Deep in the heart of Finnish Lapland, on the windswept highlands of Lampivaara in Pyhä-Luosto National Park, lies one of the world’s most unusual gemstone destinations: the Lampivaara Amethyst Mine. Unlike commercial mining operations, this is Europe’s only active public amethyst mine — a place where visitors can roll up their sleeves, dig for gemstones and take home their own piece of Earth’s ancient history.



What makes Lampivaara so extraordinary is not just the visitor experience, but the amethysts themselves. These violet crystals were formed more than two billion years ago, when ancient mountains rose and volcanic forces shaped the bedrock of northern Finland. That means every stone unearthed here predates complex life on Earth, making them some of the oldest gemstones a collector or jewelry lover could ever own.



The mining experience at Lampivaara is intentionally unlike anything else in the world. Instead of heavy machinery and industrial-scale extraction, visitors are guided through a sustainable, hands-on process that uses only traditional tools. This approach ensures that the deposit can last for hundreds of years while preserving the surrounding wilderness of Lapland. For each guest, the thrill comes from discovering a personal “lucky stone” hidden within the rock and soil.



Summer admission costs are €26 for adults, €13 for children ages 3 to 15, and a family ticket (two adults plus two children) is €65; additional children (3–15 years) join for free with two paying adults. This works out to about $30 for adults, $15 for children and $76 for the full family ticket.



A visit begins with a scenic journey into the national park, where ancient pine forests, reindeer and sweeping Arctic landscapes set the stage. In summer, visitors hike or cycle up the fell, enjoying sweeping views over one of Finland’s most pristine natural areas. In winter, guests arrive aboard the charming Amethyst Pendolino snow train, a heated wagon pulled through snowy trails. At the mine’s wooden shelter, expert guides share the geological history of amethyst and the cultural stories that surround it before guests are invited to the digging area to begin their search.

The atmosphere of discovery is heightened by the setting itself. In summer, the midnight sun keeps the hills bathed in golden light, allowing mining to stretch into the long Arctic evening. In winter, amethyst-hunting takes place in a glittering wonderland, sometimes beneath the Northern Lights. Families especially enjoy the hands-on aspect, as children delight in unearthing their own treasures while learning about geology and Lapland’s natural history.

For jewelry enthusiasts, collectors and adventurous travelers, Lampivaara offers a unique experience: the chance to become a gemstone miner for a day, connect with the Earth’s deep past and carry home a piece of Arctic treasure.

Credit: Finnish amethyst photo by Ninara, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Screen captures via YouTube / Amethyst Mine Luosto. Map by Google Maps.

Welcome to Music Friday when we highlight songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, pop-punk band Every Avenue strikes a raw emotional chord with their 2009 single “Tell Me I’m a Wreck,” a breakup anthem that puts love, commitment and the symbolic weight of a diamond ring at the center of the conflict.



The song’s narrator is caught in a mismatched relationship — she wants permanence, signified by the ultimate token of devotion, a diamond ring, while he wants freedom and space. In one of the song’s most poignant lines, frontman David Ryan Strauchman sings: “But I think we just want different things / I want space, you want a diamond ring / Whatever made you think we were meant to be?”

Here, the diamond ring becomes more than jewelry. It represents eternal love and lifelong commitment — an unshakable bond that the narrator admits he can’t give. Instead, the relationship has unraveled into criticism, taunts and misunderstandings, leaving him feeling like a “wreck.”

Guitarist and songwriter James (Jimmie) Deeghan explained the inspiration behind the track in an interview with Alternative Press.

“‘Tell Me I’m a Wreck’ is what I like to think of as a sort of anthem for not only us, but for everyone out there who has ever been through a bad breakup," he said. "This song takes a stance of, ‘I am who I am and you knew exactly who I was before you got involved.’ It feels amazing to finally say it.”

Deeghan revealed that the song didn’t come together in a traditional studio setting. Instead, he and Strauchman crafted it in the wide-open, echoing expanse of an airplane hangar, fine-tuning every lyric and melody until it struck the perfect emotional balance. What began as a single verse eventually grew into the band’s most recognized track.

