"Jadeite is very rare, there are only a few hundred kilos produced worldwide each year."
Seems it should make it worth looking around for... ?
But, if Jadeite's natural scarcity persists... still $ potential in making up for it on volume ?
B.C. Jade History
I know a guy who shares ownership in a jade mine in B.C. And, know a guy with a 6 foot rock saw. And, I have poked around the region enough myself to know there's still a lot more out there than has been... acknowledged... not all of it that remote...
Know of at least three instances... two I've wandered upon myself... only one of which others clearly know about...
One of the sites I found was in a spectacular setting in a grassy meadow in the forest, right next to a mountain stream... with a view from a few thousand feet up looking out across the valley to salt water... and snow covered mountains off in the distance. We used to hike up there just to picnic on that massive green slab... with an exposed surface probably 30 feet by 50 feet or more... all of it a beautiful green jade that was "nice"... not just serpentine... and some parts of it were quite gemmy in chunks measured in cubic feet... Thought about lugging a rock saw up there... but never did. We'd just enjoy the view. with a nice lunch... let the kids wreak a bit havoc where no one cared... Really slippery to walk on that naturally smooth polished surface when its wet... as my backside can attest. It was a surreal enough place that we kept an eye out for gnomes the whole time we were there... Hadn't thought about it in years... sure its been twenty years since I've been there, so, no telling what's there now... or who else might have found it and been a bit more motivated in addressing it than i was at the time...
Probably 95% of the rock I've seen others address as "monument" quality "jade" really looks more like its a somewhat lighter colored and silica enhanced serpentine... opaque, not translucent... not really even "jade" green. It still looks pretty nice when its cut and polished up as ornamental stone, but no one would confuse it for "gem quality" material... I do have a few slabs of quite nice lapidary material hidden around here somewhere... that I bought for a few bucks back in... hmmm... 1974-ish ? Had forgotten about that, too...
But, I've also seen some pretty massive slabs of truly beautiful green translucent material being produced out here... once even thought about having our dining table and counter-tops made from it... inch or two thick slabs that... glowed from the inside with a light on it... But, although tempted, I ended up just getting a smaller table top made out of an ~2" thick slice taken from a very nice sized basalt column... jet black, polished to a mirror finish, with the natural edges left on... Super simple and met the need that I had at the time... without anyone's artistic impression screwing it up...
Most of the "art" work that I've seen done using the local rock around here... doesn't strike me as it having been improved much by having the artist mess with it... but, a 6 foot by 10 foot slab of glowing green jade used as a dining table... is pretty hard to improve upon...
i suspect Hong Kong would likely have people with the skills to fabricate such things a bit more artfully, at least for my taste... ?
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