Monte Azul deposit, Sijes, Susques Department, Jujuy Province, Argentinai

Regional Level Types
Monte Azul deposit	Deposit
Sijes	Town
Susques Department	Department
Jujuy Province	Province
Argentina	Country

Borate deposit in Sijes Borates Mining District, owned and prospected by Borax Argentina Inc., a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, who have cut some benches and trenches.

Monte Azul is/was a small deposit of borate minerals near what is thought used to be a hot spring whose borate rich waters percolated through the soil surrounding the hill and created the deposit through evaporation and crystallization of various borates like Hydroboracite and Inyoite, though only the Inyoite was well crystallized. The mine when the Inyoite crystals were collected was nothing more than a few trenches that the mining company had made to prospect the little deposit. The discovery and collection of the Inyoite crystals was little more than a lucky chance. The geologist, Joe Siefke had been sent to Argentina by the mining company to see if he could help with reclamation efforts at other borate mines in Argentina by suggesting plants that might be used to regrow the natural cover that existed before the mining process striped the vegetation away. He had been involved in a similar effort at their big borate mine at Boron, California. They visited the Monte Azul deposit and others to get some idea of the various kinds of vegetation that existed at and near those deposits. So, its good that the mining company is trying to mitigate the damage caused by its mining and it is good that some fine specimens that would have otherwise ended up in the refinery were preserved for posterity. Certainly long after this little borate deposit is forgotten, the specimens collected there will be preserved in collections around the world. (Rock Currier, 2009)

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