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Turquoise Mines Sample pictures and information about turquoise from a variety of American turquoise mines. We special in handmade Native American jewelry made with natural turquoise stones, which means turquoise that has not been stabilized, colored, or treated in any way.

	Ajax Turquoise The small Ajax mine, located in south central Nevada in the Royston area, is one of the relatively new turquoise mines. The mine yields stones from light blue with darker blue veins to a predominate dark green with light blue areas. The dark green and light blue coloration is considered quite unusual for turquoise.
	Apache Turquoise Apache turquoise comes from a mine in Tonopah, Nevada. It has only been mined in the last two years, and probably came through from an inheritance. It is being mined now strictly for its turquoise. Apache Turquoise produces a blue/green Turquoise, and a recent vein has produced a beautiful Green Turquoise with a tight black spiderweb.
	Bisbee Turquoise The Bisbee mine "the Lavender Pit", near Bisbee, Arizona, is one of the more famous of the American mines because Bisbee turquoise (also known as "Bisbee Blue") was one of the first put onto the market. The Bisbee turquoise mine was part of the Bisbee copper mine, the main operation at the site. The turquoise mine has been closed since the 60's. It has developed a reputation as a hard, finely webbed, strikingly brilliant blue stone of high quality. The unusual matrix forms wisps or veils throughout the stone, which is often called 'Smokey Bisbee' because of the matrix. The highest grade of Bisbee turquoise is usually found at less than 100 feet. However, at Lavender Pit, good Bisbee was discovered at 900 feet. In 2004, Phelps Dodge Mining Company declared Bisbee depleted and buried the turquoise pit under 50 feet of dirt.
	Blue Diamond Turquoise The Blue Diamond mine, located in central Nevada, opened in the late 1950's and was mined up to 1980. This mine is considered a hat mine of which there are very few. A hat mine is a small deposit of turquoise that, 'you can cover with your hat.' The stones that this mine produces, which are usually large pieces in plate form, looks a great deal like Stormy Mountain turquoise because of its black smokey matrix. This stone features dark smoky swirls with brilliant blue windows with the characteristic black chert, which is ever-present in the stone. This mine is now closed and buried under thousands of tons of rock.
	Blue Gem Turquoise The Blue Gem mine, which is no longer active, produced almost every shade of green and blue turquoise imaginable. The Blue Gem mine site, located near Battle Mountain, produced a great variety of turquoise, from intense blue to deep green combinations with a hard, irregularly distributed matrix. While there are other mines in Nevada of the same name, the Battle Mountain or Blue Gem mine, which began production in 1934 yielded the most valuable Blue Gem turquoise because of its rich color and hardness. Of the several Nevada mines that are named Blue Gem, this is the largest and most famous. Blue Gem turquoise tends to form in very thin slab forms rather than the typical nugget, although the largest nugget ever found weighed 178 pounds.
	Candelaria Turquoise The Candelaria turquoise mine is one of the small, depleted mines in Nevada that produced a good quality turquoise of high blue color with an intermittent black or brown non-webbed matrix. It has a luminous radiant quality, and is highly collectable. Candelaria also produces some stones with green tones.
	Carico Lake Turquoise Gus Stenich was one of the earliest owners of this mine, however he became suspicious of all activity that he saw around the mine because he lost much of his turquoise to foragers and thieves. His death was sudden and so his will was made out hastily on a bread wrapper. His will left the entire mine to his best friend J.W. Edgar. Carico Lake is named for its home on a dried-up lakebed in high, cool Lander County, Nevada. Some turquoise businesses market the stone under various names including Stone Cabin and Aurora turquoise. Carico Lake mines also host another precious stone, faustite, which also features a bright green, color but because of its high zinc content rather than the copper found in Carico Lake turquoise. The clear, iridescent, spring green color is due to its high zinc content, and it is very unique. Carico Lake stones can also own a dark blue-green color with a black spider web matrix. The colors and scarcity of Carico Lake turquoise make it a valuable addition to any collection.
	Castle Dome Turquoise The Castle Dome mine is near Globe, Arizona and is now called the Pinto Valley mine.
