Everything You did not Know about “Butte Basin” Oregon Sunstone

“This changes everything!”

said a GIA expert, after first seeing a large, deep green Oregon Sunstone from the now famous Sunstone Butte mine. Indeed, the big change came fast and altered the Oregon Sunstone market forever. Now, let me share my first hand experience about one of the most beautiful, and rarest gemstones ever discovered. The cuprian Labradorite Sunstone from Little Eagle Butte in the Southern Oregon high deser

Selling the first Sunstone from “Butte Basin”

Let me start with explaining little about the name “Butte Basin.” If you look at any detailed map of the Oregon high desert in Lake County, you will not find this name anywhere. This term was first used by a couple of US Gem TV stations and now, most people simply think that it is the actual name of the sunstone bearing place, or the name of the mining region.Neither one is true. The actual name of the hill where this new discovery (2010) was made is Little Eagle Butte. Actual names of the mines located on this hill are PANA Mine and Sunstone Butte mine. But the term “Butte Basin” is now used by many, so I will not try to change it (hopefully you might…)

The first time I saw pieces of Oregon Sunstone from Little Eagle Butte (now Sunstone Butte and Pana mines) was in the early summer of 2012. As a professional Oregon Sunstone dealer, with over 20 years of experience with this particular gem, I thought that I knew everything about these gems and nothing could possibly surprise me. Well, was I wrong about that! My jaw virtually dropped the first time I looked into the jar full of freshly mined Sunstone presented to me by Tammy Moreau, part owner of Sunstone Butte mine. The colors of these gems were simply unbelievable. Nothing even remotely close to the Oregon Sunstones I saw and dealt with before. Chrome greens, electric blue-greens, neon reds, and so many other color shades and combinations.

Right at that moment, I realized that I was looking at a new and very exciting discovery of Oregon Sunstone. The individual sizes, clarity and purity of the colors were unlike any of those I found in other locations. I was virtually blown away by these colorful gems from a small, previously unknown hill in the middle of the vast Oregon badlands.

I did not think twice about buying the entire lot and a few days later I took everything back to Europe with me. My excitement grew even larger after my cutters presented the first few faceted pieces to me. Many of these newly discovered Sunstones looked absolutely unreal! There were many single stones showing an array of multiple colors, with color type and intensity gradually changing based on the angle of view. Flashes of copper schiller in many of these only accented the amazing eye appeal of these gems. Something not seen in any other natural gemstone on the face of this earth! If you mentioned Oregon Sunstone before 2011 most people would automatically imagine a yellowish-straw stone with flashes of copper schiller. People with more experience would tell you that Oregon Sunstone can also be pink, peachy, pink-orange, off red and sometimes showing a light green or watermelon effect. Pure red was very rare and found in famous mines like Spectrum, Double Eagle or Dust Devil.

Marketing and selling these gems was so easy. Everyone who saw them was instantly captured and mesmerized by their beauty. So I didn’t even wait another month before I went back to Oregon for more. But as you can imagine, I was no longer alone. Exactly one year after I marketed and sold my first Sunstone from Sunstone Butte, the GIA, and several other experts flocked around the mine, published several articles about this new discovery and all hell broke loose soon after that. These new vibrant Oregon Sunstones started taking the US market by storm.

Big (Bad) Changes on the Horizon

As a professional knowing the gem market very well, I did my best to buy as much rough Sunstone as possible. I knew that deals like this wouldn’t last long. Well, it was great while it lasted, but all ended in February 2014. One month later, all material mined at Sunstone Butte and PANA mines was under a purchase contract by one of the leading US gem wholesalers. After that date, not a single stone was available to me or any other dealer. In the following weeks I was forced to cancel all of my pending wholesale contracts in Germany and the USA, and I decided to sell all my remaining stones piece by piece at gem shows, and through my own Ravenstein-Germany website. By the summer of 2015, my cutters had finished the last pieces that were available from previous purchases. Things did not look good for me with only about 300 remaining faceted Oregon Sunstones from Little Eagle Butte listed on my website and my eBay store. However as a person who never gives up, I tried hard to find another way to get these super rare gems, and after nearly 2 years I finally succeeded.

Enter Pana mine!

Randy Reinikka, now 62-year-old ex-owner of PANA mine was awaiting my arrival on the morning of September 6, 2015. I was trying to read his face while I was pulling over next to his trailer. Not much luck with that… Without any emotion, Randy shook my hand and invited me onto his claim. After few introductory sentences, Randy placed few bags of rough Sunstone on the table and I started grading each lot piece by piece. Randy pulled his chair up next to mine and we slowly started chatting. The more we talked the more I began to realize that this, seemingly emotionless guy, was actually a very friendly, extremely knowledgeable man, with whom I shared so many life outlooks and values.

