Argentina Info - Major Agate Sources of Argentina

The northern-most major source of agates in Argentina is the Rio Uruguay on the eastern border of the province of Entre Rios. The river marks the border between Argentina and Uruguay (not shown in map). Agates from this location have been washed down from upriver agate sources and the majority of these agates look a bit like smaller and poorer versions of Brazilian agates. In this deposit a few exceptional agates are found intermixed with the other water worn agates. Agates sold as 'Black River' are from this deposit. The name was chosen to hide the true source of these agates from other agate gatherers. The Rio Negro, or 'Black River', is 500 miles south. I have chosen to call them simply 'River Agates'.

Only a small distance further south but all the way over to the western edge of Northern Argentina is the province of Mendoza. Near the western edge of Mendoza there is a town named San Rafael, and it is in the heart of a variety of deposits that produce the agates that have been sold under the trade name "Condor". It lies only 30 miles east of the western border which follows the crest of the Andes Mountains and separates Argentina from Chile. The foremost authority on these agates, the German agate dealer and prospector Peter Jeckel, says that he knows of some eighty different locations in this area! Klaus Schafer’s website can be accessed through our Links page and has images of many reliably sourced agates, mostly provided by Mr. Jeckel.

A mere 30 miles southwest of San Rafael is the town of Malargue, also in the province of Mendoza, which is a source of agates which have formed in cavities left by fossil corals in an ancient sea bed, They have been sold under the trade name "Puma".

Traveling about sixty miles south from Malargue, just south of the Sierra del Chachahuen, one finds a second coral replacement agate deposit. This area produces the rare and extremely fine agates that have tan and red branching patterns, at times with fine fortification centers in many colors, and the best way to refer to them may be "agates from Sierra del Chachahuen". A recent mining claim in that same seabed, known as the Belen Mine, is the source of the blue-gray and white agates which are sold under the trade name "Samyta". The general area is currently being drilled for oil and is fenced and guarded. I don't know what the relationship is between the Belen Mine and the oil exploration operation.

Further south, after crossing the Rio Colorado, one enters the province of Neuquen which is the home of the Rio Colorado thundereggs and also of some small but fine agatized dinosaur bone fossils.

Several hundred miles further south one enters the province of Chubut, where there is a vast desert with scattered occurences of fine nodular agates that are surface collected. Names of some of these areas are Paso Berwyn, La Manea, Piedra Parada and El Sombrero. 

I have followed Johann Zenz' marvelous two volume work AGATES in the hope of produceing a brief but reliable idea of the territory. The publication of AGATES III, an event many of us are eagerly awaiting, is scheduled for late May, 2011.

On the right  is a map showing the various provinces in bright colors, those which have major agate deposits are named. This information section will be expanded as we learn more.