Golden Hills Turquoise (Kazakhstan): Field Guide

The mineral database Mindat records the source as the Kanatkazgan turquoise deposit, in the Altyn-Tyube area of the Bukhar-Zhyrau District, Karaganda Region, about 2.5 km from the Altyn-Tyube dioptase mine. ^[3] That neighbor is famous among mineral collectors for its dioptase crystals and, Mindat notes, was worked for copper in neolithic times. ^[4] Turquoise there keeps the company it usually keeps: Mindat’s list for the area includes malachite, cuprite and other copper minerals. ^[5] No source we found describes the host rock or how the Kanatkazgan turquoise formed.

Mindat is a reference database built from contributors’ records, and it cites no publication for its 2013 and 2014 dates. ^[3] We read it through archived copies, because the live site was blocked.

Our older books know Central Asian turquoise only in passing. The Lowrys write that deposits on most continents “probably provided limited amounts of turquoise for use,” and that the countries of origin “could include” Kazakhstan. ^[2] And in 1915 Joseph Pogue recorded that “[i]nferior stones of greenish color have been obtained from a copper mine in the Karkaralinsk district in the Kirghiz Steppes.” ^[1] Neither names Altyn-Tyube or Kanatkazgan, and we don’t connect them.

The dates don’t agree. Mindat and one dealer give the Tucson show of 2014; ^{[3], [13]} another dealer says about 2015, when miners showed it around Tucson to doubtful buyers; ^[6] two others say it reached the United States around 2018. ^{[8], [10]} One dealer claims small batches arrived 30 to 35 years ago and sold poorly. (One source, and it conflicts with a 2013 discovery.) ^[6]

No source names the mine’s operator or who coined the trade name.

Dealers say the workings flood in summer and are mined in winter, when the ground is hard. ^{[6], [10], [11], [13]} One puts the season at two months a year. ^[9] (One source.) None of this comes from the operator or a survey. One dealer also says rough from a second, “Lavender” mine, some 200 miles south, is mixed in and sold under the same name. (One source; a second dealer’s page repeats it word for word.) ^{[6], [7]} Mindat records only the one deposit. ^[3]

Dealers describe the blue as powder, baby or sky blue, sometimes toward periwinkle, ^{[8], [10], [12], [13]} with matrix in lavender, rust, chocolate and reddish brown, and sometimes a dark spiderweb. ^{[8], [9], [10], [13]} It is also sold as “Desert Lavender” and “Lavender.” ^{[8], [10], [11]} The “golden” in the name comes from the place, not the matrix. ^{[4], [6]}

Both are sold. One dealer says Golden Hills is usually left untreated; ^[13] another sells cabochons labeled as stabilized. ^[14] Neither cites lab data. Ask about each stone. In our terms, clear-resin stabilizing makes a stone Stabilized; dye or a hardening process makes it Enhanced. See What Do These Confusing Turquoise Terms Mean?

Golden Hill and Golden Hills are the same name. “Desert Lavender,” “Lavender” and plain “Kazakhstan turquoise” turn up for the same material. ^{[8], [10], [11]} We found no American turquoise mine called Golden Hill. A buyer could hear the name as a Nevada or Arizona mine. The name is English; the stone is Kazakh.