Pegmatite Deposits of The White Picacho District

iI
Vol. XXIII, No. 5 November, 1952

Vol. XXIII, No. 5
llluineraitl1 of l\ri~ouu
HOWARD PYLE, LL.D. (e
MARION L. BROOKS, B.S.,
iJulletiu
(ex officio) . ARIZONA BUREAU OF MINES
WALTER R. BIMSON, Preside

LYNN M. LANEY, B.S., J.D.....
JOHN G. BABBITT, B.S.....
MICHAEL B. HODGES, Tre
JOHN M. JACOBS .
MRS. EVELYN JONES KIa
ALEXANDER G. JACOME,
W:ILLIAM R. MATHEWS,
PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE

WHITE PICACHO DISTRICT,
MARICOPA AND YAVAPAI COUNTIES,
ARIZONA ARIZONA
T. G. CHAPMAN, Director
G. R. FANSETT, Mining Engin
R.T.Mo By Richard H. Jahns
SERVICES OFFERED B California Institute of Technology
Pasadena, California
Among the many lines of a
lowing have proved especiall
.1. The preparation and pu 1
iug authoritative information 0
prospectors, miners and others
zona's mineral resources and in
free of charge to residents and
request.
2. The classification of min
iug rocks and giving the co
qualitative tests for important e
ing the probable market for an
samples submitted. This servic
the specimens originate wit .
specimen is made for sam
assays, quantitative chemi
scopic or thin sections are desi Price $1.25
by law, a schedule of which W (Free to Residents of Arizona)
(Continue
STATEMENT
The University of Arizona Bu
April,July, October, and Novem
Entered as second-class mail PUBLISHED BY
Office at Tucson, Arizona, un
for mailing at special rate 0 ~uifr.e:utttl of J\:riJ!llUU
of October 3, 1917, authorize TUCSON, ARIZONA
MINING AND PROSPECTING 73
Methods and past developments 73
TABLE OF CONTENTS Production ~......................................................................... 76
Future possibilities ...................................................•.................................... 76
PAGE
DESCRIPTIONS OF SELECTED MINES AND PROSPECTS 78
INTRODUCTION . 5 Morning Star prospects 78
Background of investigations :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 5 North Morning Star mine 80
Field and laboratory work . 8 Sunset prospect ,.................... 83
Acknowledgements , . 9 Lower Jumbo mine 84
GEOGRAPHY . 9 White Jumbo prospect 86
Location and accessibility . 9 Sunrise prospect c............................................................ 87
Topography and drainage . 10 Picacho View mine 90
Climate and vegetation . 11 Outpost mine 93
Outpost Extension prospect 96
GEOLOGIC SETTING . 11 Friction mine 97
Older rocks c••••••••••••••••••.••••••••••••••...•••••••••••••••.•••••••••••••.••••.••••••••••.•••••.• 11 Midnight Owl (Lithia King) mine 98
Younger rocks " . 13 Independence prospects 103
Structural features . 14 Long Dike mine 103
PEGMATITES . 15 New Lookout prospects 104
Distribution and occurrence ~ . 15 Lone Giant prospect _ _ 104
Form, size, and attitude . 18
Relations to country rock : . 21
Internal structure . 22
General features . 22
Zones . 24
Border zones . 24
Wall zones . 25
Intermediate zones . 26
Cores c••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••.•••••••••••••••.••••...••••••••••••••• 28
Fracture fillings and other units . 30
Mineralogy . 32
g:~~ti~ls~!~:.~~~ ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::~::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 32
34
Varietal minerals . 36
Accessory minerals . 44
Other minerals . 50
Sequence of mineral formation . 52
Genesis of the pegmatites . 54
ECONOMIC FEATURES OF THE PEGMATITE MINERALS . 57
Feldspars . 57
Uses, classification, and marketing data . 57
o.ccurrence . 59
Quartz . 60
Lithium minerals . 60
Uses and marketing data . 60
Determination of grade . 62
Occurrence . 65
Beryl . 67
Uses and marketing data . 67
Determination of grade . 68
Occurrence . 69
Mica , , . 70
Class1fication, uses, and marketing data . 70
Occurrence ; . 71
Columbium-tantalum minerals . 72
Bismuth minerals . 73
ILLUSTRATIONS
PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE WHITE PICACHO
PAGE
DISTRICT, MARICOPA AND YAVAPAI COUNTIES,
I.-INDEX MAP OF THE WHITE PICACHO DISTRICT, MARICOPA
ARIZONA
AND YAVAPAI COUNTIES, ARIZONA, SHOWING LOCATIONS OF
MAJOR PEGMATITE AREAS AND PRINCIPAL PEGMATITE DE- INTRODUCTION
POSITS SUp.
BACKGROUND OF INVESTIGATIONS
Il.-MAIN CUT OF THE PICACHO VIEW MINE, LOOKING NORTH-
WEST - -- -- __ , __ 16 Deposits of pegmatite minerals are known from many parts
IlL-TYPICAL POD-LIKE MASS OF PEGMATITE, WEST SIDE OF of Arizona, and from time to time efforts have been made to
MITCHELL WASH __ _i 7
develop some of them as commercial sources of feldspar, quartz,
IV.-SMALL, CROSS-CUTTING MASS OF PEGMATITE IN FELDS-
PATHIC HORNBLENDE GNEISS, MASS OF MITCHELL CANYON
mica, beryl, lithium minerals, tungsten minerals, tantalum-
NEAR LOWER JUMBO MINE 22 columbium minerals, and other salable commodities. The peg-
PLATE V.-TYPICAL SMALL PEGMATITE DIKE, WALL OF MITCHELL matites occur mainly in terranes or relatively old, crystalline
CANYON NEAR LOWER JUMBO MINE _ 23 rocks that appear within the Mexican Highland and Sonoran
PLATE VI.--MAIN SPODUMENE-BEARING BULGE IN LOWER JUMBO PEG- Desert portions of the state. These physical divisions of the
MATITE __ __ __ . 28 Basin and Range province extend southeasterly from the Colorado
PLATE VII.-DETAIL OF THE PEGMATITE BULGE SHOWN IN PLATE VI .. 29 River to the southern and eastern borders of the state, and
PLATE VIIl.--MuscOVITE __ __ __ . 37 lie southwest of the broad Colorado Plateau province (Fig. 1).
PLATE IX.-LEPIDOLITE __ __ .. __ __ __ . 39 Most of the largest and best known deposits lie within the
PLATE X.-SPODUMENE . __ .. __ __ __ __ __ __ """"'" 41 so-called Arizona pegmatite belt, which is about 250 miles long,
PLATE XI.-AMBLYGONITE __ __ .. __ __ __ __ . 42 30 to 80 miles wide, and extends south-southeastward from Lake
PLATE XII.-VEINING OF PERTHITE AND AMBLYGONITE __ . 43 Mead through parts of .Mohave, Yavapai, Yuma, and Maricopa
PLATE XIlI.-LITHIOPHILITE __ __ __ __. __ . 47 counties to points south of Phoenix (Fig. 1).
PLATE XIV.-TRIPLITE __ . 48 The mine and mill of the Consolidated Feldspar Corporation,
PLATE XV.-VIEW OF MIDNIGHT OWL PEGMATITE, LOOKING NORTH .. 74 a few miles northeast of Kingman in the northern part of the
PLATE XVI.-ANDERSON MICA MILL, IN UPPER PART OF SAN DOMINGO pagmatite belt, represent by far the largest and longest-lived
WASH --..................................................................... 75 of the commercial operations for pegmatite minerals. A pro-
PLATE XVIl.-GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE NORTH MORNING STAR MINE ........ SUp. duction of more than 100,000 tons of crude and ground feldspar
PLATE XVIlI.--CROSS SECTIONS THROUGH THE NORTH PEGMATITE BODY has been obtained during the past three decades, and future
MORNING STAR MINE, SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF PEGMA~ operations should contribute substantially to this total. Both
TITE ZONES AS INTERPRETED FROM EXPLORATORY DRILL
HOLES .. -- __ __ __ SUp.
feldspar and ceramic-grade quartz have been taken from other
PLATE XIX.-IsOMETRIC PLATE DIAGRAM OF THE LOWER JUMBO PEG-
deposits in the belt, but on a considerably smaller scale. Some
MATITE BODY. SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF PEGMATITE sheet mica was produced during World War II from the Mica
ZONES AS INTERPRETED FROM SURFACE EXPOSURES AND Giant pegmatite, southeast of Kingman, and modest amounts of
EXPLORATORY DRILL HOLES . __ __ .. __ SUp. scrap mica have been mined over a long period of years from
PLATE XX.-GEOLOGIC AND ECONOMIC MAPS OF THE PICACHO VIEW other properties in the Hualpai Mountains, as well as from
MINE --- __ __ __ SUp.
pegmatites north of Chloride, in central western Mohave County;
PLATE XXI.-GEOLOGIC MAP AND SECTION OF THE OUTPOST MINE SUp.
others in the Weaver, Bradshaw, and Wickenburg Mountains of
PLATE XXII.-EcONOMIC MAP OF THE OUTPOST MINE . SUp.
southern Yavapai County; and from still others in various parts
PLATE XXIII.-EcONOMIC MAP OF THE FRICTION MINE SUp. of Maricopa County.
PLATE XXIV.-GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE MIDNIGHT OWL MINE SUp. Beryl has been obtained in small lots from many parts of the
pegmatite belt, and from scattered localities farther east in
FIGURE l.-INDEX MAP OF ARIZONA, SHOWING- RELATION OF WHITE
PICACHO DISTRICT TO THE ARIZONA PEGMATITE BELT AND TO
the state, as well. Several pegmatites in the Cottonwood and
PRINCIPAL PHYSICAL DIVISIONS .....................................................• 6 Aquarius Ranges have yielded tungsten and rare-earth minerals,
FIGURE 2.-ExPLODED BLOCK DIAGRAMS, SHOWING THREE-DIMENSIONAL and pegmatitic deposits of wolframite and scheelite have been
RELATIONS OF PEGMATITE DIKES AND OTHER BODIES 20 worked in numerous areas farther south and southeast. Prospect-
FIGURE 3.-GENERALIZED PLANS OF TYPICAL PEGMATITE BODIES, SHOWING ing for deposits of these and other pegmatite minerals has been
CHARACTERISTIC DISTRIBUTION OF ZONES WITHIN THEM _ 27 intensified during recent years, in part because of increased de-
FIGURE 4.-GENERAL AGE-ABUNDANCE RELATIONS OF PRINCIPAL MINERALS mands for a surprising variety of relatively rare minerals.
IN THE PEGMATITES 53
FIGURE 5.-SKETCH MAP OF THE SUNRISE PEGMATITE BODIES 88 5
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLETIN PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE WHITE PICACHO DISTRICT 7
r---·'7"-----------·------ --------'------------'-l lithium mmerals known to occur in Arizona are lepidolite in

