From the archive record
Mine workers extract minerals and moon stones from underground mines shafts. Moonstone, considered to be the most valuable variety of feldspar, is the opalescent variety of orthoclase (an opaque to transparent potassium feldspar). Its schiller or adularescence is caused by the intergrowth of two different types of feldspar, with different refractive indexes. Like labradorite, it has an opalescent quality, caused by the reflection of light from the internal structure. Moonstone is usually whitish-blue, but can be colorless, yellow, orange, gray, or even reddish. Like many gems found in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) and Myanmar (formerly Burma), moonstone most often occurs as pebbles and irregular masses in gem-gravels and clay-deposits. Mining moonstone is nearly always a manual process but t