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Chalcedonies include many types of cryptocrystalline quartz gems and feature a number of different colors.
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Antero, Tracie not only sells Gemclay but also offers a full line of services that include facials, waxing, microdermabrasion, and more.A pink chalcedony shows off its beauty.
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With a storefront in Buena Vista, Colorado, just miles from the base of Mt.
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Made of 33 different minerals, Gemclay feeds the skin and body with vitamins that can help prevent aging. In 2007, Tracie became an esthetician and developed her own line of skin care products made of the unique, mineral-rich clay found on Mt. To her delight, her skin felt plumper, more nourished, and well exfoliated. Intrigued, she started rubbing the mud on her face and arms. When Tracie first began extracting gems, she noticed how soft her hands had become and how shiny the mud was. From friendship to marriage in 2004, she and Craig have formed a perfect partnership as each has discovered a passion for mining gems on Mt. With rough-cut gems in hand, Craig works with gem cutters and designers to create the finished products found in his Buena Vista, Colorado storefront and online-unique pieces of jewelry that include rings, earrings, necklaces, and more.Īs the daughter of a New Mexican potash miner, Tracie was no stranger to mining when she met Craig at the age of eighteen in Dallas, Texas. From machine-excavating to hand-digging, he says there’s a “symphony to the madness.”
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Today, Craig and his wife Tracie run a small crew that mines for aquamarine, smoky quartz, blue topaz, and other gems and minerals on the family’s Mt. However, under his direction, gem sales grew, and soon, Craig was trading his full-time engineering career for his real passion-mining and selling precious Colorado gems and minerals. But this remained a side business, as mining could only take place three months out of the year.Ĭraig, who studied Mechanical Drafting and Design at Texas State Technical Institute, continued running the gem business on the side while pursuing a career in engineering. Antero stake, the business shifted to mining, faceting, and selling the many precious gems found on top of one of Colorado’s highest peaks.
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However, in the 1950s, after several lodes of gems and minerals were discovered on the family’s Mt. At their start, the Cardwell family mined for beryllium. Antero, Craig and Tracie work with United States gem cutters and jewelers across the country to create beautifully set rings, earrings, and necklaces-pieces available for purchase at their Buena Vista storefront or online.Ĭraig Cardwell is a fourth-generation miner, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. Using rough cut gems ethically mined from Mt. Today, Cardwell’s mining operation is run by his grandson, Craig Cardwell, and wife, Tracie. With growing demand for such gems, the Cardwell family began mining for aquamarine, smoky quartz, blue topaz, phenakite crystals, purple and blue fluorite, and more. In time, however, he discovered a rich resource for several types of gems. Antero was first mined for beryllium in 1952 by Grady Cardwell. Though treacherous, its landscape is home to some of the world’s richest mineral deposits.
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Antero is one of Colorado’s highest peaks. Antero Treasures, located in Buena Vista, Colorado, creates and sells jewelry made with precious gems mined from nearby Mt.
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