home/mineralworldagates/                                                                                                   Europe/Germany/Nahe-Region/Idar-Oberstein/ Juchem Quarry

The Juchem quarry in the fischbachtal-valley is one of the todays finding locations in the region of Idar-Oberstein. The quarry is famous for the beautiful amethyst and smoky-quarz geodes (sometimes in combination with awesome calcite crystals) which were found over decades. Sometimes the quarry offers agate nodules for the collector. They can be found in the upper levels of the quarry.

Typically for the agates from the Juchem quarry is at one side the fine lined banding - on the other the lack of colours. Mostly found were nodules in greyish and creamy colours - more rare is a reddish colorization. Not rare in Juchem quarry are pseudomorphs:  some are formations after aragonite crystal sprays, others are formations after globular shaped carbonatic aggregates. Vein-agates were found in the Juchem quarry too - they show more colours than the nodules and they have very often a polygonal shape. Intensive wheathering can change the structure of the agates. They are becoming more porous and softer - the colours are bleaching too. If such material is cut and polished, this working-process can produce a fine relief on the surface ( caused by the interchanging harder and softer bands ), that is fracturing the light. Such agates are showing a so called “surface iris-effect” in rainbow-colours. Very interesting are agate formations in superspherulitical structure - they show in their pattern very large spherulitical balls.

In the years 2002 until 2005 a lot of fine agate-findings were possible in newly explored areas - situated nearly to the forest. Very interesting findings were nodules with concurrential growing between chalcedony and a needle-like mineral (Aragonite ? Zeolithes ?), pseudomorphical formations after Aragonite - so called explosions, and findings of “whirl-agate”. 

In the year 2006 very interesting findings of Agate and Amethyst were done at the “cataract”. Superspherulitical formations and intensively red coloured wormlike formations are some of the obscure objects that could be found at this place. 

Collecting in the Juchem quarry is only allowed in no-working times (weekend) and against paying a little fee. Visitors must wear a protection helmet !