About Us

Potentate Mining LLC is a privately owned corporation currently mining Montana sapphires and gold from the Gem Mountain district near historic Philipsburg, MT.

In 2011 Potentate secured the Eureka Gulch Sapphire and Gold mine on the north side of Gem Mountain and have been mining gold and Montana sapphires at this location since 2012.  In 2014, Potentate secured approximately 3000 acres of sapphire-bearing ground in the famous Rock Creek sapphire mining district on the south side of Gem Mountain.

This is the first time since the discovery of these sapphire deposits in the 1890’s that one company has been successful in consolidating such a large land position covering most of the old alluvial workings and all of the surrounding hilltops.

Since the last time the Gem Mountain sapphire area was commercially mined considerable advancements in heat treating technology have radically increased the resource of commercially marketable colours able to be extracted from the Gem Mountain sapphire deposit.

Examples of Rock Creek Sapphire Production

Rock Creek is a very high grade deposit of Montana sapphires unlikely to be depleted for many generations. The sapphires occur near the surface  making the relative cost of mining quite low compared to underground mining.  The sapphires produced are a variety of colors in their natural state with approximately 12% of the sapphires occurring in fancy colors. Heat treatment technology results in about 80% of the sapphires becoming market desirable colors.