Gem River to mine Montana sapphires

Privately-owned Gem River will soon be mining sapphires commercially at its Dry Cottonwood Creek property in Montana.

Last year, the company carried out a testing program and hired engineering consultant Behre Dolbear to prepare an estimate of sapphire resources on the property.

In 1995, the operation could potentially recover 1.4 million carats. The mining will be supervised from the Gem River’s facilities at Butte, Mont., with grading, sorting and processing scheduled to occur at its facilities in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Tests have confirmed the presence of placer gold as well, and the company intends to produce gold as a byproduct of sapphire mining.

The company believes it will generate more profits by marketing polished goods, as opposed to uncut stones.

Gem River will be Montana’s second sapphire producer; American Gem (TSE) began operations on its Moffat Gulch property last fall.