Arizona Turquoise Mines

• Bisbee Mine
• Blue Bird Mine
• Castle Dome Mine
• Castle Dome Mine
• Cave Creek Mine
• Ithaca Peak Mine
• Kingman Mine
• Morenci Mine
• Sleeping Beauty Mine
• Turquoise Mountain

Arizona Turquoise Mines

Bisbee Turquoise Mine

Bisbee Turquoise Mine was mined for many years as a byproduct of copper production in the enormous open pit mine and surrounding areas operated by Phelps Dodge Corp. The vast majority and the finest quality turquoise was found in the famous Lavender Pit copper mine. Bisbee turquoise is famous for its deep sky blue color and its purplish-chocolate brown matrix. The chocolate brown spiderwebbed stones with deep sky blue color are among the most prized turquoise stones ever available. Overall, Bisbee turquoise ranges in color from pale to dark green and from pale to deep dark blue and occur occasionally in perfectly clear form as well as with matrices of tan to dark brown. The clear and deep sky blue stones come closest of all American turquoise to equaling the perfectly clear sky blue Persian stones which are so highly valued in Europe. The Europeans and Middle Eastemers much prefer gold jewelry to silver and the contrast between the clear sky blue stones against the gold is considered more attractive than blue stones mottled with matrix material. In the United States, where silver Indian jewelry has been popular for many years, consumers find the clear blue stones appear to wash out against the silver color and as a result, matrixed stones are preferred.

 

 

When the copper mine was open, mine management strongly discouraged its miners from stopping work activities to pick up pieces of turquoise which were exposed during the movement of copper ore. Not surprisingly, many miners over the years took out a lot of turquoise anyway often, it is told, in their lunch pails. Meanwhile turquoise rights were sold to one company on an exclusive basis to minimize disruption of the copper mining operation. After the mine closed, the company has continued to have the exclusive rights to search through the ore dumps for pieces of turquoise ore. As a result, Bisbee turquoise supply has long been insufficient to meet its demand. Because of the relatively short supply and because of its unique beauty, Bisbee turquoise has remained one of the most expensive on the market.

 Blue Bird Turquoise Mine

The Blue Bird Turquoise Mine is a small "ma and pa" operation that nobody knows a whole lot about. We have however been able to back up the mines existence through several reputable gem dealers, miners and artists. We have bought around 50 lbs of the material over the years. It is wonderful medium sky blue to dark blue with quarts and occasionally pyrite inclusions. VERY PRETTY stuff. In fact I would say it is some of the best true blue turquoise we have purchased. We first bought some at a gem show in Durango, Colorado and since have only found it at obscure little gem shows where the true miners show up. Definitely worth owning.

Castle Dome Turquoise Mine

Castle Dome Turquoise Mine - Most of Arizona's turquoise mines are actually large open pit copper mines that the turquoise deposits are leased.The company or person with the lease is called in to extract the turquoise when they hit a pocket as they are copper mining. This is a mine that was very active back in the 1970's. Often produces Turquoise with a light sky Blue and golden brown matrix.

 

 

 

 

 

Kingman Turquoise Mine

Kingman Mine -More than any other large copper mining company, the Duval Corp. has long felt that turquoise production could coexist with copper mining. Located near Kingman, Arizona, the so—called Kingman turquoise actually represents a number of distinct deposits in the Mineral Park area and produces an extremely wide range of turquoise looks and varying levels of quality.

 

Turquoise from the Ithaca Peak mine is typically light blue and often has dark blue webbing patterns referred to as “birds eye” turquoise. Turquoise Mountain turquoise is usually a unique blue green often with black matrix including a lot of spiderwebbed looks. The primary turquoise deposits at the Kingman mine are of light to sky blue with attractive webbing that often includes shiny iron pyrite patches with occasional powdery whitish arsenic areas. The turquoise ranges from light and soft requiring stabilization and color treatment to high quality deep blues with a range of tan to black matrix which is hard enough to be sold as natural turquoise. Recently a new deposit was found which produces a gorgeous dark blue turquoise with tight fine black spider-webbing. It is the most expensive turquoise produced at the Kingman mine and competes at the price level of higher quality Candelaria and Indian Mountain turquoises.

Morenci Turquoise Mine

Morenci Turquoise Mine - from the Phelps Dodge copper mine in Morenci, Arizona. It is famous for its hard brilliant blue turquoise which often glistens with flecks or patches of shiny iron pyrite and black chert webbed matrix. Morenci turquoise is unique in that it is almost exclusively blue — pale blue to dark blue. Green turquoise from Morenci is seldom seen. The overwhelming majority of Morenci turquoise is matrixed with totally clear stones being somewhat rare and less valuable. As with other mines, the spiderwebbed material is the most desirable. Morenci is also noted for producing some very large cabochons from the predominantly seam material it is found in. Mines which produce ore in nugget or vein form generally are limited to smaller stones compared to turquoise from relatively large and thick seams. Morenci is fairly hard and color stable and is seldom stabilized.

 

Like other Arizona turquoise mines, Morenci turquoise is a byproduct of open pit copper mining operations. Mining company management has long considered turquoise to be a nuisance to their massive rock hauling operation as workers waste time picking up the occasional chunks of turquoise they see intermingled with the copper ore. Mining companies often sell the right to collect turquoise to a single concessionaire and allow them to search the dumps or inactive areas on a scheduled basis to minimize disruption of mining operations.

Turquoise Mountain Turquoise Mine

Turquoise Mountain Turquoise Mine -  was one first to be given the name "Birdseye". It comes from the Turquoise Mountain mine in northwestern Arizona near the Kingman mine. The mine was closed in the 1980s. It 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 dark blue matrix, resembling the eye of a bird. It is a beautiful addition to one's collection.