Jade City, British Columbia

Jade City is a "spot on the road" in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, near the Yukon, located on Highway 37, west of Good Hope Lake and close to Cassiar, in the Cassiar Highlands. The region around Jade City is rich with serpentinite (a jade precursor),[1] greenstone (jade look-a-likes),[2] and jade. The region contains one of the world's richest deposits of nephrite jade. The settlement was founded in the mid-80's by jade miner Steve Simonovic.[3]

Jade City is a very small town, with only a population of around twenty people. There are two local seasonally-operated businesses offer highway services and sell jade products made from nearby formations of the stone. Currently, only one of the two stores is active. During the summer a church opens up to the public offering Sunday services.

The reality TV series Jade Fever documents the mining efforts of the Cassiar Mountain Jade Store, the Bunce family, and their Chinese backers in the region around Jade City.[4] They mine hard rock deposits and placer deposits left by glaciers.[2] The Bunce family have mined the area for jade for about 40 years,[1] starting with Claudia Bunce's father, Steve Simonovic.[3]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Rude Awakening". Jade Fever. Season 1. Episode 8. 21 April 2015. Discovery Channel Canada.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "The Curse of the Jade". Jade Fever. Season 1. Episode 7. 21 April 2015. Discovery Channel Canada.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Out of Bounds". Jade Fever. Season 1. Episode 10. 28 April 2015. Discovery Channel Canada.
  4. ↑ "Pilot". Jade Fever. Season 1. Episode 1. 31 March 2015. Discovery Channel Canada.

External links