Tashmarine is a completely new variety of diopside, found only in this place. The only previously-known gem variety of this mineral is chrome diopside, a Siberian gem in a beautiful deep saturated forest green that darkens in color as it gets larger so that cut stones about three carats are extremely rare. One of the characteristics that surprised gemologists about Tashmarine is that it keeps its lively color even in cut stones as large as 50 carats.

A shepherd tending his flock was probably the first to discover the sheets of transparent mica that first brought prospectors to these mountains. The perfectly formed amber-colored sheets of mica miners uncovered here were ground up to add sparkle to paint.

"When we were mining the mica, we found these beautiful green crystals and we were very excited. We had to find someone who knew about gemstones to see if it was as exciting to them. This led us to the Shenzhen cutting factory and Columbia Gem House Inc." the mine owner, Wong Jia Ming explains.