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This is what gem mining is all about; a few little glassy fragments of brightly colored Oregon sunstone. They may not look like much in their native state, but wait until they are cut and polished. Shown above are pieces of gem quality sunstone that have been extracted from the basalt matrix. These pieces display distinct color zoning; the outer rind of the fragments is the typical straw-yellow of most sunstone. The inner cores are a beautiful deep reddish-orange. One fragment displays blue-green with orange color zoning. The blue-green color is also ascribable to trace amounts of copper. Go to my gemstone index and select "Sunstone" to see what the finished product looks like.
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