Some 40 miles South of the big village of Upington, in the central Cape Province of South Africa, there is a tiny village named Keimoes. Just outside that settlement, there is a hill, made almost entirely from Rose Quartz.

We mined that hill quite extensively, as buyers in Japan and Taiwan were keen on that specific "deep violet" color. We mined it tenderly, as Rose Quartz should not be mined by using explosives nor pneumatic hammers. Chisels and hand hammers were used at all times, so as not to create new cracks in the already fragile formation of the quartz.

Sometimes, we recuperated some very good pieces, showing a "deep lavender" color, almost transparent or with a fine "shine". Such pieces were superior in quality when compared with the best Rose Quartz mined in Madagascar.

We used tens of tons of small material to tumble polish it at our factory in Johannesburg and we shipped many container loads or finished stones to Europe and the rough stones to the Far East.

We made some spheres and egg shaped pieces from some of the better material. And some Ashtrays...