Mineral Basics

Every gemstone is a mineral first. This collection covers the fundamentals that make the rest of the site make sense: the Mohs hardness scale, how crystals form in igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary environments, and why the same chemistry can produce wildly different stones. Our reference material sticks to established mineralogy — real Mohs values, correct chemical compositions, and formation processes as geologists actually describe them. When a fact is commonly garbled online (like what hardness actually measures), we take the time to set it straight.