In approximately 2003, reports began to circulate in the trade that some Russian demantoid garnets were being routinely subjected to heat treatment in order to enhance their color.

[3][4] Although garnets have been known since ancient times, the demantoid variety was not discovered until 1868 in Russia's western central Ural Mountains.

The find was an alluvial deposit about 110 km (70 mi) from Ekaterinburg, north by northwest along the Bobrovka River, near the village of Elizavetinskoye.

[5] A second find was made 75 km (47 mi) to the south of Ekaterinburg, on the Chusovaya and Chrisolitka Rivers southwest of the village of Poldnevaya.

[citation needed] A significant new find of demantoid and andradite took place in Namibia in 1996 at what is now dubbed the "Green Dragon" mine.

[6] In addition to the commercially-important deposits in Russia and Namibia, demantoids are also found in some other places, including Italy (Val Malenco, Lombardy), Iran (Kerman), and Afghanistan.

Petrographically, the Baft demantoids are associated with serpentinite schist lithologies, whereas the Takab specimens are exclusively hosted within skarn metamorphic rocks.

Its dispersion (0.057) is unusually high, and this is often visible as "fire" (rainbow-coloured flashes of light), although in some cases the stone's green body colour can render this effect less noticeable.