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White Buffalo is often referred to as Turquoise due to its discovery in a turquoise mine. Although technically not turquoise, the reason behind its illustrious white color is because it is formed by the same mineralization process turquoise undergoes. However, the difference between White Buffalo and Turquoise is that it lacks the presence of heavy metals like copper, iron, or zinc, which add the common turquoise colors in the blue-green-yellow spectrum. This stone, sometimes called Sacred White Buffalo, is very rare because of its distinct qualities making it highly coveted.

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White Buffalo Turquoise was named by the Native Americans in the area of its discovery because they saw the beauty and purity of this stone and believed it to be as rare as a white buffalo. This stone has only been discovered in one mine worldwide--Dry Creek Mine on the Shoshone Indian Reservation near Battle Mountain, Nevada--in 1993. Being the only deposit known in existence and having a very limited quantity remaining to be mined, this stone is quite rare and extremely valuable. In recent years, White Buffalo Turquoise jewelry has become very popular due to its uniqueness, extreme rarity, and affinity to the spiritual world.

 

Since there is only one known mine for this particular stone and the difficulty in acquiring it, many dealers have resorted to purposefully mislabeling similar stones, such as Howlite, Magnesite, and even dyed turquoise to sell their products as White Buffalo Turquoise.