Mystic Mountain Jade,,, Mined and Offered by US Jade LLC

08/26/2024

SCAM!!! ALERT!!!
You might want to pay attention to this one. Sunday I received a FB notice that made me suspicious but I couldn't tell. It looked to be a notice from FB that I was suspended for 6 months for violating Community Standards. In fact it was for my other FB page; Mystic Mountain Jade and when I checked it looked like I had been hacked, bombed and wrecked. Then I was advised to appeal the suspension but when I hit the link to the appeal channel it wouldn't work. Again, I was suspicious but I was totally blocked out of FB and it looked for real.

Checking my e-mail this morning and there was a note from FB saying my account had suspicious activity and they wanted to verify. Interesting. I went along with it and it turned out to be legitimate and re-established my FB account. Near as I can tell the sabotage was created with a post. It was powerful and well contrived to be believable, especially when I was locked out of FB.

So if you see something suspicious don't touch it. I don't think it can do anything unless you open it up. I wanted to direct it to FB but when I looked for it it was gone and I suspect FB caught it and removed it. If they are that smart.

07/25/2024

Just got in a new batch of knives with MMJ handles.

03/26/2024

Vic Showell is always a resource when it comes to Jade topics and if you enjoy sharing or learning more about Jade his FB page should be one you follow.

Global Jade Collectors, Jade Art, Geology, History and Adventures
Vic Showell 3-26-2024

Here is the Scanning Electron Microscope image of the West Australian Black Actinolite Jade. The image shows long blocky crystals of actinolite and everything in the image is actinolite - no secondary minerals. Perhaps described as long bulky bundles and packets of actinolite that are all tightly entangled and directionally criss crossing and likely warped around each other as well. The actinolite material has undergone some level of metamorphic heat and pressure in formation. All that being said this is not the same consistency of the classic definition of tightly felted "nephrite black jade", like the quality Cowell material. -- This was a high grade sample of Archer Mine black actinolite jade. Their lower grades likely carry secondary mineral content. The material produces a killer black jade finish and from images I have seen, it can be carved into complex and unusual forms. Better than a lot of nephrite jade out there can carve up. But that also tells you why very good nephrite carving jade is justifiably expensive. -- My opinion is that the high grade West Australian actinolite jade is better than it is being given credit for. Kind of hard for it to live up to the Cowell black jade. How much is high grade Cowell per pound? Good Edwards out of Wyoming is pricey.

Original SEM image by George Mustoe WWU. When I reprocessed the image I left out the magnification and micron measure bar, I think the magnification was about 2.5K.

10/07/2023

Mystic Mountain Jade works with the Eastern Oregon Mining Association to support independent miners.

The Eastern Oregon Mining Association (EOMA) is a non-profit organization representing Mining

09/26/2023

My brother Jay is our stoneworker. Not a professional but he loves working with his hands and Mystic Mountain Jade. These are some of his newest examples.

09/04/2023

I always watch for fellow jade hunters on Friends of Jade 2.0. Today I found an interesting post about ancient jade use.

It wasn’t just the Chinese using jade 6,000 years ago. The ancient Britons were using it to.

08/19/2023

My brother Jay has produced a number of folding knives with Mystic Mountain Jade handles. He is something of a novice shaping stone but he found MMJ easy to work with. This is my EDC

02/13/2022

Stopped in Goldfield to pay my respects to Bryan Smalley's family. Came across some of his local friends who are all still in shock. Bryan's family has decided to continue operating the family store, "Hidden Treasures". If you are traveling US 95 north of Vegas you should stop in and take in the history and geology of this area. Wyatt Earp and his brother Virgil did. Bryan's partner Sharon Artlip provided this video for me to share with everyone. It's Bryan helping someone with his years of experience and passion for the stones. He didn't specialize in any single stone, he loved them all. He had a great, little turquoise showroom you should visit. You can find Sharon at her shop downtown Goldfield at the corner of Fifth and US 95.

01/26/2022

We lost a great friend recently to Covid. Bryan Smalley was a master lapidarist and rockhound in Goldfield where he owned and operated his shop Hidden Treasures. Bryan's nearby stone workshop was where he had gathered many machines and tools for his personal creations. I bet he had more than 50 polishing wheels ready at any time. He took an interest in US Jade and encouraged us with his work on our jade. Everyone should have a friend and mentor like Bryan. RIP Bryan.

10/14/2020

Just back from 10 weeks this summer on the claim. It's big enough to hide on and I was social distancing as well as exploring for Mystic Mountain Jade. I found a good number of black stones in all sizes that we will be cutting or tumbling. I also watched for good pieces of green. I want to tumble the big pebbles and see what we can come up with. I also found some other Jade stones I'm curious about because i suspect they will reveal some surprises. I will cut into those and see if there are some new colors and patterns. Working on a new website to display our stones.

07/10/2020

For the past few years I have been involved in a family mine that has a large deposit of nephrite jade. It is not the traditional looking stuff and I have been challenged to get it to the global market. I finally found some artists that can work with it and show it's natural beauty. I just purchased this piece from Michael Runzi to present to the woman that owns the Oregon ranch our mine is located on. She loves her land and will appreciate a showoff token. We call this color Black Pine and Michael likes working with it's unique characteristics. We return to the mine soon but I'm hunting black jade which is scarce on the big market and could be the moneystone. Looking at this piece makes me realize I can't overlook finding more of it also.