The Mine, Part Five
Name: El Arroyo
Meaning of Name: The Creek
Location: La Cumbre-area. South-side of the Cordillera Septentrional mountain range. West-side of Carretera Turística.
Amount of Holes: unknown. Possibly pure-chance-surface finds.
Color Gradient: Amber, yellow, sometimes red-green-blue.
Quality: High quality. Good for jewelry.
Fossils: None so far.
Notes: Very strong amber. Mine is worked rarely and little is found. Sometimes special finds do pop up, even large specimens. If they do, they are usually good quality.
Name: Las Auyamas
Meaning of Name: The Pumpkins
Location: La Cumbre-area. South-side of the Cordillera Septentrional mountain range. West-side of Carretera Turística.
Amount of Holes: unknown. Possibly pure-chance-surface finds.
Color Gradient: Yellow.
Quality: Soft material, must be carefully worked.
Fossils: Most of the time.
Notes: Much of the material found here is soft in quality. This is both good and bad, depending on what it will be used for.
Name: El Aguacate
Meaning of Name: The Avocado
Location: La Cumbre-area. South-side of the Cordillera Septentrional mountain range. West-side of Carretera Turística.
Amount of Holes: unknown. Possibly pure-chance-surface finds.
Color Gradient: Yellow, reddish-dark.
Quality: 50/50.
Fossils: Usually.
Notes: El Arroyo, Las Auyamas and El Aguacate are a series of holes in areas with the same name. How many holes exactly is a matter of speculation. Most ‘holes’ aren’t holes per se, but the pieces are found on the surface by pure chance in the indicated area.
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Name: La Cumbre
Meaning of Name: The Peak
Location: La Cumbre-area (obviously), east of the Carretera Touristica.
Amount of Holes: approx. 15.
Color Gradient: Mostly blue.
Quality: 50/50.
Fossils: Rare.
Notes: This is a new, privately owned mine, meaning the owners mine it themselves, not thought freelance-miners as most other mines. It is quickly becoming one of the better Blue Amber mines.
Name: Juan de Nina
Meaning of Name: family name
Location: Puerto Plata area.
Amount of Holes: unknown. Estimated at 5+.
Color Gradient: Yellow and very light-yellow.
Quality: Less than 20% are useful. It is however very workable and polishes well.
Fossils: Sometimes.
Notes: Much of the enclosures seem to be sediment of the very strata it is found in.
Name: El Naranjo
Meaning of Name: The
Location: Puerto Plata area.
Amount of Holes: unknown. Estimated at 5+.
Color Gradient: Yellow and very light-yellow.
Quality: Less than 20% are useful. It is however very workable and polishes well.
Fossils: Rarely.
Notes: In general identical to Juan de Nina. Also has much sediment enclosures.
Name: Pescado Bobo
Meaning of Name: Silly Fish (seriously!)
Location: Puerto Plata area.
Amount of Holes: unknown. Estimated at 5+.
Color Gradient: Yellow, sometimes with green-blue fluorescence.
Quality: Usually 50/50.
Fossils: Sometimes.
Notes: It should be noted that Blue Amber from this mine seems to loose its coloration upon polishing. Mine is similar again to Juan de Nina and El Naranjo in sediment-enclosures. The Puerto Plata area seems to be well known for these. Much amber is also found near the ocean, and/or at beaches, carried here by rivers. This reminds strongly of Baltic amber.
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End of Mine List.
Citations: This compilation has been made with personal experience and using/completing the information from the following sources:
Baroni Urbani, C. & Saunders, J.B. (1980): The fauna of the
Schlee, D. (1980): Bernstein-Raritaeten (Farben, Strukturen, Fossilen, Handwerk). – 88 S. (mit 55 Farbtafeln); Staatl. Museum fuer Naturkunde) Stuttgart.
Schlee, D. (1984): Besonderheiten des Dominikanischen Bernsteins. – Stuttgarter Beitr. Naturk., C, 18: 63-71; Stuttgart.
Martínez, R. & Schlee, D. (1984): Die Dominikanischen Bernsteinminen der Nordkordillera, speziell auch aus der Sicht der Werkstaetten. – Stuttgarter Beitr. Naturk., C, 18: 79-84; Stuttgart.
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