Tortoise Turquoise

Tortoise Turquoise is mint to emerald green and goes all the way to a caramel color which is actually becomes Variscite. The unique coloration is the reason we named it Tortoise Turquoise, some rocks look like the shell of a Tortoise.

Tortoise Turquoise runs in black manganese. There are small to giant nuggets which are found in a clay type material as well as thin to wide vein material that is encrusted in walls of manganese.

A very large pecentage of the material has black manganese spiderwebbing, especially in the veined material. We believe the webbing is caused from pre-historic plant roots as the native plant found in this canyon has roots that look like spiderwebs. We think, as the plant died, the roots became voids in ground, the water carried the manganese minerals downward, which ultimately became black spiderweb.

View our Tortoise Turquoise Mining Video

The Tortoise Turquoise Mine

The Tortoise Turquoise mine sits above 5,000 feet elevation in a secluded part of Midwestern Nevada. We have occasional visitors to the mine in the form of Wild Burrows, Snakes, Birds, and Lizards. Native vegetation includes some beautiful cactus, Mormon tea, and tumble weed. The climate is a high-desert, hot and dry! In the winter there is a reasonable amount of snow. We will be mining the Tortoise most months of the year, rain, snow or hail. We are sorry to not give out more info as to the location of the mine, but we are not letting out too much info about this mine, due to the overwhelming piracy accruing in Nevada right now. When we hire a few hermits to guard the mine, then we will let more info out. :-) We have had to resort to back filling every time we mine to ensure that nobody steals.

Contact Information:
Durango Silver Company
17897 Hwy 160 W - Durango, CO 81301
Phone: 970.375.2401
Dillon Hartman

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