	Cerrillos Turquoise Cerrillos is not only an uncommon and unique form of native New Mexican turquoise, but has a history entwined with both ancient Native peoples of the Southwest and more recent American mining companies. Cerrillos turquoise is the only turquoise that formed at the base of a volcano. Thus, a variety of colors developed from the minerals in the various volcanic host stones. In fact, seventy-five colors have been identified, from tan to khaki green to rich, blue green to bright blues. Located between Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico, Cerrillos is one of the most famous prehistoric mining districts in the American Southwest. Pueblo peoples mined the area extensively between A.D. 1300 and 1600. Of the more than two hundred dig sites located there, the largest and the most famous are the Blue Bell, Castilian, and Tiffany mines. Large-scale commercial mining activity in the area wound down in the 1950's. Today the Cerrillos mine is in private hands.
	Crow Springs Turquoise Crow Springs, also known as AnnJax or Bluebird, is located near Tonopah, Nevada and 27 miles, as the crow flies, from the Royston turquoise mine. The current owners of Crow Springs, Dennis and Lucy Cordova, are also co-owners of the Pilot Mountain mine. The Smith family previously owned the mine and had been mining turquoise in Nevada since the 1870's. In 1909, William Petry discovered a deposit one mile southwest of the Crow Springs claim. In 1939, Ann Cooper Hewitt, heiress to the Cooper Hewitt fortune, filed a claim to the mine and built a home there, which she called AnnJax. She did little work on the property and subsequently abandoned it. Crow Springs is known for its characteristic light green color contrasted with a bright red matrix which is made up of the host rock, rhyolite. The mine consists of several open pits. The largest pit measures about 50 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 15 feet deep. Materials that would yield gems of large size are scarce though the best stones have good color and are very hard. The mine includes a tunnel that digs 175 feet into the mountain; inside of which Dennis Cordova discovered a bountiful deposit of commercial grade gold and silver.
	Damele Turquoise Damele turquoise is a distinctive yellow-green, takes on a high luster and has a good hardness due to zinc content. A dark brown to black matrix webs the stone. Its availability is limited because the mine is small, and its rare color makes Damele a collector quality turquoise.
	Easter Blue Turquoise The Easter Blue mine, discovered in 1907, is near Tonopah, Nevada, in the Royston district. The mine has yielded very little turquoise, but the first turquoise found there was Easter or robin's egg blue, hence the name of the mine. The later yield of the mine has included very attractive large mottled spider web matrix with light blue centers in the webbing, as well as deep blue-green with light to dark brown matrix.
	Fox Turquoise The Fox Turquoise mine, located near Lander County and discovered in the early 1900's, was once Nevada's largest producer of turquoise with some half million pounds. At that time, Mr. Dowell Ward, the mine operator, amassed one of the largest collections of turquoise rock. The mine is still one of Nevada's most productive mines. In prehistoric times, indigenous peoples mined turquoise and found large nuggets. The different sites of Fox deposits were developed using the names of Fox, White Horse, Green Tree, and Smith to differentiate among the colors of turquoise produced in the area, and to create a larger perceived share of the turquoise market. Collectively, the area produces a huge quantity of good-quality green or blue-green stone with a distinctive matrix. Blue Fox turquoise is more accurately known as 'White Horse Fox,' as that is the area of Lander County where the blue variation has been found. The Fox mine has also been known as the Cortez mine.
	Godber Turquoise
	Hachita Turquoise Many years ago, the area in southwestern New Mexico near Hachita was one of the four major turquoise-producing areas in the state. The turquoise deposits, appear to have been worked long before European settlers came to New Mexico. These old mines was rediscovered in 1885 and operated intermittently for 25 years. Hachita turquoise mining dates from pre-historic times to 1905. Like Tyrone turquoise, Hachita was also called 'Azure,' but also went by many other names. It is located in New Mexico. Characteristically, Hachita turquoise, which ranges in color from blue to green, often with tan or golden brown matrix, contains considerable pyrite, the oxidation of which produced much of the clay mineral deposits in the stone. Hachita turquoise, although in small supply, is still used to make jewelry featuring larger stones.
