What is Larimar?

What is Larimar?

The Larimar is, from the mineralogical point of view, a pectolite (calcium-sodium silicate.

(SI03) 3 Ca2NaH) colored in green and blue and that his most prized variety, takes on a turquoise hue.

Its attractive color and its hardness, ability to polish and shine of this stone makes an excellent material for jewelry. This has not escaped the attention of its discoverer, RP Miguel Fuentes, or the industrial first since 1974 are engaged in processing and marketing of varieties more attractive.


Los Checheses Deposits

Location Bahoruco Larimar and the site of Los Checheses, south of the island of Spanish.

Larimar has become a hallmark of the Dominican nation. In recent years, countries that have the luck to have characteristic or unique minerals, primarily precious stones, are known or related to the beauty of these resources themselves.

checheses-depositsThus, today Chile is recognized for its intense blue color of lapis lazuli, Argentina has almost exclusively a kind pink rhodochrosite widely marketed. Colombia remains almost entirely the production of the finest emeralds in the world, Brazil and tourmalines, amethysts and Uruguay, the turquoise of the southern states of America, etc.


Pectolite throug the world

Pectolite, which used to be known as ratholite, is an acid hydrate silicate, formed of sodium and calcium.Widely dispersed around the world, we can identify deposits of this mineral, know as outcroppings, in several dispersed corners os our planet: United States (California, Arkansas, Michigan, New Jersey), Canada, Scotland, Indian and Austrian Tirol.

These are all really traces, and consequences, of earth’s early volcanic activity which took place tens of millions of years ago.


The Mines

The crystallization of the mineral happened when the blue pectolite or larimar was pushed into the "tubes" or "chimneys" of the volcano by the hot gases and the incandescent matter.

For this reason, the localization of the mineral and its subsequent extraction depend on the identification of theses tubes.Hence, its exploitation forces the miner to excavate deeper and deeper into the old vulcano, until today these holes transformed into a true network of tunnel mines.


Where We Find It

The most important outcrop of blue pectolites, is located at "Los Chupaderos", in the section of "Los Checheses", about 10 kilometers southwest of the city of Barahona, in the south-western region of the Dominican Republic.

It is a small complex of vulcanic origin, composed fundamentally of basalts and porphyry rocks of great diversity. In its interior, there are concentrations of small mineral blocks with this blue color which is characteristic of the pectolite of our country.


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