt breaker. This made digging the dirt much quicker and we could dig 5 metres in about 30 minutes. As you can see by this progression, mining is a matter of chasing your tail. As soon as one part of the plant is upgraded the next stage becomes too slow. Our next move was to buy a super sucker to move the dirt to the surface faster. Then we had to build a bigger plant to handle this greater quantity of wash. By the time we got to this stage we where just one stage from machinery mining, all we needed was the ground. We were then lucky enough to purchase a mineral freehold. The only one on the Central Queensland Sapphire Field. This is where we are currently mining.

Gem Shop and Fossicking Park for Tourists