Elbaite

Amazing Story!

Elbaite is the most desirable species of tourmaline. All tourmalines have the same arrangement of atoms, or crystal structure, but each species has a unique chemical composition. Tourmalines form spectacular crystals, can be cut into beautiful gemstones, and are used by geologists to determine how some rock types form.

Elbaite is particularly prized by collectors for three reasons:

• its fantastic range of colours including green, blue, colourless, pink and red,
• the high quality and beauty of its crystals,
• its attractiveness as a cut gemstone.

In 1994, a team formed by researchers from the Canadian Museum of Nature and the University of British Columbia (UBC) discovered Canada's first deposit of gem elbaite. The deposit, known today as the Stargazer Claim, is located near the O'Grady Lakes in the Sapper Ranges of the Selwyn Mountains, Yukon. The deposit extends over one square kilometre of rugged, mountainous terrain.

The find is unusual for a number of reasons. Although museums often find and extract beautiful samples from known mineral deposits, museum geologists rarely discover new mineral deposits. Furthermore, the size of the Stargazer deposit, quality of samples and the yield of the deposit are very good, making the discovery even more rich. There is an abundance of pockets in the rock, or open spaces where the best crystals and gemstones in nature tend to be found. Many of the Stargazer deposit's pockets are quite large (more than several cubic metres). Although the only collection work to date on the deposit has been picking up loose crystals on the surface and taking minor scrapings within surface pockets, a number of beautiful gem-quality elbaite crystals have already been found.

The deposit has also yielded numerous, exceptionally well-formed crystals and rare mineral species other than elbaite: microcline, quartz, feruvite, danburite, nanpingite and lepidolite. Most of the tourmaline samples found at this location approach gem quality, usually pink to red in colour, but sometimes green and multicoloured crystals (pink, colourless and blue) are discovered.