Elbaite

specimen number:
2292215

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

description:
A cluster of pink lustrous mostly gemmy elbaite crystals. In good condition. This weighs 27.79 g.

The Himalaya mine, located in the Mesa Grande district of San Diego County, California, is a world-renowned gem tourmaline pegmatite deposit famous for producing exceptional pink and bicolor elbaite tourmaline, lepidolite, and cleavelandite specimens. Geologically, the deposit consists of a thin, shallowly dipping pegmatite dike system belonging to the Cretaceous Peninsular Ranges Batholith, where highly evolved granitic fluids injected into a host rock of gabbro and amphibolite schist created rich, crystal-lined pockets. Mining began following the formal discovery of the deposit in 1898 by local prospectors, which quickly sparked a major gem mining boom driven largely by heavy export demand from the Chinese Imperial Court for pink tourmaline carving material until the 1911 Chinese Revolution collapsed the market. Underground extraction and surface quarrying operated intermittently under various owners throughout the mid-twentieth century, experienced a major commercial renaissance under Pala International from 1977 until 1998, and has transitioned into smaller-scale, sporadic fee-digging and specimen recovery operations continuing into the 2020s.

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