Nevada Turquoise Mines

Turquoise Mine List | Grades & Quality | Healing Beliefs | Physical Properties | Spiritual Beliefs | Symbolism | USGS History | General Information | Other Gemstones | Birthstones | Rough Stones for Sale | Mineral Testing

Example Pictures are either the highest of grade or a good example of a common look from a particular mine.

Ajax
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 predominant dark green with light blue areas. This latter coloration is considered quite unusual for turquoise.

Apache
Apache Turquoise produces a blue/green Turquoise, and a recent vein has produced a beautiful Green Turquoise with a tight black spiderweb. This is nice hard material. A small operation.

Basalt
The Basalt Mine produces a beautiful dark blue turquoise with a distinct brown matrix. This mine is located in the Candelaria District. Most of this turquoise forms in a quarts host rock. Most of this turquoise comes in thin vein. Very Rare stuff as this was a small mine and is no longer in operation.

Blue Boy Variquoise - Milkyway
This Mine is now known as Candelaria and produces the finest spiderweb deep blue turquoise you have ever seen! Blue Boy produced what is popularly known as Variqouse or a mix of Variscite and Turquoise, which is usually a beautiful mix of forest green, brown, and blue with a dark brown-black spiderweb matrix.

Blue Creek
The Blue Creek Turquoise Mine is located in the Candelaria Hills mining region of Nevada. This mine produces a beautiful blue-green spiderweb turquoise and varascite in large vein and wafers. This mine shares a mountain side with the Otteson's Broken Arrow mine. We particularity like the blue with white spiderweb material this mine produces.

Blue Diamond
A Rare deep blue Turquoise producing mine in Nevada, Blue Diamond was mined mostly in the 60s and 70s. You don't see much of this great stuff around anymore. It is dark blue with a black matrix of dendrites and triangle shaped black chert. The blue alot of times is a swirling of two dark blues,.. it is stunning

Blue Eagle
Cutler Edgar had a very sharp eye and dug for the top grade . He bought this Mine along with brothers Willis and JW Edgar in 1940 . It was close to Tenabo, Nevada and produced only a small amount of spiderweb from 10 years of mining.

Blue Gem
The Blue Gem mine near Battle Mountain, Nevada produced a great variety of turquoise, from intense blues to deep green combinations with a hard, irregularly distributed matrix. While there are other mines in Nevada of the same name, the Battle Mountain Blue Gem mine& the Tonapah Blue Gem Mine, which began production in 1934 and is now closed, yielded the most valuable Blue Gem turquoise because of its rich color and its hardness. It is greatly desired by collectors. One of our favorites!

Blue Ice
Blue Ice Turquoise is from a new find discovered last year by a prospector named William Murdoch, here is what he said "I found this near Yerington, Nevada and named it partly because it looked like blue ice and partly because I had to break through a layer of ice to get to it."

Blue Jay
Another beautiful blue Nevada Turquoise mine, located in the Battle Mountain region. This mine produces nice big nuggets of blue turquoise similar to Fox, or big spiderweb vein with a brown matrix.

Blue Medicine
One of the Edgar's projects. Produced a fine spider web matrix turquoise, very high-grade and very rare. Almost a varacite clarity to this stuff.

Blue Moon
The mine is in Esmerelda County in the Candelaria Hills, within a mile of the famous 'Blue Boy' Mine, north of Columbus Salt Flat and Coaldale Nevada.
At an elevation of 5,300 feet above sea level the mine is only worked during the more temperate seasons of the year. This mine Produces a light to medium Blue Turquoise, and the high-grade is a darker blue. It runs in a black chert or brown host rock.

Blue Thunder

An exceptionally fine and beautiful turquoise. Intense, vivid blue interspersed with amazing Redish/Brown matrix in a very intricate spiderweb pattern. This Blue Thunder turquoise with was found in very minimal quantity in the early 1980’s and is very seldom seen today. It is highly sought after by high end contemporary jewelers and collectors, and are rarely available.

Blue Warrior

The Blue Warrior mine produces a beautiful mid to deep blue turquoise with a tight spiderweb matrix. Nice hard material. This is some of the funkiest rock, the turquoise at This mine was formed in lava rock. The mine also produces a combination of turquoise and chrysicola in the same rock.

