The world’s largest pure gemstone quality jade named “Polar Pride” was discovered in British Columbia in the vicinity of Dease Lake.
It weighed 18 tones, and see the photo of this rough stone below. Note that this is the largest jade every found of gemstone quality. This stone was afterward carved in Thailand and turned into a beautiful Jade Buddha for promotion of Universal Peace.
Jade In British Columbia
Jade was first identified in Canada by Chinese settlers in 1886 in British Columbia. At this time jade was considered worthless as they were searching for gold. Jade was not commercialized in Canada until the 1970s. The mining business Loex James Ltd., which was started by two Californians, began commercial mining of Canadian jade in 1972.
There are over fifty known nephrite occurrences in British Columbia. These are located in the Cassiar, Cry and Dease Lake, and Mount Ogden areas, as well as in Southern British Columbia. These occurrences consist of individual blocks, boulder fields, talus blocks, and in situ occurrences. Most of the in situ occurrences are lens or cigar shaped
They occur at or near the contacts of ultramafic/mafic rocks (mainly serpentinites) with cherts, and other metasedimentary or igneous felsic rocks of oceanic terranes such as the Cache Creek (Mississippian to Jurassic) and Slide Mountain (Devonian to Permian) terranes. These contacts are commonly interpreted as shear/fault related. In general, it is believed that the British Columbia nephrite formed by metasomatic exchange between ultramafic and silicabearing rocks. Impurities in the nephrite are spinel group minerals (chromite, magnetite, picolite), diopside, uvarovite, titanite, chlorite and talc.
Until the 1960s, almost all of the nephrite produced in British Columbia came from secondary deposits. With the rapid expansion of amateur lapidary activity after World War II, production in British Columbia’s jade fields picked up and they became the most important suppliers. About the same time, markets opened up in Germany and the Orient. Mining activity gradually depleted the secondary deposits, but increasing values led to further exploration. These efforts uncovered primary deposits adjacent to the Fraser River area in southern British Columbia, the Mount Ogden area in central British Columbia, and the Cassiar jade fields in the far north. Today, British Columbia is the main supplier for the China market.
Jade West Group, founded in 1981, is the biggest player in green nephrite mining and trading in British Columbia. Kirk Makepeace, the company’s founder, is an avid promoter of the stone. He started with a summer job as a jade driller.
There are other, even larger Buddha statues carved from jade, but this is the largest made out of gemstone quality jade. The Jade Buddha is put on an 1.4 meters high alabaster throne. The statue has been touring the major cities around the world for several years now. After the tour is over it will be placed at The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Bendigo, Australia.
The statue has been touring the major cities around the world for several years now. After the tour is over it will be placed at The Great Stupa of Universal Compassion in Bendigo, Australia.
The absolute largest jade in the world is found in Myanmar, a country in Asia formerly known as Burma. I could not find a photo of this jade, but the information seems to be credible.
This area of the world is rich in various types of semi precious stones, as well as precious gemstones. Myanmar is also abundant in rubies, sapphires, diamonds, garnets, spinels, tourmalines, moonstones, pearls, and many other stones, which makes it sort o paradise for all collectors of minerals and crystals.
Jade is a stone that has reached almost a cult status amongst the Chinese people in the past. Very much revered also by the Japanese and Koreans, this royal gemstone in Myanmar is of special constituency, and excellent quality. Apart from the white and green shades, it can be found in a lot of shades, including red, yellow, purple, orange, even blue color. The emerald green tones are also to be found, in which case this type is called imperial jade
Jade usually comes in two slightly different varieties, jadeite and nephrite. Jadeite is especially rare throughout the world, but in Myanmar there can be found exemplary specimens of jadeite. The products from Myanmar’s mines are therefore exported as gems, sculptures and jewelry.
The largest Jade in the world was discovered in 2001. It is a gigantic monolith stone, about seventy feet long and 20 feet in diameter, weighting around 2000 tons. Covered with black serpentine, this jade shows beautiful crystals of violet, green and white color. This monumental stone was given the name “Jade Dragon of Pha Kanto Region”. Formerly, the largest jade found in the same region weighted 33 tons.
Do you know of even larger Jade gemstones? Let us know in the comments below