.I
! /
//
the Bagdad area of Yavapai County, and zinnwaldite in the
Duquesne area of Santa Cruz County." He appended the state-
1/ I ment that "further prospecting for lithium minerals in pegma-
tites seems to be justified," and the soundness of this suggestion
'/
I
I
has been demonstrated by recent discoveries of numerous lithium
deposite in several areas near Bagdad, in the Vulture Mountains
II area west-southwest of Wickenburg. All of these areas are in
the southern half of the Arizona pegmatite belt.
I
: The pegmatites of the White Picacho district, although long
known to a few local miners and prospectors, were not examined
systematically or in detail until 1947, when geologists of the
Whitehall Company of Keene, New Hampshire, noted them
during the course of a widespread search for western deposits of
high-grade feldspar. Preliminary surveys of this and nearby
areas were first made from an airplane, which not only provided
rapid geographic coverage, but permitted identification and lo-
cation of nearly all the exposed pegmatite bodies. 2 Supplementary
inspection of the pegmatites on the ground was followed by
(' exploration of the most promising ones later in the same year,
! and many excellent new exposures were developed.
) Large concentrations of high-grade feldspar and of spodumene,
I' amblygonite, and other lithium minerals were found at several
f localities, and valuable data on their extent and grade were

obtained as a result of the exploration program and subsequent
small-scale mining operations in the district. Most recently, four
) of the properties were further explored by means of diamond-
I-~~~--<---...-' drill holes during the course of a search for lithium deposits
l ........ by the Pacific Coast Borax Company. This latest work, which
................... was done during the summer arid fall of 1952, revealed many
........ ......
- -............... additional elements of structure and mineralogy within indivi-
dual pegmatite masses.
.-.......-...... The discovery, exploration, and development of these pegma-
tite deposits have provided an exceptional opportunity to study
................
l So m.:iZes
......... - them in detail, and to view their commercial possibilities in
the light of geologic and economic factors. It is a matter of
__J
....... -....... . . . . _L_________
:\
general record that most attempts to win profits from pegmatite
Figure I.-Index map of Arizona, showing relation of White Picacho dis- deposits are abundant, the commercial production from them
trict to the Arizona pegmatite belt and to principal physical divisions. has amounted to only a tiny fraction of the total mineral output
from the state. This situation has been variously ascribed to
unfavorable locations of the deposits, adverse market condi-
tions, difficulties or errors in proper exploration and evaluation
Until the period following World War II, lithium-bearing peg- of pegmatite deposits in general, incomplete untlerstand'ing
matites were virtually unknown in the state, even though a of pegmatite minerals by miners and prospectors, and especially
few specimens of amblygonite, triplite, and other lithium min- to intrinsic shortcomings of the deposits themselves. It seems
erals had been obtained from several localities by venturesome evident that the relative importance of each of these factors
collectors. As recently as 1944, Wilson l reported that "the only must vary from one district to another and from one pegma-
tite body to another, and hence that the factors can best be
~Wilson, E. D., Arizona nonmetallics; Univ. of Arizona, Bur. of Mines, "Whitney, R. J., How a bird's-eye view from a plane makes prospecting
Bull. 152, pp. 26-27, 1944. easier: Eng. and Min. Jour., vol. 153, no. 3, pp. 84-86, 1952.
&
8 UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLETIN PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE WHITE PICACHO DISTRICT 9
evaluated only after many deposits within the pegmatite belt 1 per cent over an exposure of 1,000 square feet in a period
have been investigated in reasonable detail. of about two hours.
The chief purpose of this report is to place on record a Laboratory investigations, made chiefly at the California Insti-
general description of the pegmatites in the White Picacho dis- tute of Technology in Pasadena, California, comprised the exami-
trict, and to supplement it with detailed descriptions and inter- nation and study of rocks and individual minerals under the .
pretations of representative deposits. The deposits thus treated petrographic microscope, spectrogrGl-phic analyses of several
comprise several different structural and mineralogical types, of the rarer minerals, and chemical analyses of the principal
each of which presents its own problems to the prospector and lithium minerals. In addition, several bulk samples were crushed
min.er. In these descriptions, therefore, emphasis is placed upon and separated into their respective mineral components, mainly
those features of greatest possible economic significance, and to check the results of grade estimates that were made in the
geologic estimates of reserves have been made in terms of field. All this work was aimed at evaluation of the pegmatites
tonnage and grade wherever possible. Some marketing data in general geologic and economic terms, and may be considered
notes on other economic features of the pegmatite minerals preliminary to more exact mineralogical studies that the writer
also are included, on the assumption that they might be useful expects to complete in the future.
in connection with later commercial development of these and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
other pegmatite deposits in the state. The writer's attention was first drawn to the White Picacho
district in 1947 by Roscoe J. Whitney, Exploration Geologist
FIELD AND LABORATORY WORK for the Whitehall Company of Keene, New Hampshire. Mr.
The writer devoted approximately six weeks' time to the Whitney had just completed a preliminary survey of the area,
field studies in the district during the period March, 1948-June, and kindly furnished several specimens of unusual pegmatite
1952. Most of the large pegmatite masses and all of the known minerals. In March, 1948, the writer was guided through the dis-
deposits of feldspar and lithium minerals were examined, and trict by W. J. Alexander, Chief Engineer for the same com-
twenty-six of them were studied in detail. Six properties were pany, who pointed out the principal features of economic interest
mapped by means of the plane table and telescopic alidade and supplied much useful information that had been obtained
at scales of 20 feet and 40 feet to the inch, and four others were during a program of extensive exploration. Additional data on
mapped in similar detail by compass-and-tape-methods. locations of deposits and history of prospecting and mining
During the course of this work, a particular effort was made to operations were provided by Earl F. Anderson of Mesa, whose
determine the gross structure of each pegmatite mass, as well activities in the district cover a period of many years.
as the nature and distribution of minerals and groups of minerals The field studies upon which this report is based were facili-
i
within it. Identifications of individual minerals were made in I tated by a research grant from the California Institute of Tech-
the field wherever possible, and later were checked in the nology. The writer is indebted to Joseph H. Birman of Occidental
laboratory. Within the limitations of rock exposures and the time College and to Carl Sugar of Famous Green Enterprises for help-
for field study, the geologic maps were supplemented by economic II ful assistance in the field, and to Mr. Alexander and to L. A.
maps showing the distribution of feldspar and other minerals by Norman, Jr. of the California State Division of Mines for their
1!eneral grade of commercially recoverable material. generous contribution of ideas and critical comments during the
Data on the proportions of specific minerals in given masses course of discussions in the field. It is a pleasure also to thank
of rock were obtained by field measurements of mineral inter-
cepts along closely spaced linear traverses. The technique em-
I Harrison P. Gower, Chief Geologist for the Pacific Coast Borax
Company, who made available to the writer the subsurface data
ployed is ess~ntially that of linear-traverse analysis under the obtained from recent drill-hole exploration of several pegmatite
microscope, except that the extreme coarseness of many of the I bodies.
pegmatite minerals permits a megascopic approach to the problem Preparation of the manuscript was aided considerably by
on the ground. Most of the determinations were made by means Florence Wiltse, and many of the illustrations were drafted
of a "pegmatite traversometer," which basically is a wheel that by Ellen Powelson and David P. Willoughby.
can be rolled along any given line on the pegmatite exposure.
A counter records the revolutions of this wheel, and a second GEOGRAPHY
c~mnter, which can be engaged or disengaged by means of a
sImple clutch, records in addition the revolutions made by the
I LOCATION AND ACCESSIBILITY
The White Picacho district is in the southern part of the
wheel in traversing the crystals of the mineral whose relative
abundance is sought. By means of this device, the abundance
I Arizona pegmatite belt, and embraces an area of about 150
square miles in Maricopa and Yavapai counties. This area lies
of a given pegmatite mineral can be determined to the nearest I within the rectangle fromed by Townships 6, 7, and 8 N.,and
2
&
Ranges 2 and 3 W., Gila and Salt River Base and Meridian.
The center of the district is 7 miles east of Wickenburg, 8 miles irregular surface whose relief in most places is less· tha:r: 200
north of Morristown, and approximately 50 miles northwest of feet. Farther north, however, the country becomes progressively
Phoenix (Fig. 1). more rugged; many deep, steep-walled gulches and canY0t;ls are
The district is readily accessible from main routes of travel. present, and the relief local~y is as much as 1,500 feet. The highest
To the south and west are ;U.S. Highway 60-70 and the Phoenix ridges lie north of San Dommgo Wash, and two spectacular peaks,
line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, both of !I White Picacho and Red Picacho, dominate the landscape beyond
Trilby Wash to the southeast (PI. I). The lowest point in the
which serve Wikenbm;g and Morristown. A graded and graveled
road that extends northeastward from Morristown to Castle I district, San Domingo Wash near Cactus Gardens (southwe~t
of the area shown in PI. I) ,is slightly less than 2,000 feet m
Hot Springs traverses the southeastern part of the district, and
provides the best approach route to the p~gmatite deposits. As I altitude, and the highest peaks and ridges at the north rise to
altitudes of 4,000 feet or more.
shown in Plate I, a network of minor roads serves nearly all
parts of the district. Most of them follow main washes and I CLIMATE AND VEGETATION
canyons, and several connecting routes lie athwart this drainage.
The climate in this part of the state is essentially t~at of
Most of these roads are maintained intermittently for access
to mines and ranches, and many are passable for automobiles
throughout the year.
The northern parts of the district are most easily reached
I
l
I
the broad Sonoran Desert region to the west and south. Maximum
temperatures are high, commonly above 100 0 F., during the
summer months and below-freezing temperatures are not rare
via Trilby and Buckhorn Washes, roads in which connect south-
I during the winter season. The average. annual .precipitatio~ is
eastward with the Castle Hot Springs road. The southern parts
! approximately 12 inches, and falls mamly durmg th~ pen~ds
also are accessible from the Castle Hot Springs road, and all I July-September and Decemb~r-Feb.rua~y.!he.summer-tlme rams
but a few of the major mines and prospects are best reached I are characteristically spotty m their dlstnbutIOn, and frequently
via the Old Stage Route and a road that extends northeast- I are products of violent stor~s. Wint.er precipitation is much
II
ward up San Domingo Wash (PI. I). The Old Stage Route joins more general in extent, and m the hlgh.er areas oft~n falls as
the Castle Hot Springs road at a point about 4.\1z miles northeast snow. Humidity is prevailingly low durmg the relatlvely long
of Morristown. A poor road that extends west-southwestward periods of fair weather.
down San Domingo Wash serves parts of the district not shown The vegetation also is typically Sonoran. Trees are abundant
on Plate I, and joins U.s. Highway 60-70 at Cactus Gardens, 8 but rarely are closely spaced. The mesquite, palo v~rde, ocotillo,
miles by highway southeast of Wickenburg. and catsclaw are widely represented; the desert willow, cotton-
wood, and sycamore flourish along some of the w:ater courses;
TOPOGRAPHY AND DRAINAGE and juniper and pinon pine are present on the highest slopes.
Most of the district lies within the Wickenburg Mountains, Sahuaro, cholla, and other cacti are abundant and widespread,
a series of irregular ridges and scattered sharp points, or "pica- as are creosote bush and other varieties of desert brush. Nowhere,
chos." To the north and northeast are the higher and more however, is vegetation so dens ethat it interferes with geologic
rugged Bradshaw Mountains, and to the south is a broad, much- investigations.
dissected area of relatively low relief.
GEOLOGIC SETTING
The drainage within most of the district is broadly southward
and southwestward toward the Hassayampa River, which flows OLDER ROCKS
in a southeasterly direction from Wickenburg. The principal The pegmatites of the White Picacho district occur in igneous
drainage lines, listed from west to east, are Tub Springs Wash, and metamorphic rocks of Precambrian age. These are largely
Mitchell Wash, San Domingo Wash, Little San Domingo Wash, covered by sedimentary and volcanic rocks. o~ Tertiary and
Trilby Wash, and Picacho Wash. These washes and their upper- Quaternary age in the southern part of the dlstnct, where they
most tributaries head along a major divide that crosses the appear locally on the lower walls of canyons and as knobs that
district with an east-west course, and north of this divide the project upward through the younger rocks. Farther north they
drainage is mainly eastward by Buckhorn and Castle Canyons are relatively more abundant over broad areas of exposure, and
(PI. I). which are tributaries of the Agua Fria River. None of
the streams is permanent, although surface water ordinarily is
present in parts of the San Domingo and other main washes
for periods of several months each year.
I in the upper reaches of the principal was~es the landscape
is developed almost wholly on the PrecambrIan terrane.
The oldest of the major rock units, the Yavapai schist, com-
prises thinly foliated quart~-mica schist, qua~tz-mica-hornblende
Streams in the southern part of the district have incised schist and gneiss, feldspat~lC hor~ble~de ~nelss, quartz-f.eldspar-
themselves 50 feet to 300 feet beneath a flat to moderately mica gneisses, amphOlbohte, epldoslte, Impure quartzIte, and
I
various types of migmatitic or hybrid rocks. Most of these are to coarse grained, and even grained to slightly porphyritic. It
rocks of middle metamorphic rank, as evidenced mainly by the consists mainly of potash felspar, quartz, and plagIOclase. Biotite
presence of hornblende, garnet, biotite, and calcic plagioclase. is the most abundant dark constituent, although it is rare as
In general they are silvery gray to very dark greenish gray compared with the quartz and feldspars. A little hornblende is
and form sombre-appearing areas of exposure that contrast present locally. This granitic rock probably is correlative with
markedly with those of the lighter-colored Tertiary rocks. the Bradshaw granite, which is widely exposed in areas to
Many of the q~a~tzites .an~ quartz-rich schists are plainly the north and northeast. It is one of the youngest of the Pre-
of s~dImentary ongm, as. mdIcated by graded bedding, cross cambrian rocks in the district, but nevertheless is a part of
beddmg, cut-and-fill relatIons, and other primary structural the so-called "older Precambrian" series or rocks in the state.
features. Mo~t .of the mor~ mafic rocks, on the other hand, prob- Masses of pegmatite are present in both the granite and the
a~ly were ongmal volcamc flows and pyroclastic types. Amygda- older metamorphic rocks, and in general are smallest and
100dal and flow structures are clearly preserved in some of most irregular where they occur in the granitic rocks. They
them, and several units of agglomerate and flow breccia are vary considerably in size, form, attitude, and internal features
readily recognizable. Also present are layers and lenses of of mineralogy and structure, and are discussed in detail farther
what appear to be metamorphosed tuffaceous rocks as well as on.
light-colored feldspathic rocks that may represent metamor- Quartz veins and lenses are rather common, and have been
phosed flows and dikes of rhyolitic composition. worked for gold and tungsten in several parts of the district.
The Yavapai schist, first described from the Bradshaw Moun- Also present are somewhat thicker and more irregular masses
tains to the north and northeastB, is similar in many respects of pegmatitic quartz, most of which contain a little perthite and
to the Vishnu schist exposed in other parts of the state. Its some of the accessory minerals that are typical of the less
more general characteristics have been summarized by Darton4 quartz-rich pegmatites of the district.
and some of its occurrences in areas north and northeast of th~
White Picacho distriet have been described by Lindgren5 Wilson6 YOUNGER ROCKS
Anderson 7 , and others. Wilson and Anderson have sh~wn that Paleozoic and Mesozoic rocks do not appear to be present in
th~se ancient rocks are divisible into stratigraphic and lithologic the district, but in many places the precambrian terrane is
umts that can J:>e traced for considerable distnces, but no attempt blanketed by volcanic and sedimentary accumulations of Tertiary
wa~ made dun~g t~e course of this investigation to study the age. These much younger rocks rest upon an irregular surface of
SChIsts and gneIsses m such detail. erosion, and represent a once-extensive cover of flows and sedi-
Younger intrusive masses of porphyritic rhyolite, diorite, and mentary deposits that locally was at least 1,000 feet thick. They
gabb~o ~re present locally, especially in the northern parts of are best preserved in the northern and eastern parts of the
the dIstnct. Most of these masses are small with widths measur- district, where they form numerous cliffs and sharp ridges.
~ble in tens or hundreds of feet. Their ma~imum known length The sides of White Picacho and Red Picacho provide especially
IS aJ:>out 2,000 feet, but some poorly exposed masses may be complete and spectacular exposures, and many others are present
consI<;Ie~ably longer. These younger intrusive rocks probably elsewhere in the upper parts of the Trilby Wash drainage, as
are sImIlar to those described by Anderson 8 from the Bagdad well as in the areas drained by Buckhorn and Castle Creeks
and P~esco.tt-Jerome areas, where they are younger than the (PI. I). These rocks are masked by younger sedimentary rocks
YavapaI SChIst and older than the principal Precambrian granitic in much of the southwestern part of the district, but many
rocks of the region. excellent exposures do appear along the sides of San Domingo
Granitic intrusive rocks are exposed in many places, and Wash and other major water courses.
are most abundant in the northermost parts of the district. The Tertiary rocks comprise interlayered coarse volcanic
The most widespread type is medium to pinkish gray, medium agglomerate and flow breccia, volcanic ash, coarse-grained sedi-
mentary rocks of fluviatile origin, and some flows of andesitic
8Jaggar,T. A., Jr., and Palache, Charles, U.S. Geol. Servey Geol. Atlas to latitic composition. Rhyolitic and basaltic flows are present,
4Bradshaw Mountains folio (No. 126), pp. 1-3, 1905. ' as well, but form only a small part of the section. The volcanic
Darto?-, N. H., A resume of Arizona geology: Univ. of Arizona Bur. rock types also are represented by dikes, small plugs, and other
of Mmes, Bull. 119 pp. 18-23, 1925. '
"Lindgren, Waldemar, Ore deposits of the Jerome and Bradshaw Mountains intrusive bodies that may have been feeders for flows since
.qu.adrangles, Arizona: U.S; Geol. Survey, Bull. 782, pp. 17-21, 1926. eroded away. .
WIlson, E. D., Pre-CambrIan Mazatzal revolution in central Arizona' The most abundant varieties of sedimentary rocks in the
7 Geol. Soc. Amer. Bull., vol. 50, pp. 1113-2164, 1939. . section are red to brown arkose and pebble conglomerate, vari-
Anderson, C. A., Older Precambrian structure in Arizona: Geol. Soc. egated tuffaceous sandstone and arkose, bouldery volcanic con-
,Amer. BUll., vol 62 pp. 1331-1246, 1951.
Anderson, C. A., op. cit., pp. 1334-1346, 1951. glomerate, and breccias of probable mudflow or debris-flow
the north and northeast.