Blue Wind
Probably one of the finest, most unknown Nevada spiderwebs ever. There was very little of This stone to come out, we only had it offered to us once, even though we offered to buy all that they could produce! Deep blue with a black spiderweb. We consider This spider web second only to Lander Blue! This was another of Cutler Edgars mines.

Broken Arrow
The Broken Arrow Mine is located in the Candelaria Mining District of Nevada outside of Mina. The Broken Arrow claims belong to the Otteson's. What has come out of the Broken Arrow thus far is a blue and emerald green spiderweb and clear Turquoise and Varascite, some call Variquoise. The emerald green variscite is absolutely stunning, it looks like forest green emerald or jade. Some of the finest variscite we have ever seen. Some of the turquoise they are pulling out looks like old fox, the good stuff.

Broken Bow
The Broken Bow claim belongs to the Otteson's and at This time is undeveloped. The claim sits on the back side of the hills the White Creek mine is located on. These guys are so busy right now it will probably be sometime before they get to producing this commercially if ever.

Candelaria
The Candelaria mine(s) are claims located in the large Candelaria Open Pit Copper, Silver, and Gold Mine. The large ore company leases out the claims to a few mines infrequently. The finest turquoise is now located in a part of the mine so difficult, that it is almost unattainable. The turquoise is a good quality stone of high blue color with an intermittent black or brown, non-webbed matrix. The high-grade Candelaria is a translucent dark blue with a redish brown spiderweb matrix. It is a hard, attractive stone. Candelaria also produces some of the most attractive Varascite, which comes in a wide spectrum of colors. Candelaria spider web varicite stone a mine with a rich history going back to the middle 1800s. This mine produces some of Nevada's best and most unusual Variscite. This is a very hard stone, high silica content. This mine produces some of the most unusual and beautiful stone patterns, no two stones are ever alike. Candelaria Because it is not frequently available and the mine is closed it is considered collectible.

Carico Lake
Carico Lake turquoise is named after the location of its mines on a dried up lake bed in a high, cool area of Lander County, Nevada. Its clear, iridescent, spring green color is due to its zinc content and is highly unique and collectible. Carico Lake turquoise is also found in a dark blue-green color with a black or brown, spider web matrix. The Mine has been open for sometime now. A fair amount of This turquoise has been recovered. The less common lime green turquoise which is suspect to actually be predominately faustite, is very very valuable due to it rarety and demand. It is hard material. This mine is also known to produce rare psuedomorph clams that are filled with turquoise.

Carlin
This mine is located in the northeast part of the state. A very small mine. This mine hasn't seen any activity in many years, except for old stashes, you won't find any of This turquoise anymore. Beautiful Clarity! Alot of this stuff is really gel type.. like gem silica.

Colorback Mines I & II
This Nevada mine Produces a beautifully white tight black spiderwebbed Chalcociderite as well as a gorgeous green and rare blue Varascite with a black or brown matrix. It is excellent cutting material, almost now waste. The Colorback mine I or in the old days Turquoise Boy mine is one half mile north of the Badger mine and 3.5 miles North-Northwest of Tenabo near Crescent Valley, Nevada. Turquoise is associated with an opalized sill that dips intruding black chert. The chert adjacent to the sill is brecciated and contains the turquoise. The Colorback II mine has Chalcosiderite and Varacite material rather than turquoise as the major find. The Chalcosiderite has a beautiful black spider web pattern with white, blue, green, yellow, or orange hues. These stones go great with red coral and turquoise or by themselves. The Variscite. is a beautiful light green with black spider or matrix throughout the stones.

Cortez Mine - FOX
Fox is on of Nevada’s most productive turquoise mines. In the 1940’s, Dowell Ward purchased the old Cortez claims and developed them using the names Fox, White Horse, Green Tree and Smith to differentiate among the colors produced in the area and to create a larger perceived share of the turquoise market. The area produces a huge amount of good quality blue, green or blue-green stone with a distinctive matrix. Most of This turquoise that we have cut has been a light to medium blue with a dark color of green of blue spiderweb.

