Yukon jade find may be of world record size

A jade miner has found what he believes is a world record-breaking chunk of the semi-precious stone on a mountain face in southeastern Yukon.

Max Rosequist of Portland, Ore., who owns 30% of Yukon Jade Ltd., knew there was a large nephrite jade deposit on his property, about 140 km north of Watson Lake, since he began working the claims 10 years ago. But it wasn’t until last year, when the 47-year-old miner cut an 80-tonne slab off the deposit using a diamond wire cutter, that Rosequist realized just what he had.

Dennis Ouellette, a staff geologist with the Department of Northern Affairs here, travelled to the site 1,800 metres up in the Pelly Mountains and calculated that two of the purest portions of the nephrite jade weigh 577 tonnes.

The current world record as recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records is claimed by China, where a 264-tonne piece of jade was discovered in 1990. Rosequist sells his jade for US$4 per lb. at present. That would make the world-record chunk worth US$5.8 million, although such a large amount of jade would flood the market and reduce prices.

“What he (Rosequist) has now is a face that’s 30 ft. long and 14 ft. high,” Ouellette said, comparing it to the size of a school bus. “It’s very spectacular.”

The entire nephrite face is probably 70 ft. wide, 30 ft. high and 8 ft. thick, he said, estimating its overall purity at 50%. The sections Ouellette measured for the world record are about 75% pure jade.

Ouellette made two trips to do the measuring, once by himself and again on July 8 with Gary Ansell, a mineralogist with the Geological Survey of Canada, and Shirley Abercrombie, a Yukon government geologist. They confirmed Ouellette’s findings.

Rosequist also mines for jade in British Columbia, and has a warehouse in Vancouver where buyers make offers on the jade boulders.

“Historically there has been jade mined in that area (near Watson Lake),” Ouellette said, citing a property near Hasselberg Lake with a road and airstrip.

“What is new is his (Rosequist’s) marketing ploy here,” Ouellette said, adding that Rosequist hopes to make the August deadline for the 1992 Guinness Book of World Records.

Ouellette said in world jade markets, the source of the semi-precious stones is important. The better known the source, the easier to sell the jade. British Columbia is the main Canadian supplier of jade, mainly to markets in the Orient. But Ouellette said accessible British Columbia reserves are diminishing.