The amethyst commonly labled Las Vigas is actually from a small pueblito called Piedra Parada, which sits just North of Las Vigas in the state of Veracruz.
I was lucky in the late spring of 1991 when I got a call from Bob Jackson in Seattle,Washington asking if I would like to go to the garnet locality in Wrangell, Alaska. I had to move fast though as he needed me in Seattle to catch the flight in four days and I was sitting in Dayton, Ohio at the time.
The Baja California sulfur has been known to collectors for years, but what is really known of the locality? I had the fortunate experience in 1993 to travel to the locality with Mike New of Hilltop Minerals at the time, which would morph with Joe Kielbaso of Gemini Minerals to form the company Top Gem Minerals with this mining adventure.
Twas the day before Christmas, 1992 and all the haul trucks' were stirring and all the conveyors were whirring and not a shift foreman was to be seen in the Morenci mine. It was another typical boring day of checking the new benches that had been shot on the North-West Extension of the Morenci Mine with the working cohorts of Southwest Minerals (owners; Zee Haag and silent partner Wayne Thompson) James Dunn, Betsy McKitrick and myself, Mark Kielbaso.
Read more: The Incredible "Pigment Zone" of Azurite, Morenci, Arizona