Crow Springs
Crow Springs, also known as Blue Bird, was discovered in 1909 near Tonopah, Nevada. This mine produces a nice blue/green mix turquoise with a blackish brown matrix. Another very rare turquoise. Small mine.

Cyprus Sierrita
A small american mine located in Nevada that we don't know much about. It produces mostly a straight blue turquoise, some with small black matrix. Nice color blue.

Damele & Damaile
The Damele & Damaile (also known as Damali) mines are located in east central Nevada near the Carico Lake mine. Damele turquoise is distinctive because of the zinc content that turns the stone yellow-green and increases its hardness. The matrix of Damele is webbed with a dark brown to black matrix. It's availability is limited because the mines are small. Due to its rare color, Damele is a collectible turquoise. The Damele mine also produces very beautiful Varasite, a beautiful, lime greenish to forest green very hard stone, most people know Damele for This stone rather then the Turquoise, and the Damaile Mine is known more for the Turquoise. Damele varascite and faustite are often misrepresented as turquoise.

Darling Darlene
VERY RARE Dark Blue Nevada Turquoise from high up in the Battle Mountain Region. Only a small amount of Turquoise was produced from This mine. Some very nice high grade gem quality Turquoise.

Dry Creek
The Dry Creek mine, which has also been known as the Godber and Burnham mine, is located in northeast Nevada. The mine has yielded both a pale blue and a cream white turquoise. The unusual white to light blue turquoise is very hard. The color is due to a preponderance of aluminum rather than copper in the stone's chemistry. The matrix is typically light golden or brown-gray to gray-black. White turquoise is beautiful alone in a piece of jewelry and is especially striking when juxtaposed with other colors of turquoise in a single creation.

Easter Blue
Easter Blue is an old Nevada Blue Turquoise Mine. This mine is located in the Royston Area/Bunker Hill. This mine is a major producer of Nevada Turquoise. Easter Blue produces a fine quality stone, beautiful matrix. The Easter Blue Mine is owned and operated by Danny and Dean Otteson (not sure if This is spelled right).

Emerald Valley
Emerald Valley is a Nevada Mine that produces a deep forest green Turquoise. It is very beautiful. Emerald Valley is an American turquoise and I have seen it on the internet advertised as Chinese, This is false. It is still being mine by the owner.

Fox
Fox is on of Nevada’s most productive turquoise mines. In the 1940’s, Dowell Ward purchased the old Cortez claims and developed them using the names Fox, White Horse, Green Tree and Smith to differentiate among the colors produced in the area and to create a larger perceived share of the turquoise market. The area produces a huge amount of good quality blue, green or blue-green stone with a distinctive matrix. Most of This turquoise that we have cut has been a light to medium blue with a dark color of green of blue spiderweb.

Gilbert Mine

The Gilbert Mine in Nevada produces a beautiful dark blue extremely hard turquoise in a quarts host rock. It has a dark to medium brown matrix. This turquoise almost has a Bisbee look to it if you have seen Bisbee in Quarts.

Godber/Burnham
One of Nevada's Best and most well known mines. This mine produced some of the best material to ever come out of Nevada. Godber Turquoise is a deep blue with a brownish spiderweb matrix. Some of the older Burnham material is even prettier, dark blue with a green spiderweb matrix. Stunning!

Gold Acres
A small privately owned Nevada Turquoise mine that produced very little Turquoise. We are not sure whether or not This mine is still in production. Judging on the availability we are guessing it is not. Gold Acres is some of the finest blue Turquoise we have seen. Awesome matrix, a lot of the Turquoise is multi-colored.

Halley's Comet
A Nevada Turquoise that has limited production. This turquoise was lost for a number of years, and rediscovered recently by the current owner. This stone is very hard, 8 on the mohs scale. It took ten years to find This mine. Usually a light Blue with triangle pattern matrix.

Harcross Mine
Another small Nevada Turquoise Mine. Produces some very nice "non-nevada" looking turquoise medium blue to medium green. Beautiful Stuff!

Hidden Treasure
The Hidden Treasure mine is definitely as it is named. A very small mine that is tucked away in the Nevada hills. This is a rare stone to come by. This mine produces a very beautiful sky blue turquoise in a light brownish/quarts looking matrix, a lot like the Villa Grove Mine in Colorado. Nice stuff.

