Circular 33 — Possibilities for Discovery of Additional Lead-Silver Ore in the Palomas Camp Area of the Palomas (Hermosa) Mining District, Sierra County, New Mexico: A Preliminary Statement

By Richard H. Jahns, 1955, 14 pages. 

Palomas Camp, in the Palomas (Hermosa) mining district of northwestern Sierra County, New Mexico, was a small but flourishing center of silver mining during the period 1880-1900. The estimated total value of precious metals produced from mines at this camp, including the output from intermittent operations since 1900, is approximately $1.5 mi l l ion. The ore occurs mainly as small but high-grade masses, thinly tabular to podlike in form, that are distributed along fractures, faults, and some bedding planes in sedimentary rocks of Paleozoic age.

The Palomas district lies immediately east of the Black Range, in an area of considerable local relief. I t is 27 air line miles west of Truth or Consequences, on the Rio Grande, and 63 airline miles north of Deming. It can be reached by automobile over 24 miles of fair to poor road from Winston, which is connected with Truth or Consequences by 39 mi les of good road. The Palomas Camp area, less than a square mile in extent, l ies in the short, steep-walled canyon of Palomas Creek at altitudes of 5,900 to 7,000 feet. The creek drains eastward toward the Rio Grande, and has a small permanent flow within the canyon.

The geology and ore deposits of the district have been briefly described by Gordon1, by Harley2, and in numerous private reports by other geologists and mining engineers. The district was investigated in detail by the writer during the period 19511953 under the auspices of the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources. Henry L. Jicha, Jr. and Alfred T. Miesch participated in the project during the field season of 1952, and William R. Muehlberger assisted in the mapping of outlying areas during the season of 1953. A detailed report outlining the results of these studies is now in preparation, but this brief preliminary statement is aimed at calling attention more promptly to possibilities for discovery of additional ore in the Palomas Camp area.