What You Need to Know About Turquoise Mining Today

Writing in 1915, Pogue explained why turquoise mining was simpler than most:

“Turquois is a mineral of superficial origin and consequently is never found in quantity at depths exceeding about 100 feet. Its mining is therefore comparatively simple and inexpensive, as deep shafts and extended tunnels are unnecessary.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 129

On methods, Pogue (1915) wrote:

“Before the advent of gunpowder turquois was mined by crude tools, probably aided in some instances by the effect of suddenly cooling with water the heated rock. Modernly, however, the material is obtained by blasting.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 129

As of 1915, Pogue described how mines were equipped:

“Turquois mines, in most instances, are not fitted with modern appliances of mining, due in part to the isolated and barren regions in which many deposits occur, and in part to the temporary nature of the enterprise.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 129

Mine closures are not new. Pogue reported in 1915:

“Of late turquois matrix has been in demand and the large quantities mined have resulted in an overproduction. For this reason, and because the turquois is temporarily out of vogue, many mines are at present (1914) closed.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 135

At the Persian mines, Pogue (1915) reported:

“Work in the various mines is carried on by means of picks and crowbars and gunpowder. The last was not used prior to 1850. Formerly all work was done by picks, with better results; for, whereas the blasting accomplishes more, it also breaks the stones into small pieces.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 38

At Mineral Park, Arizona (the Kingman area), Pogue (1915) described

“the mining is chiefly done by means of open cuts and tunnels, the rock being blasted out and the turquois removed after careful breaking of the blocks.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 46

On who profited, Pogue (1915) wrote of Nishapur:

“The original finder of a turquois does not gain much. The elders make about 20 per cent upon their purchases; and the final selling price, in Europe or in the East, is from two to three times the first purchase price.”
— Pogue (1915), p. 39

As of 2010, Lowry described who does the mining:

“Independent mine owners who own one to five mines make up most of the turquoise mining operations in the world.”
— Lowry (2010), p. 130 ^[2]

According to Lowry (2010, p. 130), some mines were large and productive while others were so small that their whole output might fit in a hat, the so-called hat mine. ^[2]

According to Lowry (2010, p. 139), most individual turquoise mines were worked only sporadically: in America they were called Sunday mines, worked a couple of days a year, while others ran a couple of months depending on the weather. ^[2]

According to Lowry (2010, p. 140), a small operator in northern Baja California said it cost him $200 a day, with three workers, a backhoe and compressor hammers, to average three hundred pounds of turquoise a month. ^[2]

According to Lowry (2010, p. 141), a larger Nevada operation using a bulldozer, backhoe and trucks cost about $5,000 a week, and labor, hand tools, diesel, equipment repairs, claims and time were the main costs of mining. ^[2]

Lowry (2010) summed up the economics of the trade:

“Turquoise mining has produced tons of ore, limited wealth, and incredible amounts of lore.”
— Lowry (2010), p. 141 ^[2]

According to Lowry (2010, p. 144), a U.S. mining claim was generally a surveyed 20-acre plot, 600 by 1,500 feet, with each corner marked by a monument showing who owned it. ^[2]

According to Lowry (2010, p. 145), a claim gave rights to the minerals below the surface while the BLM kept control of the trees, vegetation and roads above; mining with heavy equipment needed an approved Plan of Operation and a bond, while a pick-and-shovel operation could often be approved within two or three months. ^[2]

As of 2010, Lowry estimated where the stone in Southwestern jewelry actually came from:

“In fact, about 85 percent of all turquoise set in "Indian" jewelry is from Chinese and Mexican turquoise mines.”
— Lowry (2010), p. 146 ^[2]

Lowry (2010) described the trade as international:

“Turquoise is a world market that is larger than any one supplier or any single culture.”
— Lowry (2010), p. 146 ^[2]

According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 273), most turquoise is found in the West on public land, where under the 1872 Mining Act any adult citizen could stake the mineral rights, provided they showed minerals were actually there and spent $165 a year per claim plus filing fees. ^[3]

Ryan & Chambless (2020) on the catch:

“Yet while the entry cost is low, operating costs are high, especially for the small-scale miner.”
— Ryan & Chambless (2020), p. 273 ^[3]

According to Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 272), the big mining companies that turned up turquoise as a byproduct regarded it more as a liability than an asset, because extracting it cost worker efficiency or added liability. ^[3]

As of 2020, Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 275) reported that apart from Kingman, most American turquoise mines, almost all in Nevada, were worked by small-scale miners, many of whom needed other jobs to keep their operations going. ^[3]

Ernie Montoya told Ryan & Chambless (2020, p. 275) that turquoise deposits were disappearing because gold companies using cyanide were destroying the mines, and that a miner had to deal with environmental groups, the BLM, OSHA and MSHA. ^[3]

Writing in 2002, Lowry (2002) observed:

“It is much more expensive to mine turquoise today than in the heyday of the twentieth century.”
— Lowry (2002), p. 21 ^[4]

According to Lowry (2002, p. 21), labor and machinery cost more, worker-safety laws were stricter, and environmental rules required miners to reclaim and restore land after mining; some claims had been leased or sold to gold and copper companies and were closed to turquoise miners. ^[4] Jacka (1995, p. 80) also noted in 1995 that "there are strict state and federal mining laws that must be adhered to, and environmental concerns demand costly reclamation projects." ^[6]

David L. Neumann, a Santa Fe dealer whose El Palacio article the 1975 Turquoise Blue Book reprinted, on the nature of the deposits:

“Turquoise deposits, with few exceptions, are not massive, and often productive mines return good earnings for a few months or years and then the deposits are depleted, the vein pinches out or the pocket is exhausted. Years often pass during which a mine lies unworked.”
— Stacey (1975), p. 71 ^[5]

Lois Essary Jacka, writing in 1995:

“Due to the shortage of American turquoise and the consequent high prices, the use of Chinese turquoise has become more prevalent.”
— Jacka (1995), p. 82 ^[6]

Gene Waddell of Waddell Trading Company told her in 1995:

“Chinese turquoise, like the American stone, is procured from several different mines and its quality ranges from poor to excellent; most Indian artists insist on using only the best.”
— Jacka (1995), p. 82 ^[6]

As of 1996, Schiffer (1996, p. 59) wrote that Chinese turquoise had come into the Southwest about fifteen years earlier, when the supply of good domestic turquoise ran short, and that most United States turquoise mines had been exhausted. ^[7]