Daniel Hertz, Shabbat Square
Shefa Yamim, a company that searches for gems in the Kishon River and the surrounding area following the instruction of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, reported yesterday (Tuesday) on finding a new type of gem, although it is still unclear what its value is and the overall estimates of the value of the stones.
The newly discovered stone is a “hibonite” type stone. The company reports that the hibonite mineral (which is not in a gemstone formation) has so far been found in the world in rocks that have undergone “transformation” (structural and mineralogical change in rock due to extreme pressure and temperature conditions) and in meteorites that have reached the Earth. “Rocks consisting of various minerals) consisting of rocks that have undergone low-level transformation, in the area between Arad and Jericho, on the slopes of the eastern Judean mountains.”
Further examination of sites that provide information on various minerals reveals that it is indeed a rare mineral – named after the French researcher Paul Hibbon, who first discovered the mineral in Madagascar. It is not clear what the uses of this mineral are – one of its properties is also a low degree of radioactivity.
The company discovered the stones as part of a collaboration with an Australian professor named William Griffin. Griffin examined one of the company’s samples in the area, and found that 2% of the finds there were hibonite stones.
This figure also does not yet solve the riddle of whether abundance of days will succeed in finding a bed of gems that is economically viable for commercial mining. The company reported that “as of the reporting date, the economic value of the hibonite stones found by the company has not been estimated or may be found in commercial quantities in the permit areas in which the company operates. It should be emphasized that only continued exploration activity in the Kishon River The company to a stage where it will be possible to examine the economic viability of opening a commercial mine. “
The vision of the company is attributed to the Lubavitcher Rebbe. In 1988, Mr. Aryeh Gorel – the then mayor of Haifa – came to a meeting with the Rebbe, in a conversation that dealt mostly with education in general and Eretz Israel in particular, the Rebbe said: “… Haifa has a sea and one should not be impressed. It has a sea, and there is a valley and in the valley there are good stones and pearls and God did a miracle, he buried them in the depths of the earth and in any case in the depths of the torment (plowed field).