“We paid a ridiculous amount of attention to detail on the lyrics, which doesn’t really seem like it from a glance considering how simplistic it all is,” Deeghan said. “The funny thing is that it’s actually tough to write a simple song at times. You want to make sure everyone can make out what it is. I feel like we said exactly what we wanted to say and that everyone that hears this song will find something relatable in this tune.”

Released as the lead single from their second album Picture Perfect, “Tell Me I’m a Wreck” became a fan favorite because of its universal relatability. Who hasn’t been in a relationship where two people simply wanted different things?

Every Avenue, formed in 2003 in Marysville, MI, quickly earned a loyal following with their mix of heartfelt lyrics and punchy pop-punk hooks. The band released three full-length albums on Fearless Records, toured with scene staples like Boys Like Girls and All Time Low, and played the Vans Warped Tour before going on hiatus in 2012.

Though most of the original members have moved on, frontman Strauchman has kept the Every Avenue spirit alive. The band reunited for select shows in 2018 and again in 2023. Every Avenue is also set to perform on October 24 in Nashville.

Please check out the audio clip of Every Avenue performing “Tell Me I’m a Wreck” and sing along with the full lyrics below…

"Tell Me I'm A Wreck"
Written by James Francis Deeghan, David Ryan Strauchman, Timothy Pagnotta and Mitch Allan. Performed by Every Avenue.

I could've been easier on you
I could've been all you held on to
I know I wasn't fair
I tried my best to care
About you

I know I could of been a better man
But I always had to have the upper hand
I'm struggling to see
The better side of me

But I can't take all your jabs and taunts
Your pointing out my every fault
And you wonder why I walked away

When you tell me I'm a wreck
You say that I'm a mess
How could you expect anything less
You latched on to me then cried I strung you along
I told you when you asked
I knew this wouldn't last
At least I could be honest about that
And now you're telling everyone how I only did you wrong
I guess you never knew me at all

Remember on my 21st birthday
You took me where we went on our first date
We stayed till closing time
After four glasses of wine

You started with a pointless argument
Said that I forgot to compliment
The dress you wore that night
That I've seen a thousand times

But I think we just want different things
I want space you want a diamond ring
Whatever made you think we were meant to be?

When you tell me I'm a wreck
You say that I'm a mess
Well how could you expect anything less?
You latched on to me then cried I strung you along
I told you when you asked
I knew this wouldn't last
At least I could be honest about that
And now you're telling everyone how I only did you wrong
I guess you never knew me at all

But still I see you standing there
Waiting around for me to fall

Girl, you must be crazy
Still believing you and me belong



Credit: Screen capture via YouTube / Fearless Records.

For decades, scientists have been fascinated by lonsdaleite — a mysterious hexagonal variation of diamond that was once believed to exist only in the aftermath of meteorite impacts. First identified in fragments of the Canyon Diablo meteorite that crashed into Arizona some 50,000 years ago, this rare material has been theorized to be up to 58% harder than conventional diamonds. Now, a team of Chinese scientists has achieved what many considered impossible: the laboratory synthesis of lonsdaleite.



Unlike conventional diamonds, which are built upon a cubic crystal structure, lonsdaleite forms with a hexagonal arrangement of carbon atoms. This subtle shift — often described as a honeycomb-like stacking — makes the material significantly tougher and more resistant to indentation than even the hardest diamond mined from Earth. On the Mohs scale, diamonds rate a perfect 10, leaving no room for a harder category. Yet lonsdaleite challenges that ceiling, suggesting that one of nature’s rarest crystals could redefine the limits of hardness itself.

(Lonsdaleite is named after Dame Kathleen Lonsdale (1903-1971), a pioneering British crystallographer and the first woman elected as a fellow of the Royal Society.)

Until now, natural samples of lonsdaleite found in meteorites were too small, impure, or structurally flawed to provide conclusive proof of its extreme properties. Previous attempts to reproduce lonsdaleite in the lab often resulted in mixtures of graphite, cubic diamond, and other unstable carbon phases. The breakthrough by scientists at the Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research in Beijing represents the first time that crystals of significant size and purity have been synthesized. The crystals measured 100 micrometers in width (4/1000th of an inch), about the width of a human hair.

