Elbaite

specimen number:
2133425

location:
Little Three Mine, San Diego Co., California, USA

description:
A loose gemmy green terminated crystal of elbaite. In great condition.

The Little Three mine, located near Ramona in San Diego County, California, is a classic gem pegmatite deposit known for producing tourmaline, topaz, and spessartine garnet specimens. Geologically, the deposit consists of a series of thin, shallowly dipping granitic pegmatite-aplite dikes that intrude Cretaceous-aged tonalite host rock belonging to the Peninsular Ranges Batholith. Pocket development within the asymmetric dikes resulted from the slow cooling of volatile-rich magmatic fluids, which formed open cavities lined with well-crystallized minerals, including elbaite tourmaline, blue topaz, orange spessartine, and lepidolite mica. Commercial mining began at the site in May 1903 following its discovery by H. A. Machell, with initial production focused on pink and green tourmaline until activity slowed around 1912 due to the collapse of the Chinese tourmaline market. The property experienced a major renaissance when Louis B. Spaulding purchased the claim in 1951, leading to the highly successful discovery of the New Spaulding Pocket in 1976, which yielded quantities of fine spessartine and topaz. The mine was operated continuously as a family-run specimen mining venture until the death of Louis Spaulding Jr. in 2018, after which regular mining operations ceased.

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