orig~n. Some beds of conglomerate and breccia at the base of the The Tertiary volcamc and sedimentary rocks also have been
sectIOn are crowded with fragments of schist quartzite granite deformed but to a much lesser extent than the older rocks. They
pegma.I t 't e, an d other Precambrian rocks. Fragments
" of volcanic, are gently to moderately tilted, and dIp northerly in most parts of
rocks are relatively more abundant higher in the section. the distrIct. Folds are present locally, but are not ObVIOusly
In the southern part of the district the volcanic and associated systematic in their distrIbutIOn or orIentation. Faulting is wide-
sedimentary rocks are overlain unconformably by course, poorly spread, and numerous steeply dipping breaks are plainly exposed
to well bedded sandstones, conglomerates, and breccias that prob- on the walls of the major canyons. In the lower reaches of
ably are of late Tertiary or Quaternary age. They appear to have San Domingo Wash, for example, the Tertiary rocks appear in
been formed as alluvial-fan and valley-fill deposits, and they well defined fault blocks that commonly are less than 1,UOO feet
contain fragments of nearly all of the older rock types known wide. Juxtaposition of unlike parts of the Tertiary section suggests
from this general area. Thin flows of basalt, interlayered with the that movement along most of the faults must have amounted.
fluviatile beds, are exposed at several places. to at least 100 feet, and possibly was of a much greater order
A thin, irregular capping of coarse gravel appears on the of magnitude.
remnants of a broad but much dissected pediment surface in Several of the faults also transect beds of the younger valley-
the southern part of the district, especially in areas south and fill and alluvial-fan sequence, but all of them are covered by
southwest of that shown in Plate r. This surface was once the still younger pediment and terrace gravels. Indeed, the
developed across the Tertiary or Quaternary deposits described blanket of these gravels is so extensively preserved across several
above, and extends northward across some of the older rocks, of the interstream areas in the southern and southwestern parts
as well. It probably is .Quaternary in age. ' of the district that it is impossible to trace most of the taults
Younger gravels are present as terrace veneers along the beyond the walls of the main washes. It also wo.uld be difficult,
Hassayampa River and several of its major tributaries in the therefore, to establish a reasonably accurate stratIgraphIc sectIOn
district, but nowhere are they extensive. Some of them are for the Tertiary rocks in these areas.
partly consolidated, and form small but bold outcrops. Still
younger sands and gravels, most of them unconsolidated, under- PEGMATITES
lie the floors of the washes, where they locally are as much DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURENCE
as 60 feet thick. Most of the major pegmatite masses in the district lie within
STRUCTURAL FEATURES a curving belt, at least ten miles long and one-h~lf mile. to
about three miles wide, that extends northwestward from pomts
The structure of the Precambrian rocks is complex, and in near Trilby Wash and the Castle Hot Springs road to San
part has been obscured by metamorphism. Bedding is neverthe- Domingo Wash, and thence northward artd northeastward through
less preserved in some of the sedimentary rocks, as is primary the area of Upper Mitchell and San Domingo Washes and
layering in many of the volcanic flows and breccias. These into the drainage of Buckhorn Creek (PI. I). ThIS belt broadens
planar features, which appear to be essentially parallel to and splits northeastward into two major prongs, and is crescentic
foliation and schistosity in most places, generally trend north- in general plan. Its exposed portion is concave toward the east,
east to east-southeast, and dip in a northerly direction at moderate in part because the Precambrian rocks in the area between. the
to steep angles.
Riley place and Red Picacho are largely concealed by Tertiary
Small-scale folding is visible in many outcrops. Most of the rocks (PI. I).
folds are tightly compressed, with amplitudes that are measur- Numerous dikes and other masses of pegmatite are present in
able in feet or a few tens of feet. Nearly all the rocks are exten- several smaller areas that lie east and north of the main belt.
sively jointed and sheared, as well, and faults are present in Pegmatite bodies also are exposed in local outliers of Precam-
nearly all parts of the district. Displacements along some of these brian rocks northeast of the Wickenburg-Phoenix highway and
faults probably were large, as suggested by the presence of wholly southwest of the area shown in Plate I, and included among them
different rock types on opposite sides of the breaks. No attempt are at least two large masses of lithium-bearing pegmatite. An-
was made in the present investigation to determine the general other area of large pegmatites lies immediately north of the
Precambrian structure of the district, but the observed struc- Castle Hot Springs Hotel, approximately 8 miles east of White
tural elements are compatible with the concept of two major Picacho. This outlying area is about 3 miles long and 1 mile
episodes of faulting and with the pattern of northwest- and wide, and is elongated in an east-west direction.
northeast- trending folds described by Anderson 9 from areas to Few large pegmatite bodies are exposed in the areas that
fringe the district on the northwest and north, even though
·Anderson, C. A., Older Precambrian ;;tructure in Arizona: Geol. Soc.
Amer. Bull., vol. 62, pp. 1345-2346, 1951. Precambrian rocks are well represented there. These rocks
16 UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLETIN PEGMA.TITE DEPOSITS OF THE WHITE PICACHO DISTRICT 17
~late n,-Main cut of the Picacho View mine, looking northwest. The
~lght-colored patches in the foreground and right distance are outcrops of
Irregular pegmatite bodies.
Plate Hr.-Typical pod-like mass of pegmatite, west side of Mitchell Wash,

