The World's Finest Azurites

Part I: Electric Blues from the Milpillas Mine

- Bob Jones

The azurite specimens recently mined in Mexico are the world’s best! I’m sure many collectors will argue they are not. After all, Bisbee, Tsumeb, Morocco, Chessy, and many other lo­cations have produced quality azurite. But this recent source of azurite, the Milpillas mine near Cuitaca, about 25 miles south of the Arizona border, has in the last two dec­ ades produced thousands of world­class azurite specimens.

Many mineral experts do consider Milpillas azurite the best ever found. Many of these amazing specimens are a brilliant, electric­blue color. The varieties of azurite found there span the full range of monoclinic crystal forms, and crystals occur in sizes that can be over 4 inches in length. Virtually all the azurites from this mine are brilliantly lustrous; they are not etched or dulled by a distracting mineral coating.

Huge pockets lined with world­class azurite crystals were common in this mine, and many of them were named. The azurites were not found on a dull, brown matrix, but on gorgeous, green, velvety malachite, on contrasting white clay, or on light­gray volcanic breccia. No wonder it has caused such excitement in the mineral world! This mine has only been operating for less than two decades.

The Milpillas deposit, whose existence was predicted in 1975, was explored through drilling in the 1980s and 1990s, and was proved feasible in 2002. Actual mining starting in 2006, and within a year the sheer beauty, variety, quantity, and overall quality of the azurite crystal specimens earned this mine the status of a world­class source.