	High Lonesome Turquoise In the rugged boot hills of southern New Mexico in the lower Hatchet Mountain range, this very rough and beautiful place full of endless hills of Century plants lays the now obsolete High Lonesome Turquoise Mine. High Lonesome, the name painted on a watering tank, is quite appropriate to the land surrounding it - very high and mostly lonesome. For over 30 years, from sun up to sun down, owner Ray and his crew looked for the beautiful, very hard, green to powder blue turquoise in six week stretches.
	Indian Mountain Turquoise The best known of the contemporary mines originally discovered by a Native American. The lode was discovered in 1970 by a Shoshone sheepherder who stumbled upon a vein of turquoise on a hillside while tending his sheep. Eddy Mauzy and his family subsequently mined and marketed turquoise from this site to top Southwest Indian artisans, and jewelry featuring unique turquoise Mountain was first featured prominently in Arizona Highways magazine in the late 1970's.
	Kingman Turquoise The Kingman mine in northwestern Arizona is one of the largest turquoise mines in North America. The term 'Kingman' or 'high blue' refer to the blue color usually displayed in the stone. It has become a color standard in the industry. The mine became famous for its rounded bright blue nuggets with black matrix. Few turquoise mines produced nuggets, especially of this quality. Natural Kingman is very rare and highly collectible. Some of the finest specimens of Kingman were mined in the 60's. It is an intense blue with a black and silver matrix. This superb grade was found in an area called Ithaca Peak, which yielded the highest and hardest Kingman turquoise. This vein has been long exhausted. The Kingman mine re-opened in September 2004 after being closed since the 70's. The new owners of the copper mine have made it a policy to dump anything with turquoise veining or nuggets into a truck for Marty Colbaugh Processing. About 95% of Kingman is stabilized which makes it very affordable. Of that stabilized stone, 50% is then shipped to China for cutting; the other half is sold in the rough to American artists and those in the turquoise trade. The remaining 5% of the Kingman turquoise stays in its natural state and is cut into cabochons.
	King's Manassa Turquoise Manassa turquoise is mined at Manassa in south central Colorado, but began its mining days with Ancient Pueblo peoples. The Manassa mine is also known as the King's Manassa. The name comes from I.P. King, the gold miner who rediscovered this vein of turquoise and whose descendants still mine the site. It is known for its blue-green to green color with a golden or brown, non-webbed matrix. The golden matrix comes from the host rock, rhyolite. The Manassa mine is still in production, and owned by the King family, thus the alternate name sometimes used for this turquoise.
	Lander Blue Turquoise A blackjack dealer in Nevada, Rita Hapgood, who was picnicking at Indian Creek, discovered Lander Blue, an infamous "hat mine." She claimed the mine as the Mary Louise Lode Mining Claim and later sold the claim to Marvin Syme and Henry Dorian. They founded the Lander Blue Turquoise Corporation and they worked the deposit until its depletion. Lander Blue comes from a mine located between Battle Mountain and Tenabo in northern Nevada. This stone is noted for its dark to light blue color tightly laced with black, spider web matrix. Because of its beauty and its limited availability, due to closure of the mine, Lander Blue is a highly collectible turquoise worthy of investment. Lander Blue turquoise is among the most famous of the American turquoises, but is the most valuable and most expensive also.
	Lone Mountain Turquoise The Lone Mountain turquoise is located in Esmeralda County, Nevada. The turquoise is noted for its ability to hold color and not fade, which adds to its natural beauty. Usually found as nodules, Lone Mountain turquoise ranges in color from clear blue to spider-web. This mine has also been known as Blue Jay mine. Because Lone Mountain turquoise holds its beautiful blue color well, it is a valued addition to any jewelry collection.
	Morenci Turquoise The Morenci turquoise mine in southeastern Arizona, now closed and buried under tons of rock, will likely never re-open. The land was leeched with chemicals that would destroy any trace of turquoise. The mine produced a turquoise high to light blue in hue. This stone has an unusual matrix of irregular black pyrite that, when polished, often resembles silver. One of the first American turquoises to come to the market, Morenci is difficult to obtain and highly valued.
