Ornaments

This cheerful Santa ornament will brighten any tree!

Gold mining in New Mexico was reported as early as 1828, but was undoubtedly done earlier by the Spanish and Indians. The gold deposits of New Mexico are generally distributed in a belt 50 to 100 miles wide extending from Hachita, Hidalgo County to Elizabethtown, Colfax County. These deposits are most commonly associated with intrusive rocks of Cretaceous or Tertiary age ranging in composition from quartz monzonite to granodiorite. Presently in New Mexico, gold is being produced as a by-product of copper mining in Grant county, by cyanide heap leaching at Mogollon in Catron County, also at Ortiz in Santa Fe County, and as lode gold mining in the Steeple Rock district, Grant County and at the bluebird mine in Santa Fe County.

This shiny ornament has an image of smithsonite from the Kelly Mine in Magdalena. It will look great on your tree!

Smithsonite is a zinc carbonate (ZnCO₃) that occurs in a variety of colors, the most famous of which is the 'Kelly Blue' variety. The Kelly Mine is one of several mines in the Magdalena mining district, located in Socorro County, New Mexico.

Ore was discovered in the district in 1866, with early production of mainly lead and smaller amounts of silver. Copper became an important metal around 1900. Zinc carbonate ores (smithsonite) were recognized and expoited around 1903. Zinc was the most important metal mined from the district after that time. Complex sulfide ores became the mining staple of the district after 1908. Mining continued into the 1960s, but the Kelly headframe still stands today.