New Mexico Mineral Symposium — Abstracts

Any discussion of the Magdalena mining district in Socorro County, New Mexico, ultimately focuses on the beautiful blue-green gem variety of the mineral smithsonite and for good reason. Specimens from the. Kelly mine have become famous the world over for their superb color and luster. The Kelly mine, as a result, has tended to enjoy all of the mineralogical accolades over the past 50 years or so, and our very own mineralogical museum here in Socorro is responsible, at least in part.

A reason for the fame of the Kelly is the C. T. Brown collection. Acquired by the New Mexico School of Mines in 1938, the collection contains an abundance of superb smithsonites, most of which have been on open display to the public since that time.

However, with the mineral museum's acquisition of the Mahlon T. Everhart collection in 1990, it became apparent that there is another mine in the district that has produced an equally impressive array of mineralogical treasures. That mine is the Graphic-Waldo, located over the hill to the north of the Kelly. C. T. Brown's mining partner in the district was Asa B. Fitch, and he, like Brown, assembled an impressive collection of minerals. Whereas Brown tended to focus his attentions on the Kelly, Fitch collected primarily at the Graphic. Thus, the two collections complement one another. Mahlon acquired the Fitch collection during the 1930s and subsequently donated it to the museum in 1990.

Specimens in the Fitch/Everhart collection are remarkable in that they clearly demonstrate that zinc carbonate has tended to replace many of the other ore minerals in the Graphic ore body —sometimes with spectacular results. Examples of such replacements are seen as smithsonite pseudomorphs of barite, calcite, cerussite, cuprite, galena, and native copper. With this presentation, the authors hope to place the Graphic-Waldo back where it belongs—on an equal mineralogical standing with the Kelly.