Bagagem River valley, Minas Gerais, Brazili

Regional Level Types
Bagagem River valley	Valley
Minas Gerais	State
Brazil	Country

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In 1853, a diamond discovered in alluvial deposits of the Bagagem River valley about 60 km SW of Coromandel became the first large Brazilian diamond whose history is fully authenticated. Named “Estrela do Sul” (Star of the South), it weighed 261.9 carats. It was found by a slave, who turned it in and was rewarded with her freedom and granted a lifetime pension. Additional notable stones discovered in the same area include one weighing 122.5 carats (found four years later, in 1857), and others: 118 carats (1929), 108 carats (1940), and 174.5 carats (1954).

A sprawling community grew in the area to provide services for participants in the ensuing diamond rush. First named “Bagagem” (“baggage” in English), it was later renamed after the famous stone, the Estrela do Sul. Just downstream (NW) from Estrela do Sul is the village of São Rita da Estrela that borders several quarries (called “garimpos” in Brazil), and the major digs are readily visible in satellite photos further down the river (generally NNW), all the way to the flooded portion associated with Emborcação Reservoir on the Paranaíba River. Diamond production data are not available for any of those quarries, and one or more of them may be where some of the large stones mentioned above were discovered. The town of Estrela do Sul is close to the main area of alluvial diamond mining, so its geographic coordinates are used for the locality. In fact, Estrela do Sul is where that 261.9 carat stone was discovered. Romaria is a larger town and municipality, but few major quarries were established that far upriver.

Several publications list Romaria as the name of a diamond district, but Romaria and Bagagem River valley both lie within the area that has long been included in the Coromandel diamond district (e.g., see Fig. 1 in Karfunkel et al., 1994), so this area is included in the Coromandel district here, with Romaria mine as a sublocality. The diamond occurrence at the Romaria mine is apparently in a debris flow conglomerate that is lithified, rather than in alluvium, and details on its geology are presented in the Romaria locality description. Fleischer (1998) mentioned that the conglomerate at Romaria extends to Iraí de Minas, which is also considered to be a sublocality of Bagagem River valley.

The discussion of geological circumstances of alluvial diamond occurrences in the locality description for Coromandel district applies to Bagagem River valley.

Geographic coordinates for significant quarries and clusters of quarries along Bagagem River, from Google Earth:

1) several quarries from 18° 51' 28", 47° 37' 51" to 18° 51' 8", 47° 39' 2"

2) 18° 42' 19", 47° 41' 51"

3) large area near Emborcação Reservoir in 18° 41' 14", 47° 41' 49".

Mineral List

Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities

19 valid minerals.