There are quartz mines all over the world, but the spectacular Naica quartz mine, has drawn the attention of experts on the subject, due to the large dimensions of the crystals found. This famous mine was discovered in the year 1794, in the Municipality of Saucillo in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, when the miners Pedro Ramos, Alejo Hernández and Vicente Ruiz, made the discovery while looking for other minerals, thus finding the first ore veins.
But in reality, its boom and development began in 1828, when Santiago Stoppelli discovered a mineral in the area, which brought progress and gave rise to the foundation of the town, which grew vertiginously and thus the Naica Mining Company was founded and on July 27, 1911. In this way, the town managed to reach the category of Municipality of Naica, thanks to the level of development that it obtained due to mining activity, but when the Mexican Revolution took place, it was practically abandoned and the activities ceased. activities in these mines, which caused it to be added to the populations belonging to the Saucillo Municipality.
On the other hand, the Naica Mine is widely known and considered one of the most impressive quartz mines in the world, and in turn is the main lead concentrate mine in Mexico and the fourth most important in the world; however, the «Cueva de los Cristales», which is located inside this mine, is the one that draws the most attention, due to its structural characteristics, its size, dimensions and the great beauty of the crystals found in it.
This famous cave was discovered by the brothers Javier and Eloy Delgado in December 1999; at a depth of more than 850 meters, and it is the only one that can be entered, since it is not possible to access the rest due to the large size of the crystalline formations and their high temperature; which reaches about 45 degrees Celsius with a humidity between 80 and 90%, which makes breathing very difficult.
This «Cave of Crystals» is located on top of an underground magma chamber, which heats the water to levels where it was highly saturated with minerals, which has allowed the crystals to grow enormously, reaching incredible proportions, reason for which UNESCO was asked for World Heritage status, in order to protect these large formations of quartz crystals, which is a mineral with many properties and uses in various fields, such as jewelry and industry.
It should be noted that quartz is the most common of all the minerals that exist on the planet; being its very wide distribution on the earth’s surface, abounding in igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks. This mineral, which is found in various mining deposits around the world, has a hardness level of 7 on the Mohs scale, and can be used for various activities in the industry; but the miners who extract it must protect their respiratory tract, because the inhalation of particles detached from the rock can produce a fairly serious disease such as silicosis.
That is how, the spectacular Naica quartz minehas a significant importance not only for Mexico but for the world, since the morphological and structural characteristics of the crystals found there, make it unique in the world, which is why it must be declared World Heritage by UNESCO. In addition, from the economic point of view, its extraction brings a lot of income to Mexico, and can provide raw material to various industries in this country and around the world.
Let us remember that quartz has a wide range of properties and uses, which make it not only the most common mineral on earth, but also one of the most useful, considering that since ancient times it has been used for various purposes; from healers to industrialists, having qualities and properties that have made it essential not only in the field of jewelry, to create fabulous garments, but in different processes, including healing.
For this reason, since ancient times it has been considered a healing stone, to the point of being considered magical by some ancient civilizations, even in China it has always been believed that quartz is capable of quenching thirst in people and/or animals. , so when warriors went to battle, they carried a quartz to quench thirst and to protect themselves and focus on the fight with their opponents.
Likewise, it is used in order to balance the chakras, and benefit people from a spiritual, emotional and physical point of view, eliminating negative emotions and providing positive energy, enhancing strength and vitality. For this reason, it is used to strengthen the immune system, and thus prevent the body from being affected by diseases of any kind.
One of the latest discoveries related to the Naica mine has to do precisely with the Cueva de Cristales, where a group of scientists have been working since 2001, applying the uranium-based dating process, with which they managed to demonstrate that the crystals were 500,000 years old.
More recently, Dr. «Penelope Boston» of the NASA Astrobiology Institute managed to isolate dormant microbes in the crystals and revive them, showing that they were about 10,000 years old and possibly up to 50,000, which feed on iron and sulfur present in the crystals. huge underground crystals located inside the cave, through a process called “chemosynthesis”.