are mai?ly granitic, however, in contrast to the dominantly Note the general excellence of exposure and the contrast between pegma-
metasedImentary and metavolcanic rocks of the district itself. tite and the much darker country rock, here mainly schist and amphibolite.
The pegmatite masses of principal interest are enclosed by
~etamorphic rocks, and appear as irregular, light-colored patches
m the prevailingly darker country-rock terrane (PIs. 1I, III). plagioclase and muscovite, with accesso~y garn:t, biotite, bery.l,
In general, the pegmatite is slightly more resistant to erosion and black tourmaline (schorl). GraphIc gramte commonly IS
than most of the other rocks, and hence is relatively well present, as well. Some of these bodies are megascopicall;y homo-
exposed. The central parts of many individual masses consist geneous. whereas others comprise two or more contrastmg rock
of coarse-grained, quartz-rich pegmatite that is much more types; ~one of them, h,owever: contains large segregations of
resistant, and it commonly forms irregular knobs and even exceptionally coarse-gramed mmerals.. " ,
some low cliffs (PI. III). The outer parts of the same masses The second type of pegmatite body IS SImIlar m bul~ com-
form more subdued outcrops or are covered by thin mantles of position, but is characterized by s0IT!-e,what IT!-0re va~Ied as-
soil and surfac~ w:ash.. Even where no outcrops are present, semblages of accessory minerals. In ad~ItIon, ~:)QdIes of thIS group
how~ver, the dIstnbutIOn of float material generally permits are distinguished by the occurrence, m theIr central parts, of
locatIOn of contacts between pegmatite and country rock within segregations of very coarse-grained 9-u:artz, potash feldspar, or
a few feet. combinations of these minerals. IndIvIdual crystals commonly
Most of the pegmatite minerals are fairly fresh and unaltered, can be measured in feet or even in tens of feet, and in some
even at the surface. The only notable exceptions are plagioclass bodies they form large aggregates of relatively pure quartz or
and .spodumene, w~ich are recognizably weathered to depths feldspar. "
rangmg from a few mches to 25 feet. Many of the slopes in peg- Lithium-bearing pegmatites, which constltute the thIrd general
matite areas are strewn with irregular blocks and slabs of quartz type are widespread but numerically subordinate to the other
coarse perthite, and, locally, amblygonite. ' type~. They are scattered amon,g the other pegmatites w~tho,ut
. Th~ee general types of pegmatite bodies are present in the recognizable pattern, and occur m nearly all parts of the dIstnct
dIstnct. By f~r the most abundant are mineralogically simple (PI. I). These pegmatite bodies are similar ~o those of the .second
ones that consIst of quartz, potash feldspar, and subordinate sodic type described above, in that they contam centrally dIsposed
18 UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLETIN
PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE WHITE PICACHO DISTRICT 19
segregations of extremely coarse-grained minerals. In addition

t.o quarts and potash feldspar, however, they also contain spodu- the vertical. This feature is particularly w~ll shown, by the
'mene, amblygonite and other lithium-bearing phosphate minerals, North Morning Star (PI. XVIII) and the Sunnse pegmatltes, the
;lepidolite, pink and green tourmaline (elbaite), or combinati?ns subsurface configurations of which have been explored by means
bf these minerals. The lithium minerals typically are concEt.l1- of diamond drill holes.
trated in the inner parts of the pegmatite bodies, and may Some· of the more bulbous masses appear to be botton:ed ~t
well be present in many of the apparently lithium-free bodies shallow to moderate depth, and hence are ~ruly pod-lIke m
whose outer parts are the only ones exposed. three dimensions. The Lower Jumbo pe~~atlte, for exa~ple,
comprises two irregular bulges that are Jomed by a relatlvely
FORM, SIZE AND ATTITUDE thin neck, and, as shown in Plate XIX, the lower. and lar?er of
these bulges has a well defined keel whose form IS complIcated
The pagmatite bodies include dikes, sills, pods, and irregular, somewhat by curving septa of country rock. The results of
branchmg masses. Most are distinctly elongate, and all that diamond drilling in this pegmatite body suggest that the axes of
are hot partly concealed by younger rocks plainly are termi- both bulges plunge gently, and hence are nea~ly :para~lel to
nated against older rocks in both directions along their strike. the general strike of the body, rather than to ItS dIrectIOn of
Althougn many simple forms are represented, most of the bodies
are highly irregular in detail. Some have broadly rounded dip. , . " th t f
Detailed studies of pregmatlte dIstncts I~ many a ,er par s a
ends, but many others taper to long, thin spines or split into the United States have demonstrated agam and agam that de-
two or more branches that commonly change direction as traced termination of strike and dip alone commo~ly does not .suffice to
along their strike, Lateral projections are characteristic, and establish the true geometrical form of a glV~n p~gmatlte, bo~y,
range from broad protuberances to thin, irregular apophyses. and this applies to the pegmatites of the WhIte PIcacho dIstnct,
Some of the apophyses are branching in pattern, others form as well. Even though many of the tab~lar masses extend to
stockworks in the country rock, and still others connect two considerable depths as traced down their dIp, others are bottomed
or more adjacent pegmatite masses,
at much shallower levels, and hence have the form of flatt~ned
Pinch-and-swell structure is widespread, and some masses lenses whose dips are steep but whose bottoms, or keels, eIther
consist of connected bulges that are arranged like beads on are horizontal or plunge gently to moderately. T~e con~rast be-
a string. A few highly complex masses, like the Midnight Owl tween dikes in which dip is dominant and those m whIch mod-
(PI. XXIV), comprise less systematically disposed bulges and erate plunge is dominant is emph~sized i~ Figure 2" and repre-
irregular constrictions. The distribution and shape of the major sents an important factor to be conSIdered m commercIal develop-
bulges are of considerable commercial significance in most of ment of such dikes.
the pegmatites, as the principal concentrations of feldspar and
lithium minerals generally occupy central positions in such The more bulbous. or otherwise irregul~r pegm.atite bodies
bulges (Fig. 3 and PI. VI). are more difficult to appraise in terms of theIr behaylOr, at depth,
Some of the pegmatite masses are continuous for distances of but on the average their thickest parts have down-dIp dImenslO~s
1,000 feet or more, but most are markedly lenticular. Many form neither very much larger nor very much smaller th.an t~eIr
groups, or swarms, in which the individual masses show a exposed lengths and widths. S~rface.exposures ~an ~e mIslead;lng
crude parallelism of attitude. The pegmatites of chief economic if they are not interpreted WIth thIS feature :n mmd, The Im-
interest range in outcrop length from about 50 feet to nearly pressive dimensions of the Outpost pegmatlte, for example,
2,000 feet, with a general average of slightly less than 400 feet. plainly result from the configuration of present topography
They range in thickness from less than a foot to about 200 feet, with respect to the form of the pegmatite body; erosion has
and the average thickness of all major bulges is the order of stripped the country rock and a little pegmatite from the rounded
40 feet. Ratios of outcrop length to breadth range from slightly top, or crest, of a major bulge in, this b?dy, and the pre~ent
less than 2 to 1 to as much as 120 to 1, and reflect variations in outcrop thus gives an exaggerated ImpreSSIOn of the tr~e thI~k
form from the thickest and most stubby, pod-like bodies to the ness of this bulge (PI. XXI). Moreover, downward dIvergmg
longest dikes and other tabular masses. dips on opposite sides of this and simil~r bulges should be
Despite these numerous irregularities and local variations in interpreted with caution, as the walls are lIkely to pass through
attitude, most of the pegmatite bodies show broad consistencies of the vertical and converge at no great depth.
orientation. In general they trend either north to north-northeast, The distribution of pegmatite beneath the outcrop obviously
or east-northeast to east, and their dips are prevailingly steep. will depend upon the general form ~f the pegmat~te body, and
As traced downward from the outcrop, many of them vary upon the position of the present erOSIOn surface WIth respect to
markedly in dip, which commonly passes back and forth through the body as a whole. Some of the pegmatites in the district have
been barely uncovered by erosion, whereas only the roots of
others remain beneath the present surface. Evaluation of these

two major features in advance of subsurface exploration must
depend on careful observation and interpretation of pegmatite-
country rock contacts, and upon application of an empirical rule
that yields surprisingly accurate and useful results, despite some
exceptions that must be anticipated. This rule: A given pegma-
tite body in the White Picacho district, as viewed in cross section,
will not differ very greatly, either in dimensions or in general
form, from its appearance as viewed in plan.
RELATIONS TO COUNTRY ROCK

