Pectolite ("ratholite"), is an acid silicate hydrate of calcium and sodium and is found in The United States (Michigan, Arkansas, New Jersey, California), Canada, England (Scotland), India, Austria (Tyrolia), among others. It is a results of volcanic activity, many million years ago. It's color is a creamy white.

Nevertheless, there is one extinguished volcano complex where BLUE pectolite is found, on one square kilometer of land, the only place on the whole planet. There this rare stone has been named "Larimar". Blue pectolite is much more rare than diamonds, which compared with it, exist in "rich" abundance (with permission of the de Boer clan) and are as rare as the daisies. Whether the native Taino indians had been using it as a gemstone is not known.

But one hundered years ago, the priest Miguel Domingo Fuerte Loren of Barahona applied for the permission of exploration and exploitation as can be found in the documents Dominican Treasury Department. Whether this was granted or not, we don't know. But -as strange as it seems- the mine was forgotten.

In 1974, at the coast of Barahona, Norman Rilling, a member of the American "Peace Corps" in company of the Dominican Miguel Méndez, finds blue pebbles at the stony beach of Barahona at the west coast of the Dominican Republic. As they start searching upstream the Baoruco river, they find the mine again. In 1975, the exploitation starts and now you will find about 2000 or more digging holes reaching far into the mountain.

Very little safety measures are being taken and an unknown number of miners found their grave in the holes and tunnels.

In rainy and hurricane season the holes are filled with water and the outcrop is rather scarce.

The real blue material is not always found, dealers depend on what is available. The increasing demand of souvenirs in tourism high seasons also reflects on the price. And: the hanging Damocles' sword is the question for how long Larimar will be found and when the only known Larimar mine in all the world will be exhausted. And yet another fact disturbs the market: Larimar is already sold to Far-East low-wage contries and has been degradaded to a cheap mineral for low-end outlets.

As a result, the owner of this web site, AmbarAzul, LLC, is now concentrating on a more interesting and exclusive material: Blue Amber.

Please use our links at the left to find out more about this unique treasure of the Caribbean.