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 Nephrite jade. The region is home to 92% of the world's nephrite jade. Jade City is by road about 19 hours north of Greater Vancouver, and 1 hour south of the Yukon border.[3] As of 2015, it has a population of about 30 people.[3]
Jade City is a very small town. The Cassiar Mountain Jade Store offers free RV parking, free coffee and free wifi and they also sell jade products made from nearby formations of the stone. During the summer a church opens up to the public offering Sunday services. There are no gas stations or restaurants here.
The reality TV series Jade Fever documents the mining efforts of the Cassiar Mountain Jade Store, and the Bunce family. They mine hard rock deposits and placer deposits left by glaciers.[2] The Bunce family has mined the area for jade for about 35 years,[1] starting with Claudia Bunce's father, Steve Simonovic in 1985.[4]
References
- "Rude Awakening". Jade Fever. Season 1. Episode 8. 21 April 2015. Discovery Channel Canada.
- "The Curse of the Jade". Jade Fever. Season 1. Episode 7. 21 April 2015. Discovery Channel Canada.
- "Pilot". Jade Fever. Season 1. Episode 1. 31 March 2015. Discovery Channel Canada.
- "Out of Bounds". Jade Fever. Season 1. Episode 10. 28 April 2015. Discovery Channel Canada.
External links
- Official website: http://jadecity.com/
- Discovery Channel Canada, Jade Fever: "Jade City gallery"
- Discovery Channel Canada, Jade Fever