Their process involved subjecting ultrapure graphite to pressures of 200,000 atmospheres and temperatures exceeding 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Under these extreme conditions, the graphite layers slid, buckled, and re-bonded into the signature hexagonal lattice of lonsdaleite. By carefully releasing the pressure, the researchers stabilized the new crystals without reverting back to graphite. The results, published in Nature, provide the strongest evidence yet that lonsdaleite exists as a distinct — and harder — form of diamond.

While the discovery is being hailed as a game-changer, the applications won’t be in engagement rings or fine jewelry — at least not anytime soon. Instead, researchers are looking toward high-tech and industrial fields where the need for ultra-hard materials is critical. Precision machinery, wear-resistant coatings, high-performance electronics, quantum technologies and thermal management systems could all benefit from the extraordinary durability and conductivity of hexagonal diamond.

For now, the jewelry world will continue to celebrate the beauty and rarity of conventional cubic diamonds, while scientists begin unlocking the secrets of meteorite hexagonal diamonds, opening the door to an entirely new class of super-hard materials.

Credit: Canyon Diablo meteorite photo by Chip Clark / Smithsonian.

When Bullhead City officials posted a plea on Facebook to help identify the rightful owner of a jewelry box containing a pair of gold cufflinks and a black-and-white photograph from 1954, they never imagined the mystery would be solved in just 24 hours. Thanks to the power of social media, the sentimental treasures found in a stolen vehicle were quickly reunited with the family that had lost them decades earlier.



The unusual story began last December when a vehicle stolen from Bullhead City, AZ, was recovered in Las Vegas and returned to its owner. While cleaning out the car, the owner discovered a jewelry box from the now-closed Whelan Jewelers in Clifton-Morenci, AZ. Inside was a photo of a smiling young couple, dated November 7, 1954, along with a set of engraved gold cufflinks.

Recognizing the items were likely of sentimental value, the vehicle’s owner turned them over to city officials. Bullhead City Manager Toby Cotter stepped in just before they were slated for public auction, halting the sale and launching a search for their true owner.

“With that picture, we can find somebody who will own these and will take pride in these," Cotter told FOX5 Vegas. "So we started the search and it surprisingly didn’t take very long.”



The city posted an appeal on its Bullhead City Laughlin Events Facebook page, urging the public's assistance in solving the mystery.

"Do you know this couple?" the city wrote. "Share this post and help us return these memories where they belong."

The post quickly circulated online, eventually landing in a group called Morenci Pals, dedicated to the Arizona copper mining town where the photo was taken. That’s where Houston resident Ralph Duran Jr. recognized the couple instantly: his late parents, Olga and Ralph Duran Sr.

“The blood just rushed out of my entire body, and to be honest, I probably cried for about 10 minutes straight,” Duran told AZFamily.com.

He had never seen the photo before, but remembered stories of his father — a Marine — posing with his mother in his grandmother’s Morenci backyard while on military leave. The cufflinks, engraved with his father’s name, sealed the connection.

How and why the cufflinks and 70-year-old photo ended up in the stolen car remains a mystery.

For Duran and his sister, Maria Smith, of Las Vegas, the discovery was overwhelming. Many of their family photos had been destroyed years ago, making this newly uncovered image even more precious.

“They were so happy, and so in love,” Smith told FOX5 Vegas.

The items are now being mailed to Duran in Texas, where they will remain cherished family heirlooms. Reflecting on the experience, Duran said the discovery felt like a sign from his parents.

“It’s just a sign that I always believe that, you know, they’re still watching out for us. It’s just kind of a gentle push to let us know they’re still there, and they’re still looking after us, and hopefully we’re making them proud,” he told AZFamily.com.

Credits: Photo courtesy of City of Bullhead City.

It was supposed to be just another day of filming for Kevin Richardson’s YouTube series, "Finding Your First Gold Nugget." Instead, the veteran Australian prospector struck the find of a lifetime — a massive, 7-ounce gold nugget worth nearly AU$40,000 (US$25,000) — while demonstrating a lesson on where to look for “clunkers.”