How it All Began

Randy Reinikka, is the son of one of the best gem cutters in the world, and Dave Whitley (now co-owner of Sunstone Butte mine), both worked for the Panasonic company in Washington state and became friends over the years. Both Randy and Dave purchased their own Sunstone claim in the Rabbit Basin area and even did some work for Dust Devil mine. After a while, both friends started thinking that there must be other places producing good quality Oregon Sunstone, besides the Rabbit Basin area. In 2010 they decided to perform a detailed survey of the surrounding land. Dave started walking 20 miles each day in all directions and after 2 weeks, 3 interesting spots were selected for further exploration. The area of Little Eagle Butte looked like the most promising of all. “Base of the hill was virtually covered with clear Sunstone, and further up the hill, the quality and size of the gems kept increasing”, said Randy. This is a clear sign that there are better gems lying under the surface. Both Dave and Randy decided to file nine 20.6 acre claims covering the entire Little Eagle Butte hill and the surrounding land. The PANA Mine was born. Why “PANA”? I was wondering that myself. The answer is quite simple.

At the time both Randy and Dave were working for Panasonic company. When they had to decide on the name for their claims in the Rabbit Basin valley and the the Little Eagle Butte hill, the word “PANA” was born. Well… yes, why not! It is a good name after all! At first, Randy and Dave visited the mine sporadically and each man kept what he found. Things started changing fast after Dave discovered his first approx. 80 gram (400 carat) pure blue-green/red dichroic Sunstone in perfect clarity and shape. Such stones are absolutely unique to the area, based on the information given by Little Eagle Butte mine owners. No other mine has ever produced a gemstone of this color, clarity, and size! The “sunstone fever” has arrived.

Increasing personal differences between Dave and Randy resulted in splitting all the existing claims into two parts. The original PANA mine retained 4 claims under the ownership of Randy Reinikka. Sunstone Butte mine was born out of remaining 5 claims under the joint ownership of Dave Wheatley and his new partner Tammy Moreau.

 

Developing the Pana Mine

Current Availability of High-End Oregon Sunstone on the US Market

Many of you know that finding a top quality Oregon Sunstone from what is now (wrongly) called “Butte Basin” is a difficult task. For the past couple of years most of this material was in the hands of one or two major gemstone companies and only portion of the PANA Mine production ended up in hands of average cutters, gem dealers and local jewelers. This situation is now changing. PANA Mine and apparently even Sunstone Butte mine are now selling both to wholesalers and retailers. This is going to rejuvenate the market in a major way and these gems should become available (to a degree limited by production and availability) in all corners of the USA and the World.

Just during past few weeks I have had dozens of new retail and wholesale inquiries. I did sign couple of large regional contracts with mainly Asian based companies, but I can assure all of my existing and new US buyers that I will not consider selling most of our material abroad. I want these unique gems to stay in their country of origin and I will gladly work with all US customers, big and small, to make this happen. The 2017 mining season is starting off in a very promising way. We are going to prepare and process lots of good gem bearing ore, and the screening process will start no later than the middle of June.

So by the end of August we should have at least 25 to 30 kilos of top color, and a couple hundred kilos of quality schillers, clears, pastel colors and even some excellent specimens for demanding collectors and museums.

So please stay in touch and check back frequently. Make sure to visit pana-mine.com for the most recent news and developments!

Future of Oregon Sunstone

While the popularity of rare colored cuprian Labradorite Oregon Sunstone from PANA and Sunstone Butte mine grows at a rocket pace, it is quite exciting to see many high-end jewelry houses now offering Oregon Sunstone in their jewelry. The biggest news of 2015 was that the Shane Co., the biggest privately owned jewelry house in the United States prepared their own Oregon Sunstone collection which was released before Christmas of that year. At the 2017 Tucson Gem Show I had a record number of jewelers and gem dealers buying large quantities of these gems for their businesses. This alone tells you a lot about the future of Oregon Sunstone!Oregon Sunstone is fast becoming one of the most sought after and most valued gemstones. If you did not invest in these gems yet, you should seriously consider doing so. I kept telling all of my customers to invest in Oregon Sunstone right after I saw the new material coming out of the Little Eagle Butte (Butte Basin) in 2011. The value of these gems increased by about 800% during last 6 years. Keep in mind that this rare American gem was historically heavily undervalued. The price of good gems will be growing for many years into the future and super rare colored Oregon Sunstones from “PANA and Sunstone Butte” together with high-quality stones from Spectrum, Double Eagle and Dust Devil will lead this trend. Together, with most leading gem dealers, I expect another 500% to 1000% price increase during next 10 years. Just remember what happened with Paraiba Tourmaline, Spinel, Tanzanite or Imperial Topaz prices over the years. I’m sure you would have loved to buy these, before the prices went through the roof. Well, history repeats itself regularly, and now is your chance to make money by investing in the most beautiful, and rarest, 100% American gems!