Elbaite

specimen number:
9273023

location:
Himalaya Mine, San Diego Co., California, USA

description:

An interesting specimen for this classic locality with lustrous gemmy pink and green double terminated elbaite crystal, one termination with an offshoot of many smaller crystals. Minor attached feldspar. This is in great condition all around. Very unusual and attractive.

The Himalaya mine, situated on Gem Hill near Mesa Grande within San Diego County, California, is an iconic underground gemstone mining operation celebrated for producing vast quantities of exceptional elbaite, lepidolite, beryl, and cleavelandite. Geologically, this world-class deposit is located within the Peninsular Ranges Batholith and consists of a relatively thin, shallowly dipping, highly fractionated lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) type granitic pegmatite dike system that intruded into Cretaceous-age gabbroic host rocks. Intense magmatic differentiation and volatile accumulation created extensive miarolitic pockets lined with brilliantly colored, pocket-grown crystals, which are frequently bicolored pink and green. Historically, the deposit was discovered by indigenous peoples and later recorded by prospectors in 1898, with large-scale commercial development initiated by Lippman Tannenbaum's Himalaya Mining Company in 1902. The mine operated at peak capacity until 1912 to supply the Dowager Empress Cixi of China with pink tourmaline carving material, after which operations became intermittent under various famous owners, including Pala International in the 1970s and 1980s.

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