Indian Blue
The Indian Blue Mine Produces a medium colored finely webbed turquoise. The mine produces a very fine product and is usually in a dark black chert.

Indian Mountain
The best known of the contemporary mines was originally discovered in 1970’s by a Shoshone sheepherder who stumbled upon a vein of turquoise on a hillside while tending his sheep. Eddy Mauzy and his family mined and marketed turquoise from This site to top southwest Indian artists. Jewelry featuring Indian Mountain turquoise was featured in Arizona Highways magazine in the 1970’s. Indian Mountain mine is in Lander County, Nevada.

Ivanhoe
The Original Ivanhoe Mine was located on one of JW Edgars 1100 Acre Mining Leases in his Nevada area and had many beautiful shades of color. This little mine produced some beautiful stuff.

Lander Blue
Rita J. Hapgold, a blackjack dealer at the Nevada Club at Battle Mountain, discovered This turquoise deposit in 1973 while picnicking at Indian Creek. She collected some nuggets in a can and later claimed the site as the Mary Louise Lode Mining Claim. Later that year she sold her claim to Marvin Syme and Henry Dorian, who formed the Lander Blue Turquoise Corporation. Lander Blue was a "hat mine" so called because you could cover it with a hat, only 98 pounds of turquoise was ever recovered from it. Today This rarest of all Southwestern turquoise classics is also of the highest grade and thus, pound for pound, the most valuable turquoise in the world.

Lander Blue Turquoise

Last Chance
The last chance mine is a small claim in Lander County Nevada. This mine produced mainly of deep blue and black spiderweb turquoise. Very Rare Turquoise.

Leaning Shack
The Leaning Shack mine produce as light yellow to medium yellow green faustite, or to the retail customer "Yellow Turquoise". This is a small nevada mine and is rare stuff due to the small production of This material. Nice material.

Lone Mountain
The Lone Mountain turquoise mine is located in Esmeralda County, Nevada. The turquoise is noted for its ability to hold its color and not fade. Usually found in nodules, Lone Mountain turquoise ranges in color from clear blue to spider-web. Because Lone Mountain turquoise holds its beautiful blue color well, it is a great addition to one's jewelry collection, lone mountain like the turquoise pictured is very rare these days, now the mine produces a light grayish blue color turquoise. Once in a while the miners will find a rare fossil that has been replaced with Lone Mountain Turquoise.

Picture Coming soon.

Lucky Peak
Lucky Peak Turquoise is from a new deposit in Crescent Valley, Nevada. Beautiful shades of green and blue are being mined and as they get deeper in the mine the blue gets harder and darker.

Marvin Symes' Frog Skin
A small Mine owned by Marvin Symes. It shows unusual and beautifully distinctive Deep Green Coloring with Black/Brown Matrix webbing.

Mastrada
This mine has seen little activity over the years. This is mostly seam and vein material from what I have seen .Is a nice light color with light brown webbing. Almost looks like the dry creek material. Is Hard and takes a great shine. Another of those hard to find and rare stones. Nevada

McGinnis
A very small quantity and a fair quality of McGinnis was discovered in 1930 in Nevada. This mine was one of the better known smaller turquoise mines.

Miss Moffet
This is an old mine and puts out some of the best colors with tight black or brown spiderweb matrix. Although This turquoise has not been marketed much, it is some of the finest green turquoise we have seen. This mine also produce a very rare form of turquoise, Psuedomorph Clam Shells, these are prehistoric clam shells that have had parts of the dead clam replaced with turquoise. These clams are very rare and valuable.

Monte Cristo
The Monte Cristo mine produced a medium blue or blue-green turquoise which has a light to medium brown matrix. A lot of This material needs to be stabilized. More info to be posted at a later date.

Montezuma
Montezuma is another of the small Nevada Turquoise mines. Beautiful green and Blue/green turquoise, only small production. Very nice material! Solid, not much matrix, cuts well. A lot of This material needs to be stabilized, but what doesn't need to be stabilized is gorgeous stuff.

