CORE116 Gemstones and precious metals in 21. century

Faculty of Science
Autumn 2024
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Jan Cempírek, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Simona Krmíčková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Jan Cempírek, Ph.D.
Department of Geological Sciences – Earth Sciences Section – Faculty of Science
Supplier department: Department of Geological Sciences – Earth Sciences Section – Faculty of Science
Prerequisites
! TYP_STUDIA ( ND ) && ! FORMA ( C ) && (! PROGRAM ( B - UCB ) && ! PROGRAM ( B - UCC ) && ! PROGRAM ( B - UCF ) && ! PROGRAM ( B - UCM ) && ! PROGRAM ( B - UCZ ) && ! PROGRAM ( B - LGM ) && ! PROGRAM ( B - AEG ) && ! PROGRAM ( B - GEO ))
basic high school knowledge of natural and historical sciences
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is offered to students of any study field.
Course objectives
Modern technologies and the free market made esier to find, mine and process gemstones and precious metals more economically than ever before in human history.

In addition, however, in was necessary to implement measures to prevent negative phenomena resulting from their high value concentrated in a small volume of matter (smuggling, money laundering) and the simplicity of their extraction in some areas (conflict minerals).

The course will introduce the main precious stones (diamond, sapphire, ruby, emerald, beryl, topaz, tourmaline, and others) and precious metals (gold, silver, platinum and palladium), their properties and uses, basic concepts of origin of their deposits, methods of exploration, and socio-economic impacts of their extraction in the context of the global market environment.
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, the student will be able to:
- describe the main gemstones and precious metals and their properties;
- understand their acquisition, processing and economics;
- understand the wider socio-economic-environmental contexts associated with their acquisition and trade;
- use the knowledge to make informed decisions when dealing with precious stones and metals.
Syllabus
  • 1) History of gemstones.
  • 2) Introduction to the properties of gemstones and precious metals, basic terms.
  • 3) Deposits of gemstones and their exploration methods.
  • 4) Diamonds.
  • 5-6) Colored gemstones (sapphire, ruby, emerald, beryl, topaz, tourmaline, precious opal, tourmaline, topaz, garnet).
  • 7) History of precious metals
  • 8) Mining of precious metals, and social-economic-environmental aspects of their acquisition.
  • 9) Gold and silver.
  • 10) Platinum and palladium.
Literature
  • ĎUĎA, Rudolf and Luboš REJL. Drahé kameny : velká encyklopedie. 2. české vydání. Praha: Aventinum, 2023, 376 stran. ISBN 9788071512998. info
  • Encyklopedie drahých kamenů : proč jsou drahé kameny tak drahé. Illustrated by Karel Mařík. Vydání první. Praha: Plot, 2016, 296 stran. ISBN 9788074282966. info
  • STUDÝNKA, Bohumil and Jan STRUŽ. Zlato : příběh neobyčejného kovu. 2., aktualizované a doplně. Praha: Grada, 2014, 344 stran. ISBN 9788024752105. URL info
  • MRÁZEK, Ivan. Drahé kameny starověkých civilizací (Gemstones of ancient civilizations). Ilustrace Lea Píchová. 1. vyd. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2013, 382 pp. ISBN 978-80-210-6122-4. více o knize Internetové knihkupectví Munipress info
  • MORÁVEK, Petr. Zlaté doteky pěti kontinentů : zlato, příroda a lidé v příbězích geologa. Vyd. 1. Praha: Mladá fronta, 2008, 282 s. ISBN 9788020417442. info
  • KLOMÍNSKÝ, Josef and Jaroslav PACOVSKÝ. Historie psaná zlatem : aneb Kterak zlato dobývati a kterak je užívati. [S.l.]: Svoboda, 1988. info
Teaching methods
The teaching will take place in the form of presentations of individual topics, in combination with practical "hands-on" examples of selected precious stones, metal ores and their properties. It will be possible to practice the material online during the semester (possibility of results recognition to obtain the colloquium).
Assessment methods
The evaluation will be done as a colloquium in the form of:
- recognition of the results of the online training tests (min. 50% points), or
- writing an essay on a selected topic expanding the lectures, or
- a final test on the basic concepts of individual lectures (min. 50% points).
Language of instruction
Czech
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/sci/autumn2024/CORE116