IMPORTANT AGATE MINES IN THE WORLD @ Jewel Info 4 U
By: RITIKA CHANGRANI
Summary: Agate is a hard semi-precious mineral commonly used as an ornament and a gemstone and this is found almost all over the world including places like USA, India, Asia, Brazil, Africa, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Nepal.
 Nature has given the Agate
gemstone the most creative of
stripes and colors. It is the
chalcedony quartz in concentric
layers that give it its variety and
a range of colors.
Agates get formed when a cavity or a
niche in the host rock is filled.
Due to this, it is found as a round
nodule with rings or concentric
bands. These bands sometimes look
like scallops or eyes or even form a
picture of trees in a landscape.
Blue and green are rare colors in
agate but for most part, you will
find it in a variety of colors.
Sometimes there are tiny quartz
crystals that form inside the stone
which greatly enhances the
magnificence and distinctiveness of
individual stones. Known as drusy,
these tiny crystals are used by
Lapidaries where just the drusy is
cut from an agate. The jewelers then
use these drusy cabochons as the
accent or main stone in their
design. Some varieties of agate of
this type are moss agate, plume
agate and eye agate.
Mining Of Agate
Agate
mines are found almost
everywhere in the world. But some of
the more important mines are found
in USA, Russia, Europe and Canada.
Let's start with the mines of South
Dakota USA. Agate is part of the
gemstone and mineral industry which
has grown from strength to strength
in recent times. Agate is one of the
most well known of all stones in
this area. The official stone of
South Dakota is the really beautiful
Fairbanks agate found in the Black
Hills. This stone is characterized
by sharp bands that run perfectly
parallel to each other. The next
place in the USA for agate is
Arizona. Here too gemstone
production is well developed and
while it is peridot and turquoise
that lead the way, agate, jasper and
some others are of equal importance.
Agate deposits are found scattered
across Idaho also.
In Mexico, agates are found
primarily in the states of San Luis
Potosi and Aguascalientes. They are
known for their fire agate and the
multicolored fire agates are found
in Calville in Aguascalientes.
Another very beautiful agate is
called the Apache Agate which is
characterized by its floating red
colors that can be seen in the clear
agate. Southeast of the area of
Apache agate are the cousins called
the Laguna and Coyamito are part of
the banded agate groups but the
Apache Agate still stands apart from
them. Here the bands are not as
sharp as other agates found in
Mexico.
The two main deposits of agate can
be found on the Mexican ranch of
Agua Nueva which is located about 20
miles northeast of the Laguna agate
deposits in Chihuahua in Northern
Mexico. It is situated in front of
the far mountain around the corner
to the left and through the ravine.
One specializes in the vein agate
and the other is a nodular agate.
The vein agate which is known for
its tube formation was mined in 1997
and 1998.
In a remote corner of Chihuahua
Mexico one finds the Apache Agate
deposits nestled on a ranch about 35
miles southeast of Nuevo Casas
Grandes. Winding dirt roads going
north through the tiny towns of
Malpais and EL Apache, the agate
deposits can be seen on a narrow
ridge between an arroyo that drains
the mountains to the wets and a
bigger drain that comes in form the
northwest. Till the early 1070s the
ridge point was mined by hand and
then came the dozer in 1970.
Central European Russia boasts of
mines which are along the left bank
of the Oka River near Stupino, about
100 km south of Moscow. These are
the Prioksky quarry or Golutvin.
Here agates in limestone and agates
are found.
Germany mined agate in the Nahe
River valley which was documented as
early as 1497. This brought about
the rise of the cutting centre
called Idar-Oberstein. Brazil has
rich deposits of agate and this was
discovered when in the 19th century,
the Idar-Oberstein's cutters
exhausted the agate deposits at Nahe
and they went on to mine the
deposits in Brazil. It lead to a
major explore and discover program
which brought to light rich deposits
of agate, tourmaline, amethyst,
citrine, topaz and other gemstones.
In Canada, the Thunder Bay is one of
the three places where Agate is
found in veins and it is the only
agate mine in Canada. But in
California, not far form the Palo
Verde, tucked away, deep in the Mule
Mountains lies the Opal Hill Mine.
This mine is famous for its very
rare and magnificent fire agate,
quartz crystals and opal eggs.
The mine is made up of rock outcrops
and holes where the agate has been
mined which is quite unlike the
mental picture one has of a mine
being deep with tunnels and shafts.
This mine is privately owned but for
a small fee, the public can have a
look around. Some effort and some
hard work ensured that you come away
satisfied with the fiery agate you
get to take back with you. Opal hill
mine is one of the active mines in
the world which is producing the
fire agate.
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