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The Nangimali ruby deposit in the southern part of the Nanga Parbat Himalaya, has been investigated through field work, geochemistry, stable and radiogenic isotopes. It outcrops in the Shontar valley in a large north-vergent syncline consisting of high-grade metamorphic gneisses capped by a metasedimentary series dominated by marbles and amphibolites. The ore-body is stratiform. Ruby is found within 0.1–2 cm thick shear-veinlets and gash veins cutting dolomitic marbles and carbonate-bearing bands.The marbles of the Nangimali Formation display restricted ranges in δ18O (from 23.6 to 27.6‰ relative to SMOW) and in δ13C (from −1.9 to 2.6‰ relative to PDB). Fluid infiltration along the shear-zone in the marble has no effect on the isotopic signatures of the carbonates. Fluids are metamorphic and CO2 is derived from the decarbonation of marbles.Mass-balance and geochemical analyses suggest that the mobilisation by the fluids of aluminium and chromium in the marbles is sufficient to enable the formation of ruby in the shear-zone. Rubies have been indirectly dated using a stepwise 40Ar–39Ar laser heating technique on syngenetic phlogopites. The Miocene age records a Neogene cooling in the South of the Nanga Parbat massif and a minimum formation age for ruby of 16 Ma. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]