Canadian Rockhound: Botryoidal Jade, Rarest of the Rare Jades

Botryoidal nephrite jade. How does one describe it? Lumpy, bumpy, grapey, convoluted, sometimes extruded, brain-like, ugly at first sight but later curiously beautiful, baroque, flowerlike, clustered, singular nuggets of green gold that defy description. A miniature moonscape. All these and more but definitely one, rare! It is an anomaly of the mineral world.

Botryoidal jade, 004
Botryoidal nephrite jade, north of Watson Lake near Robert Campbell Highway, Yukon, Canada. Size 5.2 cm wide x 4.5 cm tall x 2.4 cm deep, weight 61.5 grams. Photograph courtesy of Doug Miller, © 2000.

Botryoidal jade in matrix, 501
A single 1.5 cm botryoidal nephrite jade bubble on matrix, from the same locality. Weight 5.5 grams, size 4.2 x 3.1 x 2.8 cm. Photograph courtesy of Doug Miller, © 2000.

It has almost as many names as it does descriptions. Botryoidal or grape jade, botryose and botry, nodular, jade nuggets, jade blossoms, flower jade, bots and bumpy jade. They are all fitting names and again one, rare!

I called it green gold but really its colours are varied. Shades of green from pale translucent to dark forest green, browns, creams, whites, vulcans, yellows, lavenders, gray green and mottled varieties are exhibited. Most bots when cut show a pure and clean surface with no inclusions, while others may present a snaky, wavy pattern reminiscent of the brain. An extremely light bot can be found side by side with a very dark bot separated only by a fine layer of serpentine or serpentinite matrix.

Botryoidal jade is a relative newcomer both to the known minerals list and to the collections of rockhounds. From its debut in the late fifties, when it was first discovered by Mr. and Mrs. W. Dayton at Jade Cove, California to the present, only a few notable locales have been recorded including Mendocino County, California, Cultus Mountain, Washington, the spectacular Trinity Mountain specimens from Blue Moon Jade and Jim McDonald's find in Newfoundland, Canada. The latest to make itself known is Northern Lights Jade from the Yukon Territory, Canada. It made its debut to the world of collectors in July 2000, on the Internet through Northern Lights Minerals, a website maintained by Doug Miller in Saskatoon.

The Discovery

The story of how the Northern Lights Jade finally made it to market goes like this. About 30 years ago, Roy Sowden, a Canadian asbestos and jade prospector, found in situ nephrite deposits in the mountains west of mile 84 on the Robert Campbell Highway in the Frances Lake area of southeast Yukon (see map below). Roy is credited for being the first to find deposits of jade in the Yukon. Between this locale and southward to Watson Lake, Roy had staked several jade claims. It was on one of these claims that the botryoidal jade that is now called Northern Lights Jade, was found.

Map
Map showing the locality where the botryoidal nephrite jade
was found.

Roy was on an exploration trip on one of the claims and had sat down for a break and a smoke (which he did in those days) and was idly taking in the rock around him. Across the tiny creek and under an undercut ledge he noticed something hanging down which he took to be a peculiar type of birds-nest. Upon investigation it proved to be an extruded piece of botryoidal jade. It was attached to a small lens or pod of bot jade only a few feet long and a couple feet wide. Roy recognized it for what it was only because he had seen some similar jade a short time before at Jade Cove, California. Being somewhat of a practical man, Roy had built a 30-inch field saw that climbed a post, swiveled 360 degrees and could be tilted at various angles. After hauling the saw up to the site, he cut out the pod containing the bot jade. The small creek supplied water for the saw. What with other claim work to do and prospecting to be done, Roy put the jade away for a rainy day.

Botryoidal jade, 702
This beautiful botryoidal jade specimen is 5.0 cm wide x 4.5 cm tall x 3.0 cm deep, and weighs 91.1 grams. This piece may be one of the most aesthetic specimens found yet. Photograph courtesy of Doug Miller, © 2000.

The rainy days came and went, Roy came and went and the jade moved with him. What with life being the way it is, not much was done with the jade over the years other than some minor cutting and polishing of a few bots and the extracting of a handful or two of bots from the matrix. All in all, the jade has spent most of the past years sitting in one shed or another. My wife and I acquired the jade from Roy a few years ago and spent the first year or so just learning about botryoidal jade and dredging up, to the best of my knowledge, all of the information that has ever been written on botryoidal jade.

The subsequent years were spent learning how to remove the bots from the matrix and experimenting with the methods needed to "clean" the bot to its surface without changing the integrity of the surface. Trial and error and keen observation during the process of cleaning were the ticket to success. During this period I became acquainted with Russell Satter of Blue Moon Jade. He provided some very helpful hints and information once he knew I had reached a stage on my own. Preparing the bots is a tedious, not to be rushed job, but the rewards are gratifying. Each bot or cluster is a challenge on its own, as each and every one seems to have a character of its own. I never fail to be awed as each one slowly births itself into a new world.

Botryoidal jade, 707
Another beautiful specimen of botryoidal jade. Size 5.2 cm wide x 5.8 cm tall x 3.0 cm deep, weight 87.2 grams. Photograph courtesy of Doug Miller, © 2000.

At present, many bots "released" vary in size from pinhead to fist-sized, and many are now at the clean or "matte" stage. None have been polished so far, since we must still learn the polishing step. When the situation is right, bots are "exposed" and left in the matrix to be presented as specimens. Actually, because of their unusual form and extreme rarity, most specimens should be left alone. To a collector, they are considerably more valuable in their natural form. New material will be presented to the public on an ongoing basis.

Origins and Geology?

Many questions remain unanswered. It would be interesting to learn about the origin, formation, geology, and the technical mineral aspects of this rare and unique type of jade. Furthermore, the use of botryoidal jade in jewelry remain to be explored.

This article merely brings to light a new and important Canadian botryoidal nephrite jade find. It is hoped that the existence of this type of jade will become known to avid and serious collectors of rocks and minerals around the world. We would be pleased to communicate with anyone interested in botryoidal jade to trade information and/or thoughts about this strange and wonderful mineral. A list of known or unknown locations is currently being compiled for future reference.

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