North American Turquoise Gemstone Beads

Frequently asked questions

• Which mines does your North American turquoise come from?

  Each strand carries the name of its mine. From the United States: Kingman and Sleeping Beauty, both in Arizona, and Lone Mountain and White Buffalo in Nevada. From Mexico: Campitos, Caballo Campitos, Elisa, Nacozari, Sonoran Gold, and Sonoran Mountain, all in the state of Sonora. Turquoise is sold by mine because each mine's ground produces a recognizable color and matrix.
• Is Mexican turquoise real turquoise?

  Yes. The Sonoran mines sit on the same copper belt that runs through Arizona — turquoise forms where copper-bearing rock weathers, and the geology does not stop at the border. Campitos, Elisa, Nacozari, and the Sonoran claims all produce genuine turquoise: hydrated copper-aluminum phosphate, the same mineral as the Arizona material, at the same Mohs 5–6.
• Is your North American turquoise treated?

  All of it is stabilized, and stabilization is the only treatment — no dye, no color change. Most strands are conventionally stabilized, which reduces turquoise's natural porosity so the stone polishes cleanly and holds up to drilling and wear. Sleeping Beauty strands, along with a small number of other North American strands, are stabilized with the Zachery process instead — an electrochemical treatment that adds no dye and no resin and leaves the color unaltered.
• How do the mines differ?

  Color and matrix. Sleeping Beauty runs an even sky blue with little or no matrix. Kingman covers the full Arizona range, clear blue through green with brown-to-black webbing. The Sonoran material runs bright blue to blue-green with cleaner matrix — Nacozari strands here are clean blue, and Sonoran Gold leans green. Nevada ground tends toward green tones and spiderweb matrix. White Buffalo is the outlier: white with black matrix. The mine name is shorthand for the look.
• What shapes and sizes do you stock?

  Chips and pebbles from 3mm up to 22mm — the large Kingman chips come through as Limited Editions — plus heishi from 3mm to 6mm, rounds and graduated rounds up to 17mm, rondelles, tubes from 1x2mm A-grade Sleeping Beauty to 6x8mm Elisa, coins, barrels, and nuggets, including single large nuggets drilled with a 2mm hole for focal work.