The general form of the pegmatite bodies reflects, in various
ways, major differences in the type of enclosing country rock.
The pegmatites that lie in granite and other relatively massive
rocks ordinarily are small, thin, and highly irregular in detail.
Those in the more thinly foliated varieties of schist, in contrast,
commonly are much larger and more bulbous in form. Many
of them pinch and swell as traced along their strike, and have
one or more subparallel branches. Other gross irregularities are
common, as well. Those pegmatites that occur in the schists,
gneisses, and greenstones with less well-developed foliation are
intermediate in form between the two extremes just cited. Some
of the most irregular ones appear locally as stockworks in the
country rock, where they evidently were controlled by two or
more sets of joints (PI. V).
Most of the pegmatites are distinctly discordant. Some trend
parallel to the strike of the country-rock structure, but diverge
markedly from it in dip. A few of the more tabular masses are
broadly concordant, but even these transect the structure of the
enclosing rock in detail. Many of the tabular pegmatite bodies
appear to have been emplaced along joints, whereas others, in-
cluding most of the bulbous ones, evidently were controlled also
by foliation and other planar features in the country rock.
Nearly all the pegmatite-wallrock contacts are sharp, and
many are highly irregular in detail (PIs. IV, V). Numerous
larger-scale irregularities involve thin septa, screens, and inclu-
sions of schist and gneiss; the foliation in these inclusions com-
monly lies at distinct angles to their general trend. Many of the
pegmatite bodies plainly cut across major folds in the country
rock, but numerous plications and small-scale folds appear to
have been formed during injection of the pegmatite, especially
in the metamorphic rocks that are most thinly foliated.
Much of the country rock seems to have been little deformed
or altered adjacent to masses of pegmatite, and remains uniform
in texture and mineralogy as traced up to the pegmatite con-
tacts. This uniformity is especially characteristic of the granites
and feldspathic gneisses. Some of the more schistose types of
country rock, in contrast, have been impregnated with muscovite,
potash feldspar, albite, oJ,' combinations of these minerals at sev-
eral localities. The aureoles of impregnation are irregular, and
Pla~e IV.-Small,. cross-cutting mass of pegmatite in feldspathic hornblende Plate V.-Typical small pegmatite dike, wall of Mitchell Canyon near
gneISS, wa~l of MItchell Canyon near Lower Jumbo mine. Note sharpness Lower Jumbo mine. Note thin dikes nea~ top of view and pegmatitic
of pegmatIte-wallrock contacts, and abrupt bulging of pegmatite mass. stockworks at right.
within a given pegmatite, the distribution and other character-
loca~ly extend for distances of several tens of feet from the peg- istics of such units are of great economic significance.
matIte contacts. In other aureoles much wallrock hornblende The internal structure of granitic pegmatites has been described
has been converted to biotite and in still others the metamorphic and discussed by numerous investigators, who have recognized
rocks are crowded w.ith. metacrysts of feldspar. In places the a remarkably systematic arrangement of mineralogic and lith?-
?on~act between pegmatIte and metacryst-rich schist or gneiss logic units in many pegmatite bodies. Recently this general t<:>PlC
IS dIfficult to defirie. has been treated in considerable detail by members of the Umted
The widespread type of country-rock alteration associated with States Geological Survey,lO who have proposed the following
~he pegmatites is well exposed in the vicinity of the South Morn- classification for pegmatite units:
mg Star and !-VIidnight. Owl bodies. Here broad layers in a ter- 1. Fracture fillings are generally tabular bodies that fill frac-
rane of amphIbole SChISt and quartz-rich schist and gneiss have tures in previously consolidated pegmatite.
been "flooded" with pale yellowish-green muscovite that forms 2. Replacement bodies are formed primarily by replacement
~akes. 1/8 inch to lf2 inch i.n diameter. These flakes are packed of pre-existing pegmatite, with or without obvious struc-
mto tIght mats that are orIented to give the rock a well defined tural control.
planar structure, and most of the layers are considerably crenu- 3. Zones are successive shells, complete or incomplete, that
lated, plicated, or otherwise contorted on a small scale. Scattered commonly reflect the shape or structure of the containing
through all of the mica-rich rock are numerous small pods of pegmatite body. Where ideally developed, they are con-
clear, vein-like quartz. centric about an innermost zone, or core.
All these units, and especially the zones, are related in a definite
INTERNAL STRUCTURE way to the over-all shape and attitude of the enclosing pegmatite
GENERAL FEATURES body (Fig. 3) ; hence an understanding of the gross structure of
Most of the pegmatite bodies in the' district consist of two or the body commonly leads to a better appraisal of its individual
more lithologic units, or zones, that are readily distinguishable units in terms of their economic possibilities. The distribution of
from one another on the basis of variations in mineralogy, tex- lOCameron, E. N., Jahns, R. H., McNair, A. H. and Page, L. R., Internal
tu~e. or both features. Inasmuch as the commercially desirable structure of granitic pegmatites: Econ. Geol., Mon. 2, 115 pp., including
mmerals generally are concentrated in certain of thpse zones extensive bibliography, 1949.
individual minerals within each unit also obeys certain rulEfs singly or in various combinations. In general the same. mineral
although it is irregular in detail. Thus not only do concentration~ assemblages are present in the adjacent wall zones, although the
of .eco~o~ically desir<;tble minerals tend to occur in pegmatite proportions of individual species commonly differ.
U~lltS dIstInct from adJacent barren units, but many of the indi- A few border zones consist primarily of quartz, and some of
vIdual concentrations take the form of recognizable shoots within these also contain scattered concentrations of schorl, especially
the containing unit or units. in the vicinity of inclusions and septa of country rock. These
Most of the units have well defined borders, and can be dis- quartz-rich selvages are particularly well exposed in parts of
t~nguished from adjacent units without difficulty. Others, espe- the Picacho View and North Morning Star pegmatites.
cIally those of coarsest grain, have more gradational margins, Some border zones contain ill-defined masses of partly digested
but even these can b~ d~fined in posit~on within 2 feet. Nearly country rock, which range from thick, dark-colored lenses to
all the zone boundarIes m the pegmatItes of the White Picacho barely recognizable micaceous wisps and screens. Biotite and
?istri~t are S? .well defiJ?-ed that they would be assigned virtually muscovite commonly are present along or near the margins of
IdentIcal posItIons by dIfferent geologists working independently, the pegmatite bodies, and along contacts between pegmatite and
even on maps of very large scale. some wallrock inclusions, as well. These minerals form numerous
A considerable variation in grain size is characteristic of most irregular concentrations of diversely oriented flakes and plates,
pegmatite bodies, although many of these variations also are and also occur as thin, continuous mats, especially where the
systematic.. In c?nn.ectiop with all descriptions of pegmatites adjacent country rock contains abundant mica or amphibole.
and pegmatIte umts m thIS report, the following grain-size classi- Several of the border zones are markedly shistose, and in
fication is used: . places this planar structure trends across the pegmatite borders
Term General grain size and becomes continuous with that of the surrounding metamorphic
Fine Less than 1 inch
Medium rock. Mineralogic layering, which in general is parallel to the
1 to 4 inches zone boundaries, commonly results from systematic variations in
Coarse 4 to 12 inches the proportion of mica, schorl, or garnet within the pegmatite.
Very coarse, or giant Greater than 12 inches Some crystals of tourmaline and mica are oriented with their
ZONES
long dimensions perpendicular or nearly perpendicular to the
Zones a~e by: far th~ m?st important units in the pegmatites outer margin of the containing border zone, and locally appear
of the WhIte PICacho dIStrIct, as they contain at least 97 per cent as well defined comb-like fringes.
of the total pegmatite material and include all the known com-
mercia.l mineral deposits. These units are perhaps best described Wall zones.-Most of the wall zones in the White Picacho peg-
accordmg .to the following classification, proposed by members matites are continuous and well defined, and characteristically
of the Umted States Geological "Survey: 11 are thicker and much coarser grained than the adjoining border
1. Border, or outermost, zones. zones. They range in thickness from a knife edge to several
2. Wall zones. tens of feet, with averages between 3 feet and 8 feet in most of
3. Intermediate zones. the pegmatites. With respect to the other. zones in a given peg-
4. Cores, or innermost zones. matite body, they are relatively thinnest around the margins of
. B01'deT zones.-The 1?egmati~e border zones in the district typ- the most prominent bulges, and relatively thickest in the more
Ically are fine- to medIUm-gramed selvages that range in thick- constricted parts of the body (Fig. 3).
ness from l/s inch to several feet. Most are less than a foot thick Where most continuously developed, the wall zones form com-
and cannot be shown conveniently on geologic maps, even oy{ plete or nearly complete envelopes around the interior portions
those of very large scale. Some of these outermost zones are of the pegmatite bodies, and in many places they constitute
sharply defined, whereas others fade into the country rock, as almost the entire thickness of exposed pegmatite. Elsewhere they
already noted. They become coarse grained as traced inward are markedly discontinuous, either because they never were com-
from t.he wallroc.k contacts, and in .many pegmatite bodies they pletely formed or because they were formed and then in part
grade mto the adJacent wall zones WIthout a recognizable textural removed prior to final consolidation of the containing mass of
break. pegmatite. They are most discontinuous in some of the largest
The p~gmatit? of the b~rder zones. generally consists of quartz pegmatites of most complex shape, excellent examples of which
and SOdIC plagIOclase, WIth subordmate but widespread black are the Midnight Owl and the Lower Jumbo.
tourmaline (schorl) and perthite. Also present in many of these Fine- to coarse-grained perthite-quartz pegmatite, with sub-
units are biotite, muscovite, garnet, apatite, and beryl, either ordinate plagioclase, schorl, and mica, is by far the most abund-
llCameron, E. N., Jahns, R. H., McNair, A. H., and Page, L. R., op. cit., ant rock type in the wall zones of the district. The most widely
pp. 20-24, 1949. distributed accessory minerals are garnet, apatite, and beryl, and
a few wall zones also contain a little spodumene. The proportions

