Articles - Geol Mbugua Githae

Artisanal and Small-Scale Gemstone Mining: Opportunities and Challenges in East Africa

Behind many of the gemstones that eventually reach international jewelry markets sits a workforce rarely mentioned in retail marketing: artisanal

Ask a jeweler what makes a gemstone valuable and you’ll usually hear “the four Cs.” Ask a gemologist and the

East Africa occupies a strange and fortunate position in the world of colored gemstones. A geological region that most of

Every gemstone on a jeweler’s tray represents an extraordinary coincidence of geological conditions — the right chemistry, the right pressure,

Mineral exploration has always been a game of narrowing odds. A century ago, that meant geologists walking ridgelines with hand

Ten years ago, a topographic survey of a mine site or geothermal field meant weeks of ground crews with total

Hyperspectral imaging is one of the more genuinely exciting tools in modern exploration geology — and also one of the

When most people hear “geothermal energy,” they picture power plants and turbines — and for good reason, given how much

Ore bodies rarely cooperate with the tidy geometry of a drill rig set up on a level pad, firing straight

Ore bodies rarely cooperate with the tidy geometry of a drill rig set up on a level pad, firing straight

An exploration program lives or dies on the reliability of its assay data. A brilliant geological model, a well-targeted drilling

A successful borehole isn’t the product of a single lucky guess — it’s the end result of a structured hydrogeological