The Truth About Larimar Mining in the Dominican Republic

Practically all Larimar jewelry vendors in the internet start their website with the story of Larimar; some of these vendors have visited the mine in the Dominican Republic, but others just make their own story with the information of their colleagues, some adding spiritual and healing properties to the Larimar stone.

Larimar Pendants

The fact is that the first person to note this blue stone in the mountains of Bahoruco, in the province of Barahona, southwest of the Dominican Republic was a Spanish priest in the year 1916 by the name of Miguel Domingo Fuertes Loren who reported this discovery to the Archbishop Nouel in the city of Santo Domingo. No importance was given to this stone called by the locals “blue stone” at that time and had to wait 58 years for Miguel Mendez, Dominican citizen, andthe geologist Norman Rilling, an American Peace Corps Volunteer, to be found and analyzed.

We can imagine the excitement of these two men with the discovery of these small blue stone pieces found in the alluvial of the Bahoruco river. This time the necessary arrangements were made to have this new stone scientifically investigated. In November 1974 the first research was made by the scientist Dr. Paul E. Desautels, Chief of the Mineral Department of the Smithsonian Institute, followed by several other scientists. They came to the conclusion that this blue stone corresponds to the pectolite family for the gemological properties are consistent with those reported for pectolite, with the rarity that Larimar is the onlypectolite with blue colors discovered until now in the whole world. Larimar falls under the category of semi-precious stone.

Larimar Bangles

The deposits of Larimar are all located in an area known as los Chenchenes in the mountains of Bahoruco. All mineral rights in the Dominican Republic belong to the government and all mining is permitted only by the concession from the Dominican Bureau of Mines. By the suggestion of this Bureau, two cooperatives were created to avoid disputes among the miners. This gesture from the Dominican government was with the idea to help locals of that area, which wereat the beginning farmers, to make their living.

Working in the mines can be very dangerous as they are poorly constructed and reinforced and very few safety measures are taken. 

In the past some European countries offered to modernize the mining process of Larimar and Dominican Government has in various occasion promised to cooperate and help the miners with the extraction of Larimar. Until now, theDominican authorities have no control of the working conditions and safety of the miners and no action is under way. Mining is still being done in a primitivemethod, using only pick, shovel and hammer to break the weathered basalt in search of Larimar veins, always with the hope to find top qualities for the manufacture of Larimar Jewelry. The quality and color of the Larimar extracted can vary from one area to another.

Larimar Necklace

There are tunnels and pits or holes; a pit can be as deep as 200 ft or more and fresh air is pumped in with diesel generators that keep the lights on. When the generators are going to be turned off, they advise the miners in the holes and tunnels and it might take up to twenty minutes or more for them to get out.

Previously the generators were small and a number of miners died because of lack of oxygen. The tunnels can be deep without a safety structure, collapsing in several occasions burying a number of miners alive.

Every hole or pit and tunnel has different owners and everybody knows whose hole is whose, despite the apparent disorganization. As an attraction the miners allow visitors to go down their shaft.

Larimar Heart Pendant

During the rainy season, the mines become flooded and as a result no Larimar can be extracted until they have dried out. It is really not known exactly how much Larimar is in the mine and conceivably, some believe the mine could become exhausted of the precious gem at any time, others forecast there is Larimar for a long time. No scientific investigation has been made about the extension of the Larimar deposits.

This uncertainty and occasional rumors surrounding Larimar availability, as well as its high demand due to the fact that it has become more widely known causefluctuations in its price. There is a kind of monopoly controlled by some Larimar dealers who are located in the area of the mines; they buy practically all the extracted Larimar stone from the miners and put prices on the different Larimar qualities. The rough Larimar stones are sorted out and priced according to size, quality, color, purity, demand, etc.

Larimar Dangle Earring

There are times when the local artisans have difficulties to obtain this semi-precious stone in order to make their Larimar jewelry, specially because of this silent monopoly. At the beginning the Dominican Bureau of Mines prohibited the exportation of uncut rough Larimar, but after time has past by, large quantities of rough Larimar is exported mainly to China, India and Indonesia where some buyers from the USA have their own Larimar Jewelry produced.