of individual minerals typically vary from one part of the zone
to another, especially as traced from one end of the pegmatite
body to the other. An excellent example is the wall zone of
the North Morning Star pegmatite body, in which the propor-
tion of quartz increases progressively from south to north.
Like the border zones, the wall zones are typically granitoid
in texture, and not many of the crystals are markedly coarser
than the others. Planar structure occurs locally, but is neither
common nor sharply developed. It generally is caused by faint
mineralogic layering or by consistently oriented tabular inclu-
sions of country rock, most of which are considerably digested.
No segregations of very coarse-grained, relatively pure feldspar
or lithium minerals are present in the typical wall zones, and
few of the other minerals form concentrations large enough or
..
;>,-.,._~,,4,1",..<l~
rich enough to merit commercial attention.
Intermediate zones.-An intermediate zone is any zone be-
tween the wall zone and the core, which generally occurs at or
near the center of the containing pegmatite body. There is no .~
theoretical limit to the number of intermediate zones that could
be present in a single pegmatite body, but only a few bodies,
like the North Morning Star and the Midnight Owl, contain more
than three such units. Many of the pegmatites in the district
.~
contain one or two intermediate zones, and many others appear
to contain none of these units, and hence consist only of border
zones and cores, or of border zones, wall zones, and cores.
The intermediate zones are the least regular of the zonal units,
and rarely are as complete as the wall zones. They generally
form pods, straight or curving lenses, layers of relatively uni-
form thickness, or hood-like masses that reflect, to some degree,
the gross form of the enclosing pegmatite body (Fig. 3). They
range in thickness from a knife edge to a known maximum of
nearly 70 feet, and the average thickness of all intermediate
zones in the large pegmatites of the district probably is about
6 feet. Abrupt variations are common. In terms of bulk, these
units are subordinate to the wall zones in most pegmatite bodies,
although the reverse relation is true in many individual bulges.
The composition of the intermediate zones likewise has a wide
range, as shown by the typical examples in Fig. 3. In those
pegmatites that contain no lithium minerals, individual inter-
mediate zones generally are distinguished by their texture and
proportions of quartz and potash feldspar. The most common
rock types are massive quartz with scattered giant crystals of
perthite; extremely coarse-grained perthite-quartz pegmatite;
pegmatite that consists mainly of very coarse, blocky crystals
of perthite or of graphic granite; and perthite-quartz-plagioclase
pegmatite with very coarse-grained granitoid texture. Ordinarily
the intermediate zones of a given pegmatite body become coarser
as traced inward from the wall zone to the core, and their con-
tent of quartz tends to increase in the same direction.
28 UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLETIN PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE. WHITE PICACHO DISTRICT 29
II
I
[
I
I
Plate VI.--:Main .spodumene-bearing bulge in Lower Jumbo pegmatite.
BuIg;e consIsts c!?-Iefiy o~ very coarse-grained quartz-spodumene pegmatite.
At rIght of man IS curvmg wall of bulge. Entire view corresponds to upper
part of front vertical section in Plate XIX.
II Plate VII.-Detall of the pegmatite bulge show in Plate VI. Note the broad,
lath-shaped, diversely oriented crystals of spodumene, including the very
large crystals to left of man's head and at left base of sahuaro cactus.
iI
Intermediate zones constitute the major source of lithium min-
erals in the district, and include such major-mineral combinations
,
i
i
il
of the pegmatite body itself, especially where many zones are
present, but numerous exceptions are known.
Many of the cores are single masses, and range in form from
as quartz~spodumene, quartz-amblygonite, quartz-perthite- I thin lenses to nearly spherical pods. Most are shaped like a
amblygomte, qua~tz-s:podumene--perthite,and quartz-spodu- lima bean, and are straight or gently curved, depending in
~ene-amblyg~mte (FIg. 3). Most of these units are character- general upon the shape of the containing pegmatite body. In
Ized by truly gIant textures, and individual crystals commonly many pegmatites of relatively complex form, the cores comprise
are 4 feet or more in maximum dimension (PIs. VI VII). A few discontinuous segments, each of which occupies the central part
spodumen~-bearing intermediate zones, though c~arse to very of a major bulge (Fig. 3). Some lie in the centers of these bulges,
coarse gramed, nevertheless are distinctly finer and more even but many others are near one of the ends (Fig. 3C).
~rained than the typical giant-textured units. Such zones occur In the pegmatites that consist of only two or three zones, the
m the outer parts of several markedly bulbous pegmatites of cores are granitoid aggregates of perthite, quartz, and plagioclase,
which the North Morning Star, Lower Jumbo, and Midnight Owl or are small but giant-textured masses of quartz, graphic gran-
are good examples. ite, or perthite-quartz pegmatite. Such pegmatite bodies rarely
Other lithium ~inerals, p~rticular~y lepidolite and lithiophilite, contain large segregations of very coarse-grained feldspar or
also are present m many mtermedlate zones that lie near the lithium minerals, and hence rarely are of commercial interest.
centers of the containing pegmatite bodies. They generally occur Where these cores are large, they generally are granitoid and
as crystals and crystal aggregates that are distinctly smaller than only slightly coarser than the nearby wall zones.
.those of the spodumene and amblygonite. In those pegmatites with prominent, very coarse-grained inter-
Cores.-The ?ores, or innermost zones, of the pegmatites are mediate zones, and hence with more complex internal structure,
e:ven more vanable. than the intermediate zones in form, posi- the cores commonly are large and contain crystals of giant size.
tIon, texture, and mmeralogy. Although they generally occur in
the central parts of the containing pegmatite bodies they rarely I They are small in bulk, however, as compared with the other
zones, and rarely do they constitute more than 3 per cent of the
are . symmetri~ally disposed with respect to the e~ds of these enclosing pegmatite body. The principal rock types represented
bodIes. The SIze of the core generally is proportional to the size in the district are massive quartz, quartz-euhedral perthite peg-
I
matite, perthite-rich p~gmatite, and quartz-arpblygonite, quartz Milky white to moderately smoky quartz is abundant in all
-spodulr!-ene, and qu~rtz-spodumene-amblygonitepegmatite. pegmatites as cross-cutting veinlets, most of which range in thick-
These m~ermost l;lm~s and some of the adjacent intermediate ness from a knife edge to about lis inch. They characteristically
zones contaIr: the pr!ncIpal ~om,mereial concentrations of feldspar branch and rejoin to form irregular networks, especially within
and, <?ther ~m~rals m the dIstnct, and an understanding of their zones that are rich in very coarse-grained perthite, Planar to
posItlons wIthm the pegmatite bodies is thus very important. highly irregular veinlets of sugary quartz are abundant in some
Fortunate,ly, most of them are rich in quartz and hence are well of the coarse perthite in the Friction and Picacho View pegma-
exposed; mdeed, many form such prominent outcrops and yield tites (PI. XII), and thicker tabular masses also are present in
such an abundance of float material that. they give the -casual these and in other deposits. The largest fracture filling of quartz
observer an exaggerated impression of their size. Due to their observed in the district is in the MidnighLOwl pegmatite, where
relatively small dimensions, the cores, and possibly other zones it extends from a segment of very coarse-grained quartz--per-
as well, are not exposed in many pegmatites that have been cut thite-spodumene pegmatite as an apophysis, 9 feet long and 3
only' slightly by erosion; likewise, the cores of many other peg- inches to 14 inches thick, into medium-grained perthite-quartz
matltes appear to I:av~ be~n whol~y removed by erosion. -albite-muscovite pegmatite (PI. XXIV).
An added complIcatIOn IS the dIfficulty of identifying the in- Albite also is widespread as veinlets and as much larger re-
nermost zones of ~any ~egmatites, for not every core can be placement masses, generally in· coarse- to very coarse-grained
seen or even predIcted WIth confidence. Thus a zone identified massive quartz and quartz-euhedral perthite pegmatite. It is
as a core at one level may prove to be an intermediate zone especially abundant in the Outpost pegmatite, where it forms
when the top or edge of the true lens-like core is exposed by several mappable units that contain 40 per cent to 95 per cent
subsequent ~rosior: or mining. In general, however, careful study of sodic albite. One of these large units evidently was once mas-
and thre~-dImensIOlial analysis of the gross structure of even sive quartz, and a second appears to have been developed along
the mos~ Irregular m~ss of pegmatite can lead to some prediction the boundary between a very coarse-grained, perthite-rich inter-
concernmg the locatIOn and probable composition of its core or mediate zone and a finer-grained wall zone of quartz-perthite
core segments, especially if correlated with the form and min- -albite-schorl pegmatite (PI. XXI). Similar but smaller masses
eralogy of the other exposed zones. of such albite-rich pegmatite are present in the Midnight Owl,
White Jumbo, and several other pegmatite bodies, in which they
FRACTURE FILLINGS AND OTHER UNITS
locally obscure the zonal structure.
Muscovite also is widespread in fracture fillings and replace-
. Most of t~e f~acture fillings in the pegmatite bodies are thin, ment masses. It forms small flakes and plates in numerous ir-
Irregular, vem~lIke mass~s o~ quartz, albite, muscovite, lepidolite, regular veinlets that are most abundant in coarse-grained potash
schorl, or vanous ~OmbInatIOns of these minerals. They form feldspar and quartz, and also occurs locally as concentrations of
aggreg1l;tes that typIcally are much finer grained than the host thicker books that are 1/2 inch to 2 inches in diameter. Most of
pegmatlte, and range from thin and uniformly tabular masses these books are yellowish green, and are marred by ruling, reeves,
through more irregular, branching masses to stockworks and warping, and wedge structure.· Extremely fine-grained, yellowish
groups of irregularly connected pods. green to gray muscovite forms numerous subspherical to turnip-
. Conta~ts~etw,eeD: the fracture fillings and the enclosing pegma- shaped aggregates with smooth margins and a waxy appearance,
tlte or,dmanly mdlCa~e much corrosion; indeed, there are all generally in the interior parts of the largest pegmatite bodies.
gradatIOns betw~e? SImple open-space fillings and replacement Vein-like masses and irregular pods of lepidolite, some of which
masses w~ose ongmal fracture control no longer is evident. Well are 15 feet in maximum dimension, are present in the wall zones
expose,d In the Outp~st pegmatite body, for example, are all and outer intermediate zones of the lithium-bearing pegmatites,
gradatIOns between thm veinlets of albite that form stockworks as well as in the more central parts, where they are associated
within agg~egates of giant anhedr.al crystals of quartz, on one with spodumene and amblygonite. Most of the lepidolite occurs
h~nd, 1l;nd Irregular masses o,f albIte, several feet in maximum as clusters of highly curved and fractured plates, whose color
dImenSIOn, that enclose relatlvely small and ragged residua of ranges from white to moderately deep lilac. None of these con-
quartz, on the other. centrations appears to be of commercial magnitude, b~t they
Most of the fracture fillings and fracture-controlled replace- are very significant as guides to lithium mineralization elsewhere
m~nt masses are tabular in form, and are not more than 1jz inch in the enclosing pegmatite body, and hence are particularly im-
thICk. Many of them show crude parallelism with respect to the portant in those bodies whose principal lithium minerals are
zo~al structure oft~e pe~matite body, but most plainly.transect not exposed at the present surface.
thIS ~tructure, espeCIally In detail, and hence represent material Green, pink, and white tourmaline (elbaite) forms small, pod-
that IS younger than the minerals of the adjacent zones. like aggregates of crystals along fractures in nearly all of the
lithium-bearing pegmatites.It also occurs as irregular, "bunchy" TABLE I.-LIST OF MINERALS IN PEGMATITES
masses that are similar in general form to the aggregates of OF THE WHITE PICACHO DISTRICT
lepidolite crystals described above. The maximum dimension of Not a primary mineral;
such masses is about 3V2 feet. General
Mineral abundance probably derived from
Bismuthinite and several secondary bismuth minerals fill frac-
tures in quartz and in some coarse-grained perthite in many of xx
Albite
the pegmatite bodies. Fracture fillings of other secondary min- Allanite
eral species also are widespread in the district, and occur chiefly Amblygonite X
in the inner parts of the largest pegmatite bodies. These minerals Anglesite :;: Galena. etc.
include hureaulite, strengite, and purpurite derived from earlier Apatite xx
lithiophilite-triphylite; manganese oxides from spessartite and Arsenopyrite * Bornite, chalcopyrite, etc.
lithiophilite; wulfenite, pyromorphite,mimetite, cerussite, and
Azurite *
Beryl xx
anglesite from galena; and cuprite, chrysocolla, and malachite Beyerite :;:: Bismuthinite
from copper-bearing sulfides. Some of these secondary species Biotite xx
Bismuthinite ?
fill fractures in the minerals from which they were derived, and Bismuth '"
many of the fillings extend beyond into other pegmatite minerals. Bismuthinite *
x Bismuthinite
Bismutite
Although the fracture-filling and replacement minerals are Bornite *
very widespread, they represent a trivial amount of the total Calcite *
pegmatite material in the district. Cassiterite
Galena, etc.
x'"
Cerussite
Chalcedony Various sources
MINERALOGY --?--
Chalcocite '"
GENERAL STATEMENT Chalcopyrite * Bornite, chalcopyrite, etc.
It is not the purpose of this report to discuss fully the minerals Chrysocolla
Clay minerals
*
xx Feldspars, spodumene, etc.
of the White Picacho pegmatites, as with few exceptions they Columbite-tantalite xx
are similar in occurrence and properties to pegmatite minerals Cookeite x Spodumene
Bornite, chalcopyrite, etc.
that have been described in considerable detail from many other Copper '" Bornite, chalcopyrite, etc.
parts of the world. It should be pointed out, however, that the Curprite *
III Galena, etc.
Descloizite
pegmatites are distinguished by the presence of several phos- Epidote X Various sources
phate minerals, including lithium-bearing species, and by the Fluorite xx
:;::
occurrences of tantalum-columbium, tin, uranium-thorium, and Galena
rare-earth minerals. Unusually varied assemblages of bismuth, Garnet xx
Goethite Various sources
copper, lead, tungsten, and zinc minerals also are present in a Hematite
'" Various sources
few deposits, but detailed descriptions of these occurrences await Hemimorphite Sphalerite
publication elsewhere. Emphasis in the present report is placed Hureaulite x Lithiophilite and triphylite
Sphalerite
x*
upon those mineralogic features that have greatest bearing upon Hydrozincite
the economic aspects of the pegmatites, and other features are Lepidolite
Lithiophilite-triphylite x
noted only briefly or are omitted altogether. Loelligite
The minerals observed in the pegmatites are listed in Table 1, Magnetite x
and their abundance is indicated in a general way. Most wide- Bornite, chalcopyrite, etc.
Malachite
Manganite x
* Lithiophilite, garnet, etc.
spread and abundant are albite, muscovite, perthite, quartz, and Galena, etc.
black tourmaline (schorl). In addition, many of the pegmatites Mimetite '"
Microcline xx
contain large quantities of amblygonite, lepidolite, spodumene, Microlite x
and colored tourmaline (elbaite). Apatite, berly, biotite, and Molybdenite '" Molybdenite and powellite
garnet are less abundant though very widespread. Molybdite *
The pegmatites are truly granitic in gross composition, and Monazite
Muscovite
*
xx
many of them are unusually rich in lithium. Other elements Oligoclass x
present in noteworthy quantities are beryllium, fluorine, man- Opal x Various sources
ganese and phosphorous, and, in lesser quantities, bismuth, cesium, Powellite *
columbium, iron, rubidium, and tantalum; Rarer constituents in- Purpurite * Lithiophilite and triphylite
Pyrite x
clude antimony, copper, lead, molybdenum, rare-earth elements,
thorium, tin, tungsten, uranium, vanadium, and zinc.
General Not a primary mineral; albite, and muscovite, generally in very fine-grained aggregates,
Mineral abundance probably derived from vein the coarser types of feldspar in many deposits, and some of
Pyrochlore x the perthite appears to have been brecciated and subsequently
Pyrolusite x Lithiophilite, garnet, etc. cemented with the other minerals.
Pyromorphite * Galena, etc.
Pyrrhotite x
Albite is present both as fine-grained, sugary, crystalline ag-
Quartz XX gregates ap.d as groups of coarse, platy crystals of the variety
Scheelite cleavelandite. All gradations in habit and size are present be-
Sericite x Various sources tween these two extremes. The mineral is typically lustrous and
Sicklerite * Lithiophilite and triphylite white, but some of the fine-grained aggregates are pale green
Silver Silver-bearing sulfides
Sphalerite on freshly broken surfaces, and some of the coarsest cleavelandite
* is light gray to medium bluish gray. Individual anhedral to sub-
Spinel
Spodumene X hedral'crystals in the sugary aggregates are 1/64 inch to 1/16
Stewartite * Lithiophilite, etc. inch in diameter, whereas the larger platy crystals are lis inch
Strengite III Lithioppilite and triphylite
Tantalite-columbite x to 4 inches long, 1/16 inch to 3 inches wide, and about % inch
Tourmaline XX in maximum thickness. Average dimensions of the plates are
Triphylite-lithiophilite x approximately % inch, 1/2 inch, and 1/16 inch, respectively. Most
Triplite x of these crystals are curved or warped, and the fine, closely
Vanadinite * Galena, etc. spaced ruling of twin lamellae is plainly visible on the edges
Vivianite * Triplite
of many.
Wulfenite * Galena, etc.
Zeolite minerals x --?-- Fine-grained cleavelandite and sugary albite are by far the
Zinnwaldite * most abundant forms in the pegmatites. They generally occur
XX - Abundant and widespread with quartz, muscovite, schorl, and combinations of these min-
X - Widespread, or locally abundant erals as aggregates· that are interstitial to much larger crystals
xx - Common, or abundant in at least one pegmatite of perthite. They are scattered widely through most of the peg-
x - Not common .
* - Rare matite with granitoid texture, and occur also along contacts be-
tween perthite crystals, or between crystals of perthite and quartz,
ESSENTIAL MINERALS in the coarser pegmatite of the inner zones. Much sugary albite
Microcline, the most abundant mineral in the pegmatites, occurs also is present along fractures and cleavage cracks in potash
as white, gray, and flesh-colored to reddish brown crystals that feldspar, and commonly shows evidence of having been formed
range in maximum dimension from lis inch to about 13 feet; at the expense of the host feldspar crystals. Replacement evi-
These crystals are anhedral to subhedral in the granitoid pegma- dently has progressed much farther in some crystals, and a few
tite of border zones, wall zones, and some intermediate zones, pseudomorphs of fine-grained albite after perthite were noted
and subhedral to euhedral in most very coarse-grained pegma- in several of the pegmatite bodies.
tite of intermediate zones and cores. In these interior zones it Cleavelandite generally is confined to the cores and other inte-
generally forms large crystals in massive quartz or occurs as rior units of the pegmatites, and characteristically is a late-stage
nearly pure, blocky aggregates of coarse, poorly formed crystals. constituent of the rock in which it occurs. In a few pegmatite
The pegmatite that is rich in coarse microcline generally is hard bodies it is so abundant that it obscures some boundaries between
and forms relatively continuous outcrops. zones. Individual subparallel plates commonly form fringes along
All the observed potash feldspar contains very thin, platy to fractures in quartz, perthite, spodumene, and muscovite, or along
spindle-shaed subparallel lenses of albite as perthitic intergrowths, contacts between coarse crystals of such minerals. Other tablets
and hence is referred to in the following pages as perthite, rather form crudely radial aggregates, the outer surfaces of which are
than microcline. The albite lenses ordinarily are less than 1/32 cauliflower-like in general appearance. Some of these comprise
inch thick and lis inch long, but tend to be larger in the coarsest successive layers of cleavelandite crystals, and are as much as
host crystals of potash feldspar, where some reach thicknesses of 4 feet in diameter. A few also contain thin,curving layers of
nearly 1jg inch and lengths of 1/4 inch or more. Some of the muscovite flakes, with or without similar layers of tiny garnet
perthite contains tabular to spindle-shaped crystals of quartz in crystals.
crudely graphic orientation. and this graphic granite is similar Most of the cleavelandite is light colored, but some is stained
to that exposed in many other pegmatite districts. deep flesh to dark reddish brown in the immediate vicinity of
The perthite commonly is weathered somewhat at the pegma- crystals or masses of pyrochlore, microlite, and columbite-
tite outcrops, where it has a dull luster and is creamy, tan, or tantalite. Indeed, many spherical zones of discoloration surround
brown in color. Much also is stained by iron oxides. Quartz, centrally disposed crystals or small crystalline aggregates of these
accessory minerals. Where thus discolored, the albite generally

