New Mexico Mineral Symposium — Abstracts

The mines of New Mexico's "bootheel" are unfamiliar to many mineral collectors due to the remote location and stifling summer heat. The area does, however, have an extensive mining history and a diverse mineralogy. The Apache mine just south of Hachita and the Red Hill mine on the east slope of the Animas Mountains were visited in April and May of 2004 in search of new and/or interesting mineral occurrences.

The Apache mine has been studied extensively by Strongin (1958) and Peterson (1976), and Lueth (1996) revealed new information on the mineralogy of the mine in a presentation at the Seventeenth Annual New Mexico Mineral Symposium. These sources should be consulted for a thorough description of the mine.

Specimens were collected exclusively from dump material south of the collapsed main stope at the Apache mine. Ten species not previously reported from the mine were identified by a combination of microprobe analysis and physical characteristics. New to the Apache mine are bromargyrite, cuprotungstite, hemimorphite, jixianite, mottramite, rosasite, shattuckite, stolzite, willemite, and wulfenite. Jixianite [Pb (W, Fe)₂(O,OH)₇] has been reported from only two locations world wide, Jixian, Hebei, China, and the Clara mine in Germany. The Apache mine is the first North American occurrence of jixianite. It was found in a single 7.5 x 10-cm (3 x 4-inch) specimen associated with scheelite, cuprotungstite, bromargyrite, calcite, and muscovite (sericite). Crystals are bright crimson red octahedra averaging approximately 20 R. Many of the crystals exhibit spinel law twinning. Shattuckite [Cu₅²⁺ (SiO₃)₄(OH)₂] was found sparingly in a limited area on one of the dumps. It occurs as robin's egg blue spheres and blebs as much as 5 mm embedded in calcite and in gossan associated with malachite, bismutite, and pyrite altered to goethite.

The Red Hill mine visit was prompted by the receipt of a package containing two wulfenite specimens from Mickey and Elaine Raine of Clifton, New Jersey. The specimens were accompanied by hand-written labels reading "Wulfenite, Red Hill mine, W. of Hachita, NM, 3-23-43." One label included the initials R.R.R. There is no mention of wulfenite from this area in Northrop's (1966) Minerals of New Mexico; however, a Red Hill district and Red Hill mine in the Animas Mountains about 30 mi southwest of Hachita were described. Also referenced was the USGS Walnut Wells quadrangle map. This information led to New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Bulletin 84, 1965, Geology of the Walnut Wells quadrangle, Hidalgo County, New Mexico, by R. A. Zeller, Jr., and A. M. Alper. A thorough description of the Red Hill mine is contained in this publication and surprisingly, a mention of wulfenite and pyromorphite! Inspired by this information, arrangements were made to travel to the bootheel on the 18th of April to see what minerals could be found. Mine workings consist of a vertical shaft (partially caved) and "glory hole" trenches following the quartz vein, which contains the ore minerals galena, anglesite, and cerussite. There are several dumps and a long, ramplike structure made up of dump material plus some collapsed mine structures. Small wulfenite crystals are found in the quartz vein along with small, steeply pyramidal white crystals that were determined by microprobe analysis to be vanadinite. Cerussite is common on the dumps along with relict galena and green botryoidal mottramite (var. psittisinite). Micro hemimorphite and rosasite were also found in dump material. Another trip was made on the 23rd of May to search for additional specimens and to take photographs. Wulfenite specimens were found in a limited area on one of the dumps that exactly matched those of the Raine specimens that were apparently collected in 1943. The crystals were caramel-colored, prismatic to tabular, and as much as 5.5 mm. Micro willemite, vanadinite, mimetite, coronadite, and pyromorphite (identified by microprobe analysis) were also found. Species new to the Red Hill mine are coronadite, hemimorphite, mimetite, rosasite, vanadinite, and willemite. A large mass that appeared to be cerussite was found on the "ramp" during this visit. When broken, it was solid galena with a rind of anglesite/cerussite. The mass weighed 8.64 kg (19 lb)!
 

Red Hill mine, Hidalgo County, New Mexico Mineral List

Apache Mine, Apache District No. 2, Hidalgo County, New Mexico Mineral List 

+ Not previously reported
*Reported but not observed
#Tentative Identification

References:

1. Lueth, V. W., 1996, Secondary bismuth minerals from the Apache mine, Hidalgo County, New Mexico (abs): New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, 17th Annual New Mexico Mineral Symposium, p. 4.
2. Northrop, S. A., and LaBruzza, F. A., 1996, Minerals of New Mexico: University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 356 pp.
3. Peterson, S. L., 1976, Geology of the Apache No. 2 mining district, Hidalgo County, New Mexico: Unpublished M.S. thesis, University of New Mexico, 86 pp.
4. Strongin, 0., 1958, Geology and ore deposits of the Apache Hills and northern Sierra Rica, Hidalgo County, New Mexico: Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University, 222 pp.
5. Zeller, R. A., Jr., and Alper, A. M., 1965, Geology of the Walnut Wells quadrangle, Hidalgo County, New Mexico: New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Bulletin 84, 105 pp.