Dunton Gem Quarry, Newry, Oxford Co., Maine, USA

Granite pegmatite. This is a LCT class granite pegmatite. List also contains species from chlorite/actinolite schist host rocks. Hall's Ridge, Plumbago-Puzzle Mountain - Oxford pegmatite field. Land currently owned by Plumbago Timber and Quarries LLC which permitted use of new mineral discovery information to appear on mindat.

The first Rose Quartz crystals known in the world were found at Mount Mica Quarry about 1913-1915. The second locality for genuine rose quartz crystals in the world, the Dunton Gem Quarry, Newry, produced it's first crystals in 1927. A third world locality was discovered in 1942, at the Rose Quartz Crystal locality, Newry, by George Crooker. Rose Quartz crystals were found at the Nevel Quarry, Newry and in the Red Hill Quarry Group, Rumford, Maine in 1949. Rose Quartz crystals were not known in Brazil until 1958.

CAUTION: Because of the high demand and low supply of the very special "Newry" gem tourmaline shades, Namibian tourmaline and Afghani tourmaline sellers, who have gem rough almost matching "Newry" color shades, report that they have brisk sales in Maine and New England. Their explanation is that the stones or rough have a "rare" color that mimics authentic Dunton Quarry tourmaline colors. However, buyer beware! It is more than unlikely to have hundreds or thousands of carats of "rare color" tourmaline in stock! One important feature of genuine gem tourmaline from the Dunton Pegmatite is that almost all of the desirable light shades of pink and green tourmaline have a medium to bright blue-white FLUORESCE in short wave ultraviolet light. This property does not guarantee that the tourmaline in question is genuinely from Newry, but it does limit the mislabeling or "mis-branding" of tourmaline as coming from Newry when it does not.

Beesley (1975) was the first to discover that Dunton Quarry untreated elbaite FLUORESCES "light chalky blue" in short wave ultraviolet light while he reported that heat treating intensifies Dunton Quarry tourmaline's blue-white fluorescence. Heating may occasionally turn the body color of Dunton elbaite colorless, however. Fluorescent tourmaline is uncommon, but not rare and has been observed in localities in Maine, Brazil, Afghanistan, Madagascar, Mozambique and elsewhere. Maine tourmaline appears to have some of the stronger fluorescing tourmaline with the pink body color tourmaline fluorescing brighter than green body color tourmaline. Inclusions are very distinctive in Newry gem tourmaline and inclusions may have three phases. Beesley provided illustrations of the inclusions in Dunton elbaite and suggested that these inclusions could also be used to verify the origin of the Newry tourmaline from mislabeled specimens. The species in Dunton Quarry tourmaline inclusions was not identified, however.

Ref: King, V. T., 1975, Newry, Maine: A Pegmatite Phosphate Locality, Mineralogical Record, v. 6, p. 189-204.
Dunn, P.J. & Gaines, R.V. (1978): Uralolite from the Dunton Gem Mine, Newry, Maine: A second occurrence. Mineralogical Record 9(2), 99-100
Beesley, C, 1975, Dunton Mine Tourmaline: An Analysis. Gems and Gemology, 15:19-24.

References:
King, V. and Foord, E., 1994, Mineralogy of Maine, V. 1
King, V. (ed.), 2000, Mineralogy of Maine, V. 2.