I get mine direct from Kenya. I know a local guy who lives in a village where they have a hole on the ground where they dig the stuff out.
The folks in the village make soapstone trinkets and carvings for tourists (although business is somewhat thin for them). I buy from them ready cut into pen blanks, and give them the equivalent of about $2.50 per blank. Putting that into perspective, $1 is enough for a family there to feed themselves for a day, and they are very happy with that price!
The big problem is that I rarely know what colours and patterns of stone I will receive. (I can try asking them for something specific, but they send something different
). Then there is the shipping costs, which are huge! Effectively in total it costs around $9 a piece, (based on buying 30 at a time).
Rod