Blue Gem Turquoise Mine

As is the case with several of the more “generic” mine names there have actually been several “Blue Gem” turquoise mines. “Old” Blue Gem is now a lost mine due to the expansion of the copper mine production in the Battle Mountain area of Nevada. (Since the 1980s increased copper production in the Southwest has gobbled up –and possibly destroyed– many small turquoise operations.) Old Blue Gem was mined erratically for nearly fifty years in the middle of the twentieth century. Famed for its hardness and very attractive blue color Blue Gem was beloved by Southwestern jewelers through the 1970s. Any unfinished Blue Gem turquoise on the market today was mined at least thirty five years ago.