	New Lander Turquoise New Lander turquoise is being mined near the Lander Blue Mine but has a green to yellow-green color, often with a beautiful dark spiderweb matrix.
	Nevada Blue Turquoise Many people say that Nevada Blue turquoise looks a lot like Blue Gem turquoise. Not much is known about this mine or its history except that once in the history of the mine, a person named "Witham," mined there.
	Number 8 Turquoise The Number 8 turquoise mine in Carlin, Nevada was first mined in 1929 until its depletion. In its prime, Number 8 produced some of the largest nuggets of turquoise found. A spider web matrix of colors ranges from golden brown to black set off the unique bright powder blue background of the stone. Of the ten claims in a 20-acre area, the Number 8 claimed by the Blue Star Company in Lander County is considered the finest example of the gold-webbed turquoise. The mine was depleted in 1961. Approximately 5,000 pounds were mined between 1929-1933, but in 1950 the best rock ever was found, a nodule weighing 150 pounds, which is now at the Covered Wagon in Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico. The host rock is intensely, naturally altered quartz monzonite shale and thinly beaded black chert.
	Orvil Jack Turquoise Orvil Jack discovered and developed the mine in northern Nevada that bears his name. The area where the mine is located is called the Blue Ridge in Crescent Valley. The rare yellow-green color of the turquoise comes from the zinc content. Mr. Jack is now deceased, but his daughter continues to manage the mine. Only a small amount is now being produced, and the turquoise is considered very collectible due to its rare color and the scarcity.
	Paiute Turquoise The Paiute turquoise mine shares a mountain with the Godber and Burnham mines in central Nevada. While claims at the Paiute site date back to 1974, the Paiute mine has been actively productive since 1992. It produces limited quantities of high-grade spider web turquoise. It has a wide graduation of blue tone, from light to dark, with web matrix in colors of black, orange, brown and red. It is a hard turquoise and is very collectible.
	Pilot Mountain Turquoise The Pilot Mountain mine is located in western Nevada. This stone is highly admired for its deep blue-green colors. The matrix is black to golden brown, which is caused by the host rock, rhyolite. Pilot Mountain is a hard stone and takes a good polish. It can show an unusual graduation of light to dark green colors on the same stone, which makes Pilot Mountain highly collectible. Pilot Mountain has nine federal mining claims operating where small miners conduct their mining two to three times a year with very minimal tools - a back hoe and pick. This beautiful, high-grade stone looks like Royston, but is priced at half the cost. Pilot Mountain turquoise comes in every turquoise color imaginable.
	Red Mountain Turquoise Over the years this mine has produced a large quantity of graded turquoise, but the best Red mountain turquoise rivals some of the higher quality material produced by the best mines in the Southwest. Red Mountain is a good source for intricate, spider-web matrix stones with rust colored veins, many of which are used in the finest gold and silver Indian jewelry. The mine is also a popular source for small, high-grade nuggets that can be drilled, polished, and strung to make wonderful necklaces.
	Royston Turquoise Royston, also known as Royal Blue, was discovered in 1902, 24 miles northwest of Tonopah. By 1915, over $5,000,000 worth of turquoise was removed from this mine, thought to be the largest producer of a single turquoise mine in America. The Royston mine was an example of a tunnel mine. The host rock, rhyolite, gives Royston its often gold-colored matrix. The Royston district of Nevada is home to three turquoise mines: Bunker Hill, Oscar Wehrend, and Royal Blue, all of which are now exhausted. Royston turquoise is known for its beautiful colors ranging from deep green to rich light blues set off by a heavy brown matrix. The hardest Royston was characterized by a crust of dark to light limonite.
