Spessartine in rhyolites in Colorado and Maine. In Madagascar, spessartines are exploited either in their bedrock or in alluvium. The orange garnets result from sodium-rich pegmatites. Spessartines are found in bedrock in the highlands in the Sahatany valley. Those in alluvium are generally found in southern Madagascar or in the Maevatanana region. Spessartine forms a solid solution series with the garnet species almandine. Well-formed crystals from this series, varying in color from very dark-red to bright yellow-orange, were found in Latinka, Rhodope Mountains, Kardzhali Province, Bulgaria. Spessartine, like the other garnets, always occurs as a blend with other species. Gems with
Operation Gemstone Operation Gemstone In the context of the Watergate scandal, Operation Gemstone was a proposed series of clandestine or illegal acts, first outlined by G. Gordon Liddy in two separate meetings with three other individuals: (1) the then-Attorney General of the United States, John N. Mitchell, (2) the-then White House Counsel John Dean and, (3) Jeb Magruder, an ally and former aide to H.R. Haldeman, as well as the temporary head of the Committee to Re-elect the President, pending Mitchell's resignation as Attorney General. The first meeting occurred in the Attorney General's Washington, D.C., office at 11:00 a.m. on January 27,