I had never heard of any gems that were mined on St. Martin, but I never really cared. We have traveled back to Friars going both routes toward the water, but never saw or heard of garnets being mined. Doesn't matter anyway to my wife or I, since she is totally happy with the garnet that she did get. Just thought it strange that no one ever said anything about it until we visited and then the resulting comment on my blog. I didn't pursue it, since I get strange and unconvincing comments at times.