Turquoise Crisis

Turquoise Crisis

We have a global Turquoise Crisis at hand and with only one active Turquoise Mine left in the United States it is critical.

Why a Turquoise Crisis

The Turquoise Crisis has been caused by the flooding of the world market with cheap Chinese Turquoise starting in 1985. The ongoing supply of this cheap Turquoise put the American Turquoise Miners out of business and now many years later China has put a moratorium on the mining of Turquoise, as well as many other materials. This is not the fault of the Chinese as it was just good business on their part, we have just been victims of NAFTA and GATT free trade agreements.

This is a classic example of what can happen when you have such an imbalance of economies and then open free trade. In the case of the United States, it has put a major share of our industry out of business and many people who use to have good jobs in manufacturing are now out of work.

Is there a cure for the Turquoise Crisis?

Well, the Chinese could start mining real Turquoise again and begin exporting it - however, Chinese manufacturers have found it is easier to produce fake Turquoise than mine real Turquoise. So, really it would be best if they put an embargo on imitation Turquoise from China.

As the shortage goes on the value of Turquoise will increase, which, will allow new miners to begin search for and then mining Turquoise in the United States. Of course, the new Turquoise coming out of the ground will cost much more to mine and therefore it will be much more costly.

There is no quick fix - Now that there is a demand worldwide for Turquoise, we have a real Turquoise Crisis on our hands!