GOLDEN HILLS TURQUOISE
Golden Hills Turquoise is a rare, high-grade variety of turquoise originating from the Altyn-Tyube mine in Kazakhstan, Central Asia. It was discovered around 2013 and introduced to the US market in 2018.
It is famous for its distinctive pastel, icy baby-blue, periwinkle, or soft lavender-blue shades rather than traditional robin's-egg or deep greenish-blue.
Extraction is heavily restricted to freezing winter conditions because the remote site suffers from severe seasonal flooding during warmer months. Due to the restricted short seasonal mining windows and dangerous underground shafts, the supply remains scarce and highly sought after by collectors.
