Chilean Turquoise (Chile) 3-4mm Nugget Beads, 18 inch strand

Knowledge of the early South American turquoise trade is scant and research is ongoing to determine specific sources of the stone. It appears that a village named Pueblo Hundido in the Cerro Del Indio Muerto mining district region is probably the source for much of the ancient turquoise found along the trade routes up & down the western coast of South America.

A mine called Clavelina near Andacollo, a town in the mid northern region of the country, currently produces the lovely blue turquoise for many of our Chilean and Andean Mine Finds pieces. Even though it sits within an extremely large commercial copper and gold mining operation, miners still use simple stone picks to harvest the rock.

While there are several small turquoise deposits in Chile, there are only limited amounts coming from these mines.