The jewel in India's crown lies at latitude 33° 25' 30"N and longitude 76° 23' 15"E.

The glory days of Kashmir sapphire ended 120 years ago, shortly after the mines' discovery.  Original accounts by Edward Streeter and Albert Ramsey are some of the greatest reports ever published.

The economic policies of the central government and political conflict prevent further exploration.  A global tender has been publicized since 2002 although the contract has not been given despite rumors.

In 1998, the Jammu & Kashmir Minerals Ltd. exploration team and a few experts from the Department of Geology, lead by General Manager A.M.B., ventured into the famous mining region for the first time since 1989.  To their surprise, the team discovered vandals and smugglers had used crude detonation devices to break and burn all locks and gates at the mines. The vandals damaged the original mining tunnel in their illegal quest for the blue treasures. 

Subsequently, the Government's team of miners and geologist cleaned debris and began exploring.  The 1998 season, mid July to early September, was used to sample and survey the surrounding vicinity. Following this, police towers were placed in key access points with soldiers ordered to "shoot to kill" any suspicious people.  A fair weather vehicular road was built smoothing the way to the town of Atholi.  This road shortened the distance along sheer precipice and treacherous mule tracks, to less than 6 days walk. Lastly, they purchased IKONOS satellite imagery of the ridge. The final step will be to mechanize the operation and begin digging the mountain.

The future looks promising. The minerals department has one operable drill with compressor and a small staff to work. The weather permits about 60-70 days of mining activity. The quantity of rough extracted has increased from carats to kilograms.  The State Treasury claims a deposit of two kilograms between 1998 and 2002.  However, less than 1% of 1% is said to be facet quality. Of the 17 kilograms sold at auction a few years ago, a few gem quality stone were cut and under one carat in size. Other auctions have yielded a few larger stones and slightly better quality.

The mining department is attempting to access the vein from several locations on the ridge approximately 100 meters apart. Cap Beesley, the former President of AGL company created confusion by labeling stones as "'Classic Kashmir" and or "New Kashmir.  Kashmir has only one sapphire mine. This mine, near the village of Soomjam, is like every in the world. It produces a range of quality from more commercial to the worlds finest gems.