New Lander
The New Lander turquoise is very beautiful! Most of This material looks like Lander Blue only it is green, orange, and yellow, mostly green. It apears to be varasite or chalcociderite rather then turquoise but is marketed as turquoise, it has the beautiful clarity and depth of varascite It is being mine across the valley from the Old Lander Blue Mine.

Nevada Blue / Nevada Persian Blue
The Nevada Blue Mine produces a beautiful blue turquoise similar to persian blue turquoise, ranging from light blue to dark blue. A lot of This material is straight blue or has little matrix. Some high-grade has a fine spiderweb matrix with dark brown colored matrix.

No. 8
The No. 8 turquoise mine in Carlin, Nevada was first mined in 1929 until its depletion. In its prime, No. 8 produced some of the largest nuggets of turquoise found. A spider web matrix of colors ranging from golden brown to black set off the unique bright powder blue background of the stone. High grade No. 8 is deep blue in color and is very rare. No. 8 turquoise has been a very valuable acquisition, rumors of new stashes of great quantity threaten the value from a collectors standpoint, if they prove to be true, of coarse the high-grade will always be very valuable. One of Cutler Edgars.

Northern Lights, Nevada
Northern Lights Turquoise mine produced a real nice medium to dark blue turquoise, some had a red spiderweb matrix, some was a dark, almost "military green" color. This mine is located beside the Carico mine about 80 miles north of Austin , in Lander County, Nevada. Lander County has produced some of the best turquiose in the world. This mine is currently owned by Brian mason from crescent valley, and is currently not being mine.

Orvil Jack
Orvil Jack a who was NOT a one armed miner discovered and developed the mine in northern Nevada that produces the turquoise that bears his name. The mining claims where the deposit is located is called the Blue Ridge in Crescent Valley. Original Orvil only sought out blue turquoise, and at This time, I have heard, he would have his helpers simply discard the greed turquoise in search of blue. The rare yellow-green color of the turquoise (Faustite and Varasite) comes from the zinc content. Mr. Jack is now deceased, but his daughter Grace 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 scarcity.

Orvil Jack - The Big Story

Picture Coming Soon!

Paiute
The Pauite turquoise mine shares a mountain with the Godber/Burnham/Drycreek mine in central Nevada. While claims at the Pauite site date back to 1974, the mine has been actively productive since 1992. The Pauite mine produces limited quantities of high-grade spider-web turquoise. It has a wide graduation of blue tone, from light to dark, with web or matrix in colors of black, orange, brown, and red. It is hard turquoise and some of the finest we have ever seen. Recently the miner (Tony Cotner) let us view some samples of his AAA+ high-grade, and it was breath taking, I would have to say it rivals Lander Blue.

Papoose
Papoose is one of Nevada's well-known smaller Turquoise mines. This mine is located in the western part of Nevada and produced a small amount of beautiful blue green turquoise with a brownish matrix.

Picture Coming Soon!

Pirate #3
Beautiful Green Nevada Turquoise. This mine is still in limited production, and is rare on the market. Here is another Nevada turquoise mine. This mine is in Esmeralda County outside of the town of Mina, in the Candelaria hills. This is a mine that goes back in history almost 100 years. This mine is mainly a producer of Gold.

Pixie
The Pixie turquoise mine is in the Crescent Valley area of Nevada, near the Fox, Orville Jack, and Carico Lake mines. All these mines yield a green turquoise as well as other colors. The Pixie mine hasn't been worked until recently, sitting untouched for twenty years. Pixie turquoise is yellow to mossy green and also occurs in some blues. A gold mining company owns the claim to these mines, and eventually they will all be swallowed up by the gold mining operation, therefore, Pixie turquoise is quite collectible. The Original PIXIE MINE was mine by Doc Ingersol and another friend in the Bullion District of Lander County near the Indian creek in the Cresent Valley, Nevada area . The mine produced a very small Quantity of This Prize Winning Turquoise.

