New Mexico Mineral Symposium — Abstracts

The Gold Hill mining district was discovered in 1857, and the Gold Hill mine itself was producing ore by 1871. Metals recovered from the district include gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, tungsten, arsenic, bismuth, antimony, vanadium, tin, and molybdenum. In 1892 a mill was constructed to process ores from the Alvarado, Cane Springs, and Gold Hill mines. From 1892 to 1895, the mill produced $208,000 in gold. During WWI production peaked. Mining activity was inconsistent and the last ore produced was in 1945.

The mine has been "discovered" by collectors of mineral specimens. It has been one of the most popular field collecting sites in the American West. The Gold Hill mine's various pits, adits, and intermediate levels have produced many colorful secondary arsenate minerals, for which the mine is famous.

Currently, www.mindat.org lists approximately 91 minerals from the mine, although some species have not been listed on the Web site, such as vesuvianite from the main dumps, pharmacosiderite from the 150-ft level, and segnitite from the 110-ft level.

It is the type location for two minerals; austinite, CaZn(AsO₄)(OH), and juanitaite, (Cu,Ca,Fe)₁₀Bi(AsO₄)₄(OH)₁₁.H₂O. It can be considered as the co-type locality for barahonaite(Al), (Ca,Cu,Na,Fe⁺³Al)₁₂Al₂(AsO₄)₂(OH,Cl)x•nH₂O, which was recently published.

In 2007 the Utah Mined Land Reclamation Program closed off holes located within the Gold Hill mining district, including the Gold Hill mine. The Gold Hill mine's underground workings are now inaccessible, but the mine's open pits and dumps can still produce nice specimens.

References:

1. Haynes, P., 2008, A eulogy for the underground workings of the Gold Hill mine, Tooele County, Utah: Rocks and Minerals, v. 83, pp. 451-456.
2. Kampf, A. R., Wise, W. S., and Rossman, G. R., 2000, Juanitaite, a new mineral from Gold Hill, Utah: Mineralogical Record, v. 31, pp. 301-305.
3. Vinals, J., Jambor, J., Raudsepp, M., Roberts, A. C., Grice, J. D., Kokinos, M., and Wise, W. S., 2008, barahonaite-(Al) and barahonaite-(Fe), new Ca-Cu arsenate mineral species from Murcia province, southeastern Spain and Gold Hill, Utah: Canadian Mineralogist, v. 46, pp. 205-217.
4. Wise, W. S., and Kokinos, M., 1993, Famous mineral localities: the Gold Hill mine, Tooele County, Utah: Mineralogical Record, v. 24, pp. 11-22.