is soft and crumbly, and has a dull luster.
Quartz is almost as abundant in the pegmatites as microcline,
and is even more widespread. It is present in nearly all the
pegmatite units, and evidently was formed during every general
stage of pegmatite development. Ordinarily it is milky white to
light gray, but a few clear, smoky to colorless crystals are present
in some border zones and cores. More than 95 per cent of the
quartz forms anhedral crystals that are 1/16 inch to several feet
in diameter, and most of the remainder occurs as subhedral spin-
dles, rods, and plates in graphic granite. A little quartz forms
tiny prismatic crystals in small, irregular vugs that are present
locally in the inner parts of the pegmatite bodies.
The coarsest aggregates of quartz form intermediate zones,
cores, or major parts of such units. Most of the large crystals
are distinguished by rhombohedral cleavage and coarse, lamellar
twinning, and many also show irregularly disposed growth lines
and surfaces. Anhedral quartz, generally somewhat less coarse
grained, is a major constituent of the granitoid zones that form
the outer parts of most pegmatite bodies in the district. Typically
it is interstitial to the other minerals, and is associated with albite
and muscovite. It also fills numerous fractures in all types of
Plate VIII.-Muscovite. Left.-Large ruled crystal with ragged edges, in
pegmatite, and such fillings range from tiny, irregular stringers coarse perthite. New Lookout pegmatite. Right.-Typi~al "burr rock," .an
in perthite to thick, dike-like masses with dimensions measurable aggregate of muscovite books and quartz. North Mornmg Star pegmatIte.
in feet.
VARIETAL MINERALS
Some of the coarsest books occur separately or form irregular
The mica group is represented in the White Picacho pegma- clusters. The largest of the clusters comprise diversely oriented
tites by the four major species muscovite, biotite, lepidolite, and and partially intergrown crystals of muscovite, with a little in-
zinnwaldite. Of these muscovite is most widespread and abun- terstitial albite and quartz, and commonly are referred to as
dant, especially in the many pegmatites that do not appear to "bull mica." Many of these aggregates are localized along con-
contain lithium minerals. It is scattered through most border tacts between quartz and perthite crystals, or along fractures in
zones and wall zones as small, thin, white to pale green flakes, aggregates of these minerals. . . .
which are particularly abundant as disseminations in and near Muscovite also forms aggregates of much finer gram SIze. Some
partly digested masses of country rock, and as streaks and layers are nearly pure, but others also contain much schorl, albite, and
along or near pegmatite-wallrock contacts. Locally these flakes quartz. These fine-grained masses ~re 1 inch to 5 feet in maxi-
form dense mats that appear as thin, well defined layers. Some- mum dimension, and generally he along fractures or along
what larger plates of muscovite, whose maximum dimension is boundaries between pegmatite zones. Other,. still finer-grained
about 2 inches, also occur in quartz-albite aggregates that are aggregates of pale greenish, grayisI:, and yellowish green mus-
interstitial to larger crystals and crystal groups of perthite or covite occur in several of the pegmatltes, and are locally abundant
graphic granite. in the Picacho View, Outpost, and Midnight Owl bodies. They
The coarsest muscovite occurs in the central parts of the peg- are waxy in appearance, tabular tq pod-like in form, and rarely
matites, generally in irregular masses of very coarse-grained an- exceed 8 inches in maximum dimemion. Like the slightly coarser-
hedral quartz. It forms thick, pale green to yellowish grE;~n grained aggregates, they commonly are localized along fractures
books that range in diameter from Ih inch to 6 inches, with an or intersections of fractures in the central parts of the pegma-
average of about 1% inches. Most of the books are scattered tite bodies.
uniformly through the quartz, commonly without a preferred Pink muscovite also is present as very fine-grained aggregates,
orientation; such quartz-muscovit~ aggregates are very distinc- mainly along fractures and cleavage cracks in crystals. of spod~
tive in appearance, and are termed "burr rock" in many pegma- mene. This material resembles some of the finest-gramed van-
tite districts (PI. VIII). eties of lepidolite, but the lepidolite generally can be distinguished
because of its more bluish color.