Richardson and his wife, Eliza, were prospecting in Western Australia’s Goldfields near Kalgoorlie, a region famed for producing some of the world’s largest nuggets.

The couple isn’t content with random searches. They rely on sophisticated tools such as the Trilobyte app, which overlays geological and historical gold deposit data to pinpoint the most promising spots. This careful research, Richardson says, “dramatically increases your chances” of finding gold.

On their third day in the field, Richardson was showing viewers why it’s important to check under bushes, where large nuggets often remain hidden from decades of prospectors. His metal detector gave off what he calls a “screaming” target — the kind of signal that often yields a tin can or other rubbish.

“You know, I never build my hopes up too high with these sort of targets. Too many times I’ve dug up a bullet,” he admitted on camera. Still, he called Eliza over to film, “just in case.” Moments later, he unearthed a dirt-caked lump that immediately felt far heavier than tin or lead.



“Oh my God! That is gold, look at the size of that,” he exclaimed, before kissing the nugget and dubbing it a “clunker.” Initially estimating it at two ounces, the couple later weighed it back at camp: 214 grams — just shy of 7 ounces.

The irony wasn’t lost on Richardson. He’d long been trying to join prospecting’s informal “1-ounce club,” and instead leapfrogged straight into what he calls the “7-ounce club.”



The discovery capped off a methodical search. Days earlier, Eliza had found a small nugget nearby, convincing them the lease had potential. They then zeroed in on ground with geology similar to active gold mines and methodically worked the terrain, saving the hardest-to-reach, bush-covered areas for last. That’s where the jackpot lay.

Richardson says the find underscores the value of persistence and preparation.

“Too many people buy a detector and just head out anywhere and think they’re going to find gold,” he said. “You’ve got to do your research… and work the ground very, very carefully.”

The nugget will be sold to a gold buyer, but a replica will be made so Richardson can keep a tangible reminder of the day he and his wife struck it big — live on camera.

Check out the full video here…

Credit: Screen captures via YouTube / BK Gold Detecting.

After eight years together, legendary soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo and model/influencer Georgina Rodríguez are officially engaged — and their eye-popping diamond ring is making headlines across the globe.



Rodríguez, 31, revealed the news Monday on Instagram, posting a photo of herself wearing a colossal oval-cut diamond flanked by two smaller ovals in a platinum setting.

“Yes, I do. In this and in all my lives,” she wrote in Spanish.



Jewelry experts estimate the center stone could weigh as much as 37 carats and be valued upward of $5 million, placing it among the largest and most valuable celebrity engagement diamonds of all time.

It joins the ranks of former First Lady Jackie Kennedy’s 40.42-carat marquise diamond from shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis in 1968, singer Mariah Carey’s 35-carat emerald-cut diamond from media mogul James Packer in 2016, and starlet Elizabeth Taylor’s famed 33.19-carat Asscher-cut diamond from actor Richard Burton, also in 1968.



Ronaldo, 40, is currently the highest-paid athlete in the world, topping Forbes’ 2025 list with $275 million in annual earnings. Over the course of his storied career as a prolific goal scorer for top clubs, such as Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus, as well as his national team, Portugal, he has surpassed $1.5 billion in total income. He's now a standout player for Al-Nassr in the Saudi Arabia league. 

The couple’s love story began in 2016 when Ronaldo met Rodríguez at a Gucci store in Madrid, where she worked as a sales assistant. They made their public debut in 2017 and have since built a family together, raising two daughters, Alana and Bella, as well as Ronaldo’s three other children. They endured tragedy in 2022 when Bella’s twin brother, Ángel, passed away during childbirth.

While Ronaldo’s fame has long been global, Rodríguez has built her own celebrity profile. The Argentine-born model has fronted campaigns for Gucci, Prada, Guess and Chanel, walked the red carpet at the 2025 Met Gala, and is a fixture in the fashion world’s front rows.

