Washington Jade: Edmonds, Washington Washington Jade is an American owned and operat- ed Jade mine established in 2012, that only began its marketing and sales efforts with its AGTA debut in 2019.The majority ofWashington Jade’s claims are situated on serpentine-phyllite/greenstone major fault interfaces inWashington State’s Devil’s Moun- tain Fault Zone from which the company extracts Nephrite Jade of various colors in both large block and boulder form.As with most nephrite depos- its, the majority of the material is green in color, although the higher-than-usual concentrations of manganese in the area frequently cause the Jades to take on a vibrant blue color.As such,Washington Jade can produce tonnage of both green (Evergreen Jade™) and blue (Blue Dream Jade®) nephrite varieties, plus limited quantities of white, honey, Vulcan, lavender,
Sapphires found in Montana.TheYogo Sapphire deposit is a true primary deposit. The nameYogo Sapphire came fromYogo Creek where the gold miners were mining.The Sapphires found here are exceptionally fine in color and clarity.They never need to be heated or treated in any way.They range in color from fine cornflower blue to violet-blue. A typicalYogo Sapphire is found in small, flat, tabular shaped crystals.The majority of the production cuts 2mm goods. CutYogos over 1.0 carat in size are rare and stones over 2.0 carats are extremely rare. The origin of aYogo Sapphire can be positively identified by labs such as AGL and GIA.They are distinguishable by their specific amounts of magne- sium, titanium, vanadium, chromium, iron, gallium.
They come from lamprophyre dike
and black—among others—for small lines/projects for the time being. Nephrite is an incredibly tough stone, allowing it to hold finely carved detail with little risk of fracturing.This same structure gives polished nephrite a vitreous-to-waxy luster.Washington Jade’s green neph- rites are generally on the softer end of nephrite’s typical 6-6.5 Mohs rating, while the blue varieties tend to be significantly
rock that was intrud- ed from great depth through the Madison Limestone formation 50 million years ago. TheVortex Mine started in 1988, mining virgin ore near the western end of the dike. It has been worked by several different owners. In 2017, the mine was acquired by Don Baide, owner of The Gem Gallery in Boz- eman, Montana.The mine is currently 425 feet deep. It’sdepth is equal to a 40-sto- ry building and is
harder.The specific gravities of all ofWashington Jade’s color varieties sit around the global Nephrite average of 3.0. Washington Jade’s nephrite deposits also pro- duce significantly-higher-than-average quantities of cat’s eye Jade, a variety of nephrite in which the constituent tremolite fibers are more aligned than in standard nephrite.This modified fiber structure causes a highly directional variety of chatoyance that produces a cat’s eye effect in properly oriented cabochons.This effect appears to occur across all color varieties, including the highest grade translu- cent blue Nephrites. The Gem Gallery Limited (Yogo Mining LLC): Bozeman, Montana Yogo Sapphires were first discovered in central Montana in 1895, in the Little Belt Mountains by gold miners.These Sapphires are distinctly—visu- ally and chemically—different from all the other
accessible by driving large rubber-wheeled vehicles utilizing a declined shaft.The Sapphire-bearing ore rock is brought to the surface and processed in a ro- tating trommel.The oversized rock is then screened away.The oversized hard ore that passes out of the trommel is then collected and allowed to decom- pose.The largerYogo Sapphires are concentrated by duplex jigs and the smaller stones by sluice boxes. The final concentrating is done with custom-made jigs and hand washing.The Sapphires are heavi- er and concentrate with the other heavy mineral, hematite.The final cleanup is done with tweezers— and patience! TheVortex Mine uses no chemicals to recover theirYogo Sapphires.The only waste rock produced is limestone that can be used for road gravel.The to- tal footprint of the mine takes up less than five acres of land. It is a very environmentally,“green mine.” By David Baker, GG,AGTA Membership and Edu- cation Manager
A small, polished piece of highly translucent, high-grade Blue Dream Jade® . Photo courtesy of Washington Jade.
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