During the past several years Argentina has become one of the new hot beds for agate prospecting. The condor agate was introduced to the U.S. market in 1992 by the former Argentinean actor, Luis de los Santos. Since then he discovered the puma agate in 1993, the crater agate in 1997, and more recently the Black River agate. Prospecting and mining these agates is difficult. Not only are the locations extremely remote, but the work must be done at elevation where the weather is often not cooperative. Luis named this agate after the large Condor birds that were flying over him during the trip that he discovered the agate. It is mined at over 6,000 feet. The site can only be reached by horse back.
