OVERVIEW
The Red Carpet mine is a pegmatite-hosted locality in Stoneham, Oxford County, Maine, owned and operated by prospector and miner Johnny Sassi. This locality is notable for producing fine examples of amethyst and smoky amethyst, some with delicate pale-green chlorite inclusions. Other minerals from this locality include beryl (including beryl var. aquamarine), feldspar, muscovite, garnet, pyrite, calcite, and hyalite opal. The Red Carpet is just one of several pegmatite mines Sassi has developed and worked on his mountain; another, the nearby Magna Futura Mine, is noted for abundant, well-formed clusters of almandine garnets.
Working largely as a one-man crew on his own land, Sassi spent years prospecting, hand-digging, and slowly proving out the Red Carpet pocket system. The Red Carpet reflects Sassi’s “thrill of the hunt” approach to exploring his mountain. Friends and fellow miners have periodically brought in larger equipment and tools to expand the work.
In 2023, Sassi collaborated with fellow miner Jeff Morrison on a short exploratory season using larger equipment to test the deposit on a bigger scale; this work revealed a number of additional amethyst pockets and further exposed the pegmatite. Active mining at Red Carpet is currently on hold.
Red Carpet is a privately owned locality and is not open for public collecting. Below, you’ll find Jeff Morrison’s account of the 2023 season and the day-to-day realities of mining: mud, bugs, ups and downs, deep digging, and constant problem-solving. Johnny’s own account of Red Carpet, in his words, is planned as a future addition to this page.
Pictured: One of the finest pieces from the Red Carpet, currently on display at the Maine Mineral & Gem Museum, on loan from Jeff Morrison. This cluster was extracted during the 2023 season by Johnny Sassi and Jeff Morrison. Photo by Alice Wack. Specimen measures 74mm H x 48mm W x 33mm D.
2023 red carpet season – mud, bugs, problem-solving
In 2023, Sassi invited fellow miner Jeff Morrison (owner of the Havey Mine) to work the prospect with him. Morrison brought over an excavator and track drill up the mountain for a more mechanized season at Red Carpet.
Over a stretch of wet, buggy days the two miners rebuilt the road, coaxed an aging track drill up steep ledges, battled Maine’s legendary bugs, and tested the pegmatite with a series of blasts, opened fresh ledge and chased the purple-bearing zone deeper into the hillside.
This campaign produced a few additional amethyst pockets and greatly expanded the exposed pegmatite, while also showing how much more rock would need to be moved to keep going. Click the button below to read Morrison’s full perspective of this season.
highlights from jeff’s field report…
Road building in a record-wet summer – Turning a rough skidder trail into a workable road and towing a 25-year-old track drill up steep ledges so it could finally reach the amethyst zone during one of the wettest Maine seasons on record.
Bugs, blasting, and two new pockets – working through black flies, mosquitoes, and horse flies to drill, blast, and uncover a set of small amethyst pockets, one that included amethyst with pale green chlorite inclusions.
The amethyst that “went missing” – One early pocket produced a nice amethyst cluster Johnny sent home with Jeff, but ended up disappearing. Months later, Jeff discovered it had been “safely stolen” into his wife’s display case the whole time.
Photos – Mining, Machines, Minerals, Mountainscapes
