Minerals of the San Diego Mine

The San Diego Mine lies just south and adjacent to the Himalaya Mine and is the same pegmatite and therefore produces the same minerals. So whenever we say Himalaya Mine you can just as easliy replace it with San Diego Mine. The San Diego Mine is located a few miles northwest of Mesa Grande, San Diego County, California. The San Diego Mine is not open to collectors. Archie Kuehn and Bill Calhoun and company own the San Diego Mine and not the owners of the Himalaya or its constituent properties.

I have been given access to some rare photos of the inside of the San Diego Mine by Phil Osborn who has worked and developed many of the pegmatite mines in Riverside and San Diego counties over the past 30+ years. He has worked as a miner at the Fano Mine, Audrey Lynn, Himalaya, Stewart, Oceanview, Katarina, Blue Lady, and a multitude of other mines.

Mine Portal	Tunnel
Tunnel	Tunnel
Phil Osborn Drilling - notice moisture in air	Looking towards portal

The Himalaya Mine is famous for the beautiful elbaite, rubellite and verdelite tourmaline gemstones and associated combinations which have been mined there for many years. Other minerals found at the mine include spessartite garnet, bladed albite clusters, etched feldspar crystals, stibiotantalite,topaz, morganite beryl, smoky quartz, clear quartz, lepidolite balls and clusters, and combinations of these minerals. To find out more specifics about what was found in these areas to start a collection or to possibly collect you might want to sign up for the Minerals of California Online Database. Click here to sign up.