Digging an Amethyst Mine

On Saturday, August 9, we had a whole list of adventures planned back east from Thunder Bay along the North Shore of Lake Ontario.  We wanted to visit an amethyst mine, explore Oiumet Canyon, check out the suspension bridge over Eagle Canyon, and take in an evening of R&B at the “Live from the Rock” folk festival at Red Rock, Ontario.  It was to be a long day, so we'd best get started right away.

Our first stop was the Amethyst Mine Panorama some 8 km off the Trans-Canada Highway, about 45 minutes' drive east of Thunder Bay.  The mine is, naturally, in the back of the beyond, as we learned driving up the mine road:

We eventually arrived at the mine operation and were greeted by a quaint visitor center:

Panorama is the largest amethyst deposit in Canada and the largest amethyst mine in North America. Discovered in 1955 as a result of road construction to a new forest fire tower, the mine began production in 1960.  It produces amethyst to sell commercially and also hosts tourists who can dig for their own amethyst.  The truck whose equipment dragged across the soil and exposed the initial find of amethyst is still located on site, and is affectionately named the “Million Dollar Truck”:

We took the information tour and learned much about amethyst we hadn't known.  Amethyst is a form of quartz that forms in fractures that occur along an earthquake fault.  As water penetrates the fractures, mineral precipitates out that can form quartz crystals.  In the case of amethyst, the crystals are irradiated with molecules of iron that also precipitate out of the water.  The iron molecules absorb green and yellow light, letting red, blue, indigo and violet light pass through in various proportions depending upon the concentrations of iron and the makeup of the quartz crystals.  Thus, amethyst can appear in shades from pale reddish violet to dark bluish purple, depending on these factors.

The amethyst is mined in an open pit –

-- from which the miners dig out various size boulders and rocks, then break them down to expose amethyst crystals of various sizes:

The vein here at Panorama is so long and deep – 150 meters deep and 1,500 meters long – that it will continue to produce amethyst for decades to come.

All of the overburden from the pit is piled to the side, and contains a startling number of amethyst crystals, both embedded in rocks and in free form.  Here, Kathy is examining some amethyst stones she's found and wants to purchase:

Once we've found the stones we want, we move to a wash table to rinse off mud and debris and make final decisions about which stones to keep:

The result?  A small collection of beautiful purple gems!

All this work earned us the title of “Associate Miners” and the proprietor took our photo to memorialize the occasion: