Since there are just a few companies that account for all U.S. industrial garnet production, published detailed production statistics for New York State are not available. However, generally speaking, Barton Mines in Warren County is the largest U.S. garnet producer. Collections The New York State Museum in Albany, NY houses specimens from significant sites across the state, including 93 mineral species from the Balmat-Edwards mining district in St. Lawrence, super garnets from the Barton Mine in the Adirondack Mountains, and Herkimer diamonds from Herkimer County, New York Oldest garnet mine The largest garnet mine in the world is located Near North Creek New York and is operated by Barton Mines Corporation who supplies about 90% of the world's garnet. Barton Mines Corporation is the first and oldest industrial garnet mining operation in the world and the second oldest continuous mining operation in the United States under the same management and mining the same product throughout its history. The Gore Mountain Mine of the Barton Mines Corporation was first mined under the direction of H. H. Barton, Sr. in 1878 to produce garnet as the primary product. Largest garnet crystal The open-pit Barton Garnet Mine, located at Gore Mountain in the Adirondack Highlands, yields the world's largest single crystals of garnet; diameters range from 5 to 35 cm and commonly average 10–18 cm. Gore Mountain garnets are unique in many respects, and considerable effort has been made to determine the timing of garnet growth. The first dating was that of Basu et al. (1989), who used plagioclase-hornblende-garnet to produce a Sm/Nd isochron that yielded an age of 1059 ± 19 Ma. Mezger et al. (1992) conducted their own Sm/Nd investigation using hornblende and the drilled core of a 50 cm garnet to produce an isochron age of 1051 ± 4 Ma. Connelly (2006) utilized 7 different fractions of a Gore Mountain garnet to obtain a Lu-Hf isochron age of 1046.6 ± 6 Ma. We therefore conclude with confidence that the garnets formed at 1049 ± 5 Ma, the average of the three determinations. This is also the local age of peak metamorphism in the 1090–1040 Ma Ottawan phase of the Grenvillian orogeny and serves as a critical data point in ascertaining the evolution of the megacrystic garnet deposits. See also Abrasive blasting References Further reading Hurlbut, Cornelius S.; Klein, Cornelis, 1985, Manual of Mineralogy, 20th ed., Wiley, Color Encyclopedia of Gemstones,