Zabargad Island

Before the mid 270s [BCE] Ptolemaic activity along the African coast of the Red Sea had been limited with few significant results other than the discovery of the 'topaz' deposits on the island of Gazirat Zabarjad southeast of Ras Banas. ...

Pliny, HN 37, 108 refers to a large topaz that was brought back to Egypt as a gift for Ptolemy I's queen Berenice I.

The island became present above sea level after African and Asiatic continental plates converged to cause rocks in the lower crust to be uplifted.

22 says that, according to Juba, the island "Topazus in the Red Sea", also had mines producing sandarach (realgar) and ochre, "but neither of them are imported to us from that place.

However, the corals recently became damaged due to increased tourist activity and the expansion of the diving industry on the island.

Zabargad Island, Egypt.
Historic specimen of forsterite var. peridot , 1.3 cm × 0.7 cm × 0.4 cm (0.5 in × 0.3 in × 0.2 in). Mining of peridot seems to have begun around 300 BC.