Pixie Turquoise

Pilot Mountain
The Pilot Mountain mine is located in northern Nevada. It is still producing and is worked by the Ottesons and owned by Nevada Turquoise Company. The stone is highly admired for its deep blue-green colors. In addition, it can show light blue to dark green colors on the same stone. This graduation in color is unusual and makes the turquoise very collectible. The matrix is black to golden brown. Pilot Mountain is a hard stone and takes a good polish. Most Pilot Mountain comes in thin viens as shown on the cab to the left, but we have recently discovered some thick vein.

Prince Mine
This mine produced some awesome Variscite. as well as turquoise. The Variscite. from This mine is primarily in vein formation which is located in an area shared by the Milkyway Damaile Mine. The Variscite. when cut shows a nice strong black matrix and the green is a nice olive to dark green. But the green will run into other shades and even turn a yellow. The Turquoise however, is a medium blue in brown mud. Most of the turquoise comes in nugget or nodule form and comes from the top of the mountain the mine is on. Originally This mine was known for the turquoise not the Varascite.

Red Mountain
Red Mountain is located in Lander County, Nevada. This mine has produced a large quantity of graded turquoise and the best Red Mountain turquoise rivals some of the high quality turquoise produced by the best mines in the Southwest. Red Mountain turquoise with its intricate often red spider web matrix is usually set in the finest gold and silver American Indian jewelry. Red Mountain spiderweb is one of the finest, only compared with Lander Blue.

Royston
Royston is a district in Nevada consisting of three turquoise mines: Bunker Hill, Oscar Wehrend, and the main producer, Royal Blue. Royston is known for its beautiful colors ranging from deep green to rich, light blues set off by a heavy brown matrix. The Royston district is still producing some turquoise of high quality. It ranges from a 5-6 in hardness for the highgrade. This is one the best selling stones for our line of jewelry. This Turquoise is being mine by the Ottesons.

Check out the show on the Travel Channel's "Where to find Cash & Treasure" 2008 See us hit a large pocket of killer stuff with Kirsten, Dean Otteson, Danny Otteson, & Dillon Hartman

RoystonTurquoise.com

Smith Black Matrix Mine
You can guess where This comes from,...Nevada. Another small mine that produces great spiderweb material. Very Rare.Very Significant Part of Nevada History coming from the original OWA claim prior to 1965. A TEXAS COLLECTOR says "It is possible that someone named Smith took over a mine and named it the Smith Mine. But I still think that something is in the back of my mind. I think one of the old families had a daughter that married a Smith and a mine with that name came from that."

Smoky Valley
Another Small Nevada Mine. This mine produced a predominately medium blue Turquoise with little matrix. What matrix is in the stone was brownish black. Don't see much of This material anymore.

Picture Coming Soon!

Stennich
This mine produces awesome green shades of turquoise, ranging in color from a dark green to the very popular lime greens. The material we have seen and own was seam or vein material. Always looking for more of This material. Really neat material!

Stormy Mountain
Stormy Mountain turquoise mine is located in Elko County, northeastern Nevada. Along with Blue Diamond mine, Stormy Mountain is known for producing hard, dark blue turquoise that includes a blotchy, black or brown chert matrix that resembles storm clouds. This mine is presently not active and is an extremely valuable addition to one’s collection. Another one of our favorites.

Picture Coming Soon!

Stone Mountain
A fairly new Nevada mine. This is a small mine run by just a few people, the Nevada Cassidys. It produces, deep blue to deep green turquoise with a varying degree of white, red and yellow-goldish matrix. The Cassidys claimed the mine in the early 1980's and have been hand and pick mining it ever since. They also claim that the mine produces translucent turquoise and blend colored turquoise that comes in a many different and unexpected color patterns. For more information goto: www.nevadacassidys.com

Thunderbird Mine
The Thunderbird was originally owned and operated by the Mcginnis family, before they abondoned it to focus operations on the Mcginnis Turquoise mine. This mine produced primarily vein. material. It is of a medium to dark blue color with black or dark brown spiderweb or blotchy matrix. What little material was taken from This mine is gorgeous, fairly hard material.

Picture coming soon!

Picture Coming Soon!

Timberline
One of Nevada's famous small mines. This mine produced a small amount of beautiful high grade medium to dark blue turquoise with thin brownish/black matrix. In the 60s, 70s, & 80s This small mine became famous, now finding This material is very rare!