No wedding date has been announced, but fans are already speculating about what promises to be one of the year’s most talked-about celebrity ceremonies — illuminated by one history's most dazzling engagement rings.

Credits: Images via Instagram.com / georginagio.

Lucara Diamond Corp. has quietly added another colossal find to its already glittering résumé — a 2,036-carat near-gem-quality rough diamond recovered in July from the company’s famed Karowe Mine in Botswana. The discovery, revealed in the second paragraph of Lucara’s Q2 2025 earnings report, ranks as the third-largest rough diamond ever unearthed and the second-largest found in Botswana.



About the size of a baseball and weighing nearly a pound, the rough stone was recovered from processing EM/PK(S)1 kimberlite — the same ore type that has been the focus of Lucara’s Karowe Underground Project. This specific ore body has now produced seven of the world’s largest recorded natural diamonds, solidifying Karowe’s reputation as one of the most prolific diamond sources in history.



Karowe is no stranger to the record books. Of the 10 largest rough diamonds ever found, eight have come from this single Botswana mine. The list includes the following:

2,492-carat Motswedi (2024) – #2 all time
2,036-carat unnamed (2025) – #3
1,758-carat Sewelô (2019) – #4
1,476-carat unnamed (2025) – #5
1,174-carat unnamed (2021) – #6
1,111-carat Lesedi La Rona (2015) – #7
1,094-carat Seriti (2024) – #9
1,080-carat Eva Star (2023) – #10

The recovery of the new 2,036-carat stone was made possible by Lucara’s state-of-the-art X-ray transmission (XRT) technology. Installed in 2017, the system scans ore as it moves along conveyor belts, detecting diamonds based on their unique chemical signature. This process allows large, high-value stones to be identified and removed before they can be damaged by crushing equipment.

Lucara CEO William Lamb credited the technology and operational expertise for the continued string of exceptional recoveries.

“The Karowe diamond mine continues to validate its world-class status with the recovery of a second diamond exceeding 2,000 carats,” Lamb said.

The mammoth find capped off a productive quarter for Karowe. Between April and June 2025, the mine yielded 242 “Specials” — rough diamonds larger than 10.8 carats — representing 9.4% of total carats recovered. That tally included 15 stones weighing more than 100 carats, two of which exceeded 200 carats. Total Q2 production reached 85,024 carats.

Beyond its place in diamond-industry history, the 2,036-carat discovery is a reminder of the vital role Botswana plays in the global diamond trade. The country’s diamond revenues help fund infrastructure, education and healthcare, making each high-value recovery significant not just for Lucara’s shareholders, but for Botswana’s national development.

While Lucara has yet to release photographs of the 2,036-carat stone, The Jeweler Blog has created a conceptual rendering using ChatGPT and DALL·E 3 based on historical images of the 2,492-carat Motswedi and 1,758-carat Sewelô. The image accompanies this story to give readers a sense of the scale and appearance of this extraordinary diamond.

Whether it will be destined for the cutting wheel or preserved intact as a mineralogical marvel, the 2,036-carat Karowe diamond is already part of a rarefied club — and yet another sparkling testament to the mine’s status as the crown jewel of Botswana’s diamond industry.

Credits: Conceptional rendering of the 2,036-carat diamond by The Jeweler Blog using ChatGPT and DALL-E 3. Mine photo courtesy of Lucara Diamond Corp.

For 31-year-old New Yorker Micherre Fox, the road to a perfect engagement diamond didn’t lead to a jeweler’s counter, but to Arkansas’s Crater of Diamonds State Park where, against the odds, she unearthed a 2.3-carat gem on her last day of searching.



About two years ago, Fox set herself an unorthodox goal: to forgo conventional channels and, instead, secure a diamond at the source.

“I was willing to go anywhere in the world to make that happen,” she said. “I researched, and it turned out that the only place in the world to do it was right in our backyard, in Arkansas!”



With her supportive partner encouraging her mission, Fox dedicated the better part of her month-long break after earning a graduate degree to prospecting at the only public diamond-producing site where visitors can keep their finds.

“You need to be willing and able to solve… problems with hard work,” she said.



