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Blue Points Amethyst Mine
Owner Operator: Lyndon Swanson

The Blue Point amethyst mine is located 35 miles east of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada along Highway 11/17. The mine is owned and operated by Linden Swanson, who lives on-site during operating months. The deposit is situated along a east-west striking fault contact between crystalline granitic rocks and sedimentary mudstones. The actively worked deposit is composed of a central quartz breccia with steeply dipping sub-parallel veins flanking the south side of the breccia in the mudstone. Minerals occurring and observed by the author at this deposit include: amethyst, colorless quartz, hematite (and presumably other FeOx minerals) as inclusions, barite, calcite, sphalerite and chalcopyrite, although none of the sulfides have been observed in vugs by the author. Amethyst, with or without inclusions, is the only mineral of interest and abundance that is collected. Calcite is not very common and all observed crystals were heavily frosted. Barite occurs as milky white and cream and is very brittle, likely as a result of hydrothermal damage. Barite occurs as precipitations upon the amethyst and no intact collectable crystals have been collected or observed by the author due to its brittle nature .


Specimens
 
The majority of specimens from the pockets in the sub-parallel vein zone are flat plates, although 3-dimensional crystal coated protrusions are common. Another important aspect of specimens from this zone is the occurrence of secondary quartz. The secondary quartz occurs as fine “dust” preferentially accumulated on one side of the specimen , presumably on the leeward side of fluid flow. Another aspect of specimens from this area is because of the relatively narrow width of the pockets combined with the loose nature of the specimens. The specimens accumulate on the bottoms of the pockets in piles or become locked in place touching each other. The latter situation, due to the narrow width of the pockets, results in the tips of crystals commonly being damaged, typically on or near the highest point of the 3-dimensional specimens . This is frustrating and unfortunate but a reality of the veins. The crystals in both of these major pockets are very similar. They are small, averaging about 4mm and up to about 10mm, and are heavily included with spheres and disks of various FeOx minerals . The inclusions impart a maroon color to the crystals . Back-lighting thin specimens brings out the amethyst coloration . Smaller pockets are often encountered in smaller sub-parallel veins while excavating. The crystals in these are often variable and quite interesting.

 
Mining
 
Mining at the Blue Point mine is accomplished through drilling and blasting followed by working the resulting fractures with wedges, chisels and sledgehammers. The owner allowed my group to work fractures in the breccia zone from his blasting that were not in the immediate area of the pit that he was working
 

Address:
 
Road #5 North, 
Pearl, ON

To contact Blue Point Amethyst Mine, call (807) 472-4460 or email lynswan1@lakenet.com.