Mt Hay Gemstone Park/Aradon Sparkles at International Gem Show
March 11th, 2010
Aradon Pty Ltd, trading as Mount Hay Gemstone Tourist Park and Aradon WA, participated in the world’s largest gem and mineral show at Tucson, Arizona, USA. This show, held from 30 January to 14 February 2010, incorporated around 50 individual shows spread across the city in hotels and open space venues.
Although economic conditions are depressed, the show was a success for Aradon, largely because of the unusual and different types of stones they presented. Interest in Australian semi-precious stones is high, due to the large variety of colours and patterns.
Most of the sales were of polished pieces and slices, particularly the spherulitic rhyolite from Mount Hay, or Rainforest Jasper as it is known in the United States. This is truly a unique stone and the only known deposit of it is at Mount Hay, 41 kilometres west of Rockhampton.
Aradon shipped approximately 12 tonnes of material from Perth, including several tonnes of rough stone, and stone from the east coast. The highlight of the show was the sale of the “world’s largest tiger-eye slab”, a 2.5 billion year old polished slice from Western Australia, measuring 2.4 metres by 0.8 metres.
Mount Hay Gemstone Tourist Park is owned and operated by the Kayes family. It operates every day of the year except Christmas Day and Boxing Day from 8.30am to 4.30pm. They offer fossicking, guided tours, a shop, camping and powered sites.
For more information, ring 0749347183, email aradon@iinet.net.au or go to the website at www.aradon.com.au.
