Faceted red labradorite

High Desert Gems & Minerals currently owns over 40 sunstone mining claims in the Plush and White Horse Ranch area of Oregon. We are very active in prospecting and exploring the Plush sunstone area for new sunstone deposits and have discovered more Oregon Sunstone Mines than any other company in the world. Recently, Chris Rose, Jessica Schenk and the rest of the crew discovered several new and exciting red and green sunstones of exceptional quality. Some of our recent discoveries include the world famous Northern Lights Mine, Blue Sage Mine, Work Um Hard Mine among others. We now have 11 properties currently producing red and green sunstones, more than any other mining company. The nerve center and home base of our sunstone mining and exploration is the Spectrum Sunstone Mine.

Spectrum Sunstone Mine is a 20 acre privately owned patented mining claim located 27 miles northeast of Plush, OR. Once owned by Tiffany’s of New York, it is Oregon’s first commercially operated sunstone mine. Also, it is one of the richest color Oregon sunstone deposits in the world, producing up to one kilo of colored sunstones per cubic yard of dirt. In June of 2004 Chris Rose, owner of Spectrum Sunstone Mine, found a single pocket that contained ¾ kilo of red labradorite sunstone.

Carved Oregon sunstone

As a direct result of this claim Oregon Sunstones were legally declared a gemstone by the federal government in the 1970’s and then became the official state gemstone of Oregon in 1987. Oregon is the only place in the world where these rare red labradorite gemstones can be found. These relatively inexpensive gems come in red, green, watermelon, dichroic, schiller, clear, and even blue and purple. Most valuable are the red, green, dichroic (changes color from side-to-side) and color-change (changes color under different lighting conditions).

Oregon Sunstones are plagioclase feldspar formed in lava flows that cover much of southeastern Oregon. Within the lava flow is a matrix in which the colored sunstones are found. The sunstone flow is usually (not always) covered by a hard cap-rock known as Basalt that can be up to several feet thick. Feldspar crystals can be found in the Basalt that covers sunstone deposits. Red labradorite or andesine, to our knowledge, has never been PROVEN to have been found anywhere in the world outside of Oregon. Calling red labradorite “Sunstone” is confusing because there are several other non related adventurescent gemstones from India and Tanzania being called sunstone. We use the name Oregon Sunstone to describe the translucent adventurescent / schiller labradorite / andesine containing light reflecting native copper platelets.

Rough red Oregon sunstone

The Spectrum Sunstone Mine is open to the public for a free sunstone dig and a variety of other high-grade sunstone digs, every day from May 10th through November 1st (keep all you find). For more information on the Spectrum Sunstone Mine digs and a map to the mine click Dig It.

High-grade sunstone ore concentrate now available through mail. $100 per 5 gallons (plus $30 for shipping). Visa and Mastercard are accepted. For more information please contact us.

THE WORLD’S LARGEST FLAWLESS RED SUNSTONE (found by Chris Rose at his Spectrum Sunstone Mines) has been faceted by John Baily and can be seen by clicking this link. The red sunstone now holds the record for the world’s largest faceted red Oregon sunstone.

Mining Updates!!

Spectrum Sunstone Mine is open daily between May 10th and November 1st, 9am to 5pm.  Please call 775-830-5797 for more information. 

May 2008, “rain or shine, we mine”...

June 2008, see May.