Biotite is a quantitatively minor constituent in most of the
pegmatites. It occurs almost wholly in their outer parts, chiefly
the border zones, and is associated with pl'agioclase, black tourma-
line, and quartz. It is especially abundant along some pegmatite-
wallrock contacts and within partly digested inclusions and septa
of mafic country rock, where much of it plainly is pseudomorphous
after hornblende.
The biotite generally forms lustrous flakes % inch or less in
diameter. Many of these are scattered individually, but others
form dense, compact aggregates. Also present are some much
larger, thin plates and blades, mainly in the perthite-rich wall
zones of a few pegmatites, where the mineral is associated with
graphic granite. Many of these crystals clearly fill fractures in
gmphic granite, perthite, and in granitoid aggregates of perthite
and quartz. A little coarse, fracture-filling biotite also occurs in
the quartz-rich inner units of a few pegmatite bodies.
Lepidolite, the lithium mica, is present in the central parts of
some pegmatites, where it generally is associated with albite and
with spodumene, amblygonite, and other lithium minerals. It is
most abundant along the margins of very coarse-grained, quartz-
rich zones, and also occurs with albite and quartz as irregular
fracture fillings in these units and in some of the outer zones, Plate IX.-Lepidolite. Left.-Aggregate of diversely oriented plates on
as well. Its most common form is compact aggregates of flakes, quartz. North Morning Star pegmatite. Right.-Thick cleavage fragments,
much ruled and with warped faces. Specimen at top is analyzed Sample
foils, or thick, diversely oriented plates (PI. IX), and it varies A, Table 4. Sunrise pegmatite.
considerably in grain size. Some of the largest plates are 4 inches
to 7 inches in diameter and as much as 2 inches thick, although
the average dimensions of the coarse crystals are approximately Spodumene is moderately abundant in nearly all of the lithium-
2 inches and % inch, respectively. In contrast, some aggregates bearing pegmatite, in which it is a constituent of intermediate
of flakes are so fine grained that they resemble the waxy musco- zones and, rarely, of cores. The coarsest crystals are lath- to
vite already described. Such aggregates occur mainly as fracture- log-shaped, and are 2 feet to 21 feet long, 3 inches to 4% feet
filling veinlets and as· small, rounded pods. wide, and % inch to 7 inches thick. Average dimensions are
The lepidolite ranges in color from light pinkish gray to a about 4 feet, 8 inches, and % inch, respectively. Most of the
moderately deep lilac or lavender, and where fresh is readily crystals are marked by striations, grooves, and elongate pits that
distinguished from the other micas. Near-surface books are are parallel to the longest axis, and nearly all are broken along
bleached, however, and at the outcrop most of them have sepa- irregular crosswise fractures. The coarse spodumene typically
rated into light gray cleavage plates with a pearly luster. Even is associated with giant-textured aggregates of anhedral quartz,
where fresh and unweathered, the crystals are considerably in which it forms jackstraw-like networks of diversely oriented
broken, warped, crenulated, and ruled (PI. IX), and they yield crystals. Perthite, amblygonite, or both these minerals also are
ragged cleavage plates that are distinctly brittle. The lepidolite major constituents in some of the aggregates.
commonly is intergrown with sugary albite, which also veins Finer-grained spodumene occurs in the outer intermediate
many of the larger books. Some crystals of the mica are em- zones of a few pegmatites, notably the North Morning Star and
bedded in much larger prisms of spodumene, and locally appear the 'Midnight Owl. The crystals are rough prisms that typically
to have been formed by replacement of the spodumene. are less flattened than the larger crystals describea above, and
Zinnwaldite, the lithium-iron mica, is a very rare constituent many have the form of stubby wedges. They are 11/2 inches to
of the inner pegmatite zones, and is associated there with quartz, 24 inches long and l/S inch to 6 inches thick. The most common
albite, lepidolite, spodumene, berly, and fluorite. It forms thick, of the associated minerals are quartz, perthite, albite, lepidolite,
stubby crystals that generally are less than % inch in maximum and, locally, amblygonite.
dimension. These crystals are very dark in color, but yield cleav- Considerable variations in general appearance are character-
age flakes that are golden brown. istic of the spodumene, and evidently reflect differences in de-
gree of alteration. None of the material is transparent in the
40 . UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLETIN
hand specimen, but some is fresh and moderately lustrous on

newly broken surfaces, which appear pearly white to greenish
or bluish gray (PI. X). Some is distinctly pinkish, and at least
a part of such color appears to be caused by disseminated tiny
flakes of lepidolite and muscovite. Most of the spodumene is
buff to greenish gray, and is sufficiently altered to appear dull
or even earthy (PI. X). Increase in the proportion of alteration
products, mainly albite, muscovite, and clay minerals, is accom-
panied in a given crystal by corresponding decreases in specific
gravity, hardness, and luster; of considerable economic signifi-
cance is an attendant decrease in the proportion of lithium pres-
ent. Most of the crystals are not as thoroughly altered as their
appearance might suggest, although some are little more than
pseudomorphs of extremely fine-grained alteration minerals after
the original spodumene. Variations in appearance and lithium
content of the spodumene are discussed in greater detail in the
section on economic features of the pegmatite minerals.
Amblygonite, lithium-aluminum fiuo-phosphate, occurs in only
a small proportion of the pegmatite bodies, but locally is present
in considerable abundance. It forms large, irregular masses and
crudely faced crystals, and generally is associated with quartz,
or with quartz and spodumene, in intermediate :Zones and cores.
Many of the crystals are well exposed in the outcrops of such
pegmatite bodies as the North Morning Star, Sunrise, and Mid-
night Owl, and the mineral also is represented in the pegmatite
float at these and several other localities. Individual crystals
range in diameter from a few inches to about 6 feet, and sev-
eral aggregates of crystals are as much as 15 feet in maximum
dimension.
In general the amblygonite resembles some types of coarse
potash feldspar, but it is markedly heavier and, where weathered,
develops distinctive hard, grayish outer surfaces that are pitted,
grooved, and cellular in appearance (PIs. XI, XII). Most is white
to very pale bluish white where fresh, and has a characteristic
pearly luster. Many cleavage surfaces are broadly curved, and
some are markedly uneven in detail. Nearly all the crystals are
considerably fractured, and in places they are brecciated on a
small scale; the breaks generally are healed with finely frag-
mented amblygonite that is much more bluish or greenish than
the main mass of the crystal (PI. XI). Many of the fracture-
bounded blocks show cleavage surfaces whose orientations are
different from those of adjacent blocks, as if the fragments had
been juggled slightly prior to healing.
Two general varieties of tourmaline, schorl and elbaite, are Plate X.-Spodumene. A. Left.-Fragment from hard, lustrous crystal.
present in the pegmatite bodies. Schorl, the dark-colored