Arriving on July 8, Fox's daily searches across the park’s 37.5-acre field proved to be "daunting."

"After all the research, there's luck and there's hard work,” she said. “When you are literally picking up the dirt in your hands, no amount of research can do that for you; no amount of education can take you all the way."

At about 11 am on Tuesday, July 29 — her last scheduled day at the park — she paused near the West Drain when a flash of sparkle caught her eye. At first, she thought it might be “an iridescent, dew-covered spiderweb.” Nudging it with her boot, the shine remained.



Fox scooped up what she described as the “most diamond-y diamond” she had ever seen.

Clutching the gem in her fist, Fox raced to the park's Diamond Discovery Center, where the staff confirmed that she had found a colorless diamond weighing more than two carats. It was the third-largest diamond registered in the park so far in 2025.

Overcome with emotion, she “got on [her] knees and cried, then started laughing.”

The diamond — about the size of a human cuspid tooth, with a smooth, rounded shape and metallic luster — is typical of most Crater diamonds. The gem's blemished surface hints at its violent journey to the surface from deep within Earth’s mantle.

Fox, honoring both her and her partner’s surnames, has dubbed her find the "Fox-Ballou Diamond" and plans to set it in her engagement ring. It's not clear whether she will have her stone faceted or leave it in its natural state.

Assistant Superintendent Waymon Cox remarked that her discovery underscores how “even when putting forth your best effort, being in the right place at the right time plays a part in finding diamonds.”

Her discovery joins 366 diamonds registered at the park so far in 2025. In total, more than 75,000 diamonds have been unearthed at the site of Crater of Diamonds State Park since the first diamonds were discovered in 1906 by John Huddleston, a farmer who owned the land long before it became an Arkansas State Park in 1972.

Credits: Images courtesy of Arkansas State Parks.

Welcome to Music Friday, our weekly spotlight on songs that feature jewelry, gemstones, or precious metals in the lyrics or title. Today, we’re revisiting a witty track by country artist Jason Michael Carroll, who seals a momentous, life-changing event with a half-carat diamond ring in his 2011 single, “Numbers.”



In the song, Carroll takes a lighthearted look at how numbers — from radio frequencies to special dates — seem to surround us every day. While most are meaningless, a select few hold profound importance.

He sings, “Then three years later ‘neath a million stars / In my F-150 on her granddad’s farm / I slipped a half-carat diamond on the third finger of her left hand / And asked to be her one and only man.”

The North Carolina native was instantly drawn to the song when he first heard it.

“It was written by Patrick Davis and Rodney Clawson and it’s about the way certain numbers, like dates and times, can represent some of life’s most significant moments. Moments like your first date, meeting the love of your life and the day your child is born,” he explained. “Most numbers mean absolutely nothing, but some of them, like the date you meet the person you’re going to spend the rest of your life with, mean everything.”

“Numbers” was released in March 2011 as the title track from Carroll’s third studio album. The album charted at #33 on the Billboard US Country Albums list and was sold exclusively at Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores. It was a fitting distribution channel since Carroll got his start singing in public while working as a Cracker Barrel server in Henderson, NC.

Born in Youngsville, NC, in 1978, Carroll earned his big break at age 26 when he won the “Gimme the Mic” vocal competition hosted by local FOX affiliate WRAZ. That success led to a record deal with Arista Nashville in 2006.

Carroll is currently on tour, with performances scheduled in states across the country, including West Virginia, Florida, Alabama, California, Idaho, Michigan and Indiana.

Be sure to check out the audio track of Carroll performing “Numbers.” And if you’d like to sing along, the full lyrics are below…

“Numbers”
Written by Rodney Clawson and Patrick Davis. Performed by Jason Michael Carroll.

