In antiquity, most gemstones were discovered near the surface, generally by accident. While this has somewhat changed in modern times, prospecting for colored gemstones is still a fairly primitive affair, relying more on observation and chance, than the intensive scientific methods employed by the large multinational corporations involved in Diamond exploration. Once work begins on a gemstone deposit, it is correctly called a "mine."

One of the most intriguing aspects of gemstone mining is the diversity of techniques employed in their extraction. These range from low tech tools such as shovels and sieves, to the high tech methods used to extract diamonds from pipes (a volcanic pathway that connects the earth's deep mantle to the surface). Apart from the introduction of power tools and pumps, most colored gem mining hasn't changed dramatically in thousands of years and still relies on three key things - perseverance, hand tools and elbow grease.

With a radiocarbon age of 43,000 years, the oldest known mine is the "Lion Cave" in Swaziland. At this site, people mined the iron-containing mineral hematite, which they presumably ground to produce the red pigment, ochre. Sites of a similar age were also found by archaeologists in the Netherlands and Hungary, which may have been worked for flint in weapons and tools. Another early mining operation was the turquoise mine operated by the ancient Egyptians at Wady Maghareh on the Sinai Peninsula. Turquoise was also mined in pre-Columbian America in the Cerillos mining district in New Mexico, where a mass of rock 197 feet in depth and 295 feet in width was removed with stone tools. The resulting mine dump of unusable rock covers 20 acres.
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