AJAX TURQUOISE

The Ajax mine is located in the Candelaria Hills in Esmerelda, Nevada near the Candelaria Silver mine. The Ajax mine is known for producing excellent bi-color turquoise nuggets ranging from very dark green to a beautiful blue. The higher grades show the full range of these colors in the same stones. While the Ajax Mine has been known for its unique shades of green turquoise, the ground it occupies has produced almost every color of blue and green turquoise and most matrix patterns, from clear to spiderweb. The mine actually consists of numerous workings that produce a variety of colors and patterns from each "hole". Over the decades, the main turquoise producing area of the Ajax has gone by different names as the claims changed hands...from Oriental Blue during the days of Carl Reik and Walter Godber in the 1930's, to Blue Gem later on. Today we are still able to produce a small amount of both blue and green (and multi-color!) natural turquoise from the Ajax Mine, which is now considered to be one of the classic turquoise mines of the southwest.