The Bamroud Agate Field

Bamroud is the most economical agate field in Iran which is full of beautiful agate nodules, indeed. However the color range in these agates is somewhat limited to colorless, white, blue, grey, smoky and rarely orange, but variance in their patterns and internal structures compensate this limitation. Presence of special patterns like Stalactitic agate, Eye agate, Moss agate rise the commercial value of these agates.  Also size, quality, commercial value and variety of nodules, beside the extent of agate bearing layer (about 36 Km2) are not contrastable with other agate fields in Iran.

Bamroud agate field is some different from other agate fields in Iran in appearance and genesis. This agate field is located in a little inter-mountain plain which has discovered by locals in 1972 by accident. But there is stories that told that locals well-knew this agate field from the past. This area is situated in north of Bamroud small village between Ghayen and Shahrakht in east of Iran, near the border of Afghanistan. The agate-bearing  layer is a very weathered green tuff layer which is buried under a thin layer of alluvium plain. Both of them are unconsolidated and could excavate without blasting and only by simple digging. This green tuff is andesitic to rhyolitic in composition and based on geological maps is Upper Eocene in age.

There is several years that agate field is under limited extraction by a local miner, Mr. Haji Mohamadi. His workers extract agates by manual digging and no mechanized extracting has been ever done. He sell his limit agate production in cabochon making market of Mashad city.

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