Garnet

Garnet, group of common silicate minerals, including some gemstones and some varieties used as abrasives. They are transparent to translucent, red, brown, green, yellow, and white, and have a glassy luster. The most highly valued garnet gem is demantoid, an emerald green variety found in the former USSR and Italy. Perhaps the most popular is a ruby red pyrope found in South Africa, Bohemia, Arizona, and New Mexico. Crushed garnet is used as an abrasive for sand-blasting, dental wheels, lens grinding, and sandpaper.

See also: Gem.