I’m doin’ 72 in a 65,
On I-24 in a four-wheel drive
Got a 10 o’clock on 18th Avenue

And there’s a 30% chance of rain all week
And the high today is gonna be 83
They’re playing Highway 101 on 102.5
An 18 wheeler by my side

Numbers all around, flying by, up and down,
Some as slow as Christmas coming,
Some like the speed of sound,
And we all wonder, what they mean,
The highs, the lows, the in-betweens,
Most of them mean absolutely nothing
But some of them mean everything

I met her at 9:15 on my buddy’s back porch
Shootin’ bottle rockets on July 4th
We were both 19 and she was a perfect 10

Then three years later ‘neath a million stars,
In my F-150 on her granddad’s farm,
I slipped a half-carat diamond on the third finger of her left hand
And asked to be her one and only man

Numbers all around, flying by, up and down,
Some as slow as Christmas coming,
Some like the speed of sound,
And we all wonder, what they mean,
The highs, the lows, the in-betweens,
Most of them mean absolutely nothing
But some of them mean everything

John 3:16, the Fab four,
The 50-yard line, the 13th floor,
9/11, the dirty dozen,
We’re all waiting on the Second Coming

Numbers all around, flying by, up and down,
Some as slow as Christmas coming,
Some like the speed of sound,
And we all wonder, what they mean,
The highs, the lows, the in-betweens,
Why, most of them mean absolutely nothing,
Oh most of them mean absolutely nothing,
But some of them mean everything
Oh numbers

I’m doin’ 72 in a 65,
On I-24 in a four-wheel drive
Got a 10 o’clock on 18th Avenue



Credit: Screen capture via YouTube.com / JiggidyNDG.

This summer marks the 50th anniversary of amethyst being designated as Ontario’s official gemstone — a milestone being celebrated across the province, especially in the Thunder Bay region, where the vivid purple mineral holds both geological and cultural significance.



While many cultures throughout history have attributed mystical origins to amethyst, including the ancient Greeks and early Christian mystics, some First Nations traditions offer a deeply personal and spiritual explanation.

One such story tells of a young girl who became lost in the wilderness while gathering blueberries. As she cried in fear and sorrow, her tears were said to have soaked into the Earth, crystallizing into the purple quartz we now know as amethyst. This origin story imbues the stone with a connection to human emotion, memory and the sacredness of the land — resonating powerfully in a region where nature and spirit are closely intertwined.



Amethyst, a type of quartz, is typically found in hollow rock cavities called vugs, formed within ancient volcanic deposits. Ontario’s deposits — particularly those around Thunder Bay — are believed to be over a billion years old. The crystals grow in stunning hexagonal formations, ranging in color from deep purple to soft lavender and even reddish hues due to inclusions of hematite. Locals have special names for the colors — Precious Purple, Thunder Bay Lavender, Phantom Rove (red) and Black Gem.

On July 8, 1975, amethyst was adopted by the Ontario legislature as the official mineral emblem through the efforts of Minister of Natural Resources Leo Bernier. Bernier, known affectionately as the “Emperor of the North,” believed the mineral should represent the unique natural heritage of Northern Ontario. Though other options, such as sodalite, were considered, amethyst was ultimately selected for its beauty, accessibility and wide distribution across the region.

As part of the 50th-anniversary celebrations, Thunder Bay’s annual Mining Day took on an amethyst theme on June 14, featuring crystal digs, gemstone-themed treats, and educational activities. The nonprofit Mining Matters is also marking the occasion by distributing 50 free Amethyst Kits to young Earth scientists across Canada.

Visitors to Thunder Bay can experience amethyst firsthand at two popular locations. Amethyst Mine Panorama, 60 km east of the city, is Canada’s largest amethyst deposit. Family-owned and operated since the 1960s, the mine offers open-pit digging, self-guided tours, and a gift shop featuring locally crafted jewelry. Diamond Willow Amethyst Mine, located in Pearl, offers similar hands-on experiences, where guests can chisel crystals from vugs and explore the geological history of the area.

For five decades, Ontario’s official mineral has been more than just a gemstone — it’s a symbol of the province’s rich cultural history, spiritual depth and enduring natural beauty. As this anniversary unfolds, amethyst continues to shine brightly in the hearts of those who cherish it.

Credits: Amethyst crystals at the Royal Ontario Museum by David Ceballos from Madrid, España, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Map by Google Maps.