By KELLY LOUISEIZE
Amethyst Mine Panorama has been selected as a Rand McNally & Co. pick for 2006.
Like any tourist travelling the northwest, the Rand employee came into the 55-year old mine site unannounced. One of the 16 full-time, summer employees might have assisted him in partaking in one of the four tours that escort visitors down to the mine quarry where excavation occurs. The gift store would have provided saleable items.
Later, unbeknownst to the business owners, he would have checked with community partners and potentially the government to get an idea of the company’s health, owner Steve Lukinuk says. He says they knew nothing of this until they were sent a certificate and a write-up explaining they were the chosen as the “Editor’s Pick.”
Over 200 customers travel to the mine site each day, including families and couples, both young and old.
Located 56 kilometres east of Thunder Bay, the only Amethyst mine in North America opens May 15 and closes Oct. 15. It is comprised of three sub-operations: the tourism mine site, the rough rock sales and the manufacturing component.
Visitors touring the gemstone-rich location can learn the history of the mine site and the gemstones found within, while traveling with a tour to the bottom of the quarry. For $2 per pound, tourists can go into the five-acre material waste site and find their own gemstone with tools provided by the owners.
“People will spend a half hour, an hour, and sometimes longer out there playing in the water, getting dirty and
finding their own amethysts,” says Steve’s son Tim Lukinuk, who manages the gift store.
Two full-time miners extract gemstones destined to be polished and made into saleable carvings, bookends, clocks, or jewelry in the gift store. Tim says this spin-off industry consistently out-performs the other two operations.
Most of the amethysts on the international market come from Zambia or Brazil. It is Ontario’s mineral emblem and places fourth in the value of gemstones. The mineral was mined and sold as early as the 1870s, but the discovery of the mine site in the 1950s brought forth resurgence in the market. In the 1980s, the Lukinuks opened their doors to the public satisfying market demand by providing value-added, saleable materials.
“Twenty-five years ago you could not get an Ontario amethyst gemstone ring,” Steve says.
“There are all kinds of them now. You could not get a carving. Now we know what the market (demand) is and what to expect.”
Most of the visitors to the site have done their homework on the company’s website. Families book their vacation in advance and make their way to the mine site through the summer, but in the spring and fall couples tend to make up a majority of their clientèle, partly because they follow the highway signs.
People of all ages appear to take a keen interest in exploring the mine, Tim says.
“They are so excited to get (the amethyst) from the actual place where it is mined.”
A new 1,000-square-foot interpretive centre is being built on the property where more polished gemstones will be displayed and sold. A detailed mineral history of the region will also be included along with a weigh-in centre for rough gemstones.
