[1][2]: 19  The gem gets its red color from manganese ions embedded inside of beryllium aluminium cyclosilicate crystals.

[11][12] The narrow geographic range suggests that the specific conditions needed for its formation do not occur frequently.

[13] Red beryl is valued roughly the same price or higher than emerald[12] despite being a hundred times rarer.

[13] The hexagonal crystal system found in beryls are formed of AlO6 octahedra, as well as BeO4 and SiO4 tetrahedra.

[17] The deep color Mn3+O6 may be in part explained by the Jahn-Teller effect on spin disallowed transitions.

[18] It is formed by crystallizing under low pressure and high temperature from a pneumatolytic phase along fractures or within near-surface miarolitic cavities of the rhyolite.

Associated minerals include bixbyite, quartz, orthoclase, topaz, spessartine, pseudobrookite and hematite.