Most tourmaline owes its color to iron, manganese, or chromium. Paraíba tourmaline is defined by trace copper, which produces the intense, almost electric blue-green the variety is known for — a color no other gemstone naturally reproduces at the same saturation.

The variety takes its name from the Brazilian state where it was first identified in the late 1980s, but Brazilian material was quickly mined to near-exhaustion. Mozambique's deposits, discovered in the early 2000s, now supply most of the Paraíba-type tourmaline reaching the market — chemically similar, copper-bearing, and graded by the same standard, regardless of which country it came from.

Because the name describes a color-causing element rather than a single mine, a legitimate Paraíba designation depends on lab-confirmed copper content, not geography alone. Saturation and hue drive value more steeply here than in most other colored stones — a slightly larger but less saturated stone will often be worth less than a smaller, more intensely colored one.

As with any copper-bearing tourmaline, ask for a report that confirms trace-element composition, not just visual color grading. This is the detail that separates a genuine Paraíba-type stone from ordinary green or blue tourmaline priced to imply otherwise.