	Sleeping Beauty Turquoise The Sleeping Beauty mine is seven miles outside of Globe, Arizona. Its turquoise is noted for its solid, light blue color with no matrix. The host rock is usually granite. Sleeping Beauty turquoise is the favorite of the Zuni Pueblo silversmiths for use in petit point, needlepoint and inlay jewelry. This mine is one of the largest in North America. Monty Nichols, owner and miner of the Sleeping Beauty mine, says that the mine is producing well, about 1600 pounds a month. Of that, only 4% is natural. Most of the turquoise from the mine, 80-90%, is altered in some way. Most of that percentage is enhanced, which is more expensive than stabilization, and sold to large distributors in this country and Europe. Now, most of the turquoise that comes out of that mine comes form the tons of tailings piles that have been accumulating all these years.
	Stennich Turquoise The Stenich turquoise mine in north central Nevada, to the west of the Fox turquoise mine in the Crescent Valley, and also next to a gold mine, is quite old, having been mined for years by Gus Stenich. When Mr. Stenich passed on in 1943, his will, written on a bread wrapper, was found in his tent. He gave both the Stenich and Carico Lake mines to the Edgar family, who owns it today. The Stenich mine yields five or six colors of turquoise, from blue green to lemon-line green. Soon the green colors will no longer be available because the part of the mine in which this turquoise is located is being 'eaten up', by the gold mining operation, which takes precedence over turquoise mining. Stenich turquoise is very hard, so it takes a good polish. It has a subtle gold brown matrix due to iron content. The shades in green come from the 8% zinc content, which contributes to the good hardness of the stone. Because the lime-green shades are rare in turquoise and that shade in Stenich will soon be unavailable, which makes it an especially collectible turquoise.
	Stone Mountain Turquoise Stone Mountain Turquoise comes from Lyon Co. Nevada in the high deserts of northern Nevada. The mine was discovered in the late 1970's and since that time the Cassidy family has been digging most of their turquoise by hand and pick. They utilize many natural processes in their excavation, lapidary, and jewelry endeavors. The turquoise is carefully hand picked from its rock matrix and then tumbled clean with jasper or a quartz medium accompanied with a small amount of tumbling grit. After removal of the tumbling media and foreign or rough debris, they sort and select the stones. Oftentimes the selected specimens are tumbled again with a small amount of tumbling grit for additional cleaning. None of their turquoise is stabilized. For more info on turquoise from this mine, visit Nevada Cassidys Stone Mountain Turquoise.
	Stormy Mountain Turquoise This mine, along with the Blue Diamond mine, is distinctive for producing hard, dark blue turquoise that includes a blotchy, black chert matrix that resembles storm clouds, hence the name Stormy Mountain. The mine is not presently active.
	Turquoise Mountain Turquoise In the 1960's, there were two peaks about ¼ miles apart located near the Kingman mountain, which yielded fine turquoise: Ithaca Peak (see Kingman) and Turquoise Mountain Peak. Turquoise Mountain is light to high blue with both webbed and non-webbed matrix. Birdseye describes stones from this mine that show areas of light blue circled with darker blue matrix, resembling the eye of a bird. Even though this peak is part of the Kingman Mountain, it is considered a classic mine in its own right because the turquoise is so different in appearance. This stone exhibits a beautiful range of color from pale blue to lime green in one piece that makes it a sought-after turquoise. This mine was closed in the 1980's.
	Tyrone Turquoise Turquoise from the Tyrone mine was associated with the Phelps Dodge copper mine operations southwest of Silver City, New Mexico. For 25 years in the late 1800's, $4,000,000 of Tyrone turquoise was removed from the Azure mine in the Burrow Mountains. A discovery in 1893, the 'Elizabeth Pocket', proved to be the richest pocket ever in New Mexico. All rock from this area north of Tyrone was shipped to Europe for $100 to $150 a carat weight at retail. It was a very pure blue with small quartz crystals. However, turquoise has not been retrieved from that mining operation since the early 1980's when Phelps Dodge changed its method of copper ore processing to crushing and acid wash. That method destroys any turquoise in the copper ore.The Tyrone turquoise in new jewelry is from private stashes. It is medium brilliant blue in its high grade form. Tyrone turquoise is part of the mineral band that starts east of Silver City and curves around through Arizona and the Morenci turquoise mine area into Mexico. Today it is valued for both its beauty and rarity.
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