Da Paccio quarry, Nufenenpass, upper Val Bedretto, Ticino, Switzerland

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(text and pictures by FdW)

When you drive over the Nufenenpass from the Walliser side, ca.5 km after a few curves going down from the Nufenenpass / Passo della Novena you see the "quarry Da Paccio" on the right side of the road. The quarry is actually a large Quarz-vein, which is being exploited for the famous Nadelquarz/Needle Quarz.

For an entrance fee of between 30 and 50 CHF per day (children I think for 30 Swiss Francs) you can since the summer of 2005 search here for Needle Quarz. The quarry is open from the end of june to the middle of october, depending on the amount of snow present. You can search on the dumps of the quarry. The workers bring fresh material to the dumps every day. The entrance fee includes a very nice lunch with a delicious soupe, salad, fresh made risotto with mushrooms, bread, Merlot wine, water/juice and coffee with homemade schnapps. After that looking for minerals is a whole new experience :-)

When I was there they were drilling holes for another dynamite run that day :-)
They dynamited twice that day so there was enough fresh material. The workers threw some blocks down while they were breaking loose rocks after the explosions. Those rocks gave me nice undamaged and waterclear needle Quarzes to 5 cm in length in an about head-large cavity.

Some Nadelquarz...:

(pictures and specimen by FdW)

NEWS: Val Bedretto is no more... :-( See Swisscristal

Click for the folder of the quarry here...

Val Bedretto 2010:

(text and pictures by Ruud Kroeze)

Contrary to what we heard a while ago, Val Bedretto is still there :-). Ruud Kroeze and his family visited this locality in August 2010. Their attention to this locality was drawn by our locality page, in particular by the photographs of the Nadelquarz pieces found by Frank back in 2006.

When they arrived at Val Bedretto, they got acquainted with owner Marco Pacciorini and they learned that Marco and his companions were preparing a blasting. They had to clear the area and after a horn signal they heard a big bang and when the clouds of smoke and dust were raised, they were allowed to join Marco, to inspect the results of the blasting.

There were many rockpieces lying around, with cavities from 5 upto 30-40cm, filled with beautiful Nadelquarzes. After Marco and company had secured the best pieces, Ruud and his family were allowed to search themselves, which delivered some nice Nadelquarz specimen and some 'Artichoke' quarz.

In the meantime, Marco set himself behind the stove and started to prepair a typical 'Tessiner' meal, a Risotto with salad, salami and wine. During the meal, Marco told some stories and explained that he and his companions are retired now and that they only work on the adit if they want to and when the weather is good.

Check our forum for more.

(pictures & specimen by Ruud Kroeze)

Ruud Kroeze send us some additional pictures of some of his finds :-)

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If you're searching for mineralogical articles on this locality (ss-1974-06-223-zwitserland-ticino-val-cristallina-val-bedretto-holle-rutil, ss-1979-02-45-zwitserland-ticino-bedretto-furkabasistunnel, lapis-1998-02-31-zwitserland-ticino-bedretto-valleggiagletscher, lapis-1998-02-36-zwitserland-ticino-bedretto-cavagnoligletscher, ss-1999-04-545-zwitserland-tessin-bedretto, lapis-2001-03-36-zwitserland-tessin-bedretto, ss-2001-03-09-zwitserland-ticino-val-bedretto, ss-2002-01-25-bijlage-zwitserland-ticino-val-bedretto etc..), please contact us...

Also see: Swisscristal

Mindat.org on this location.

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