White and natural precious stones like diamonds already fetch a high price of $2,000 per carat, but colored diamonds, jade, and emerald cost even more. Why do colored gemstones cost so much? Apart from rarity, Ronald Phillips explains that colored gemstones take much more resources to mine. You can mine colorless diamonds in clusters. However, colored gemstones don’t cluster, so it’s not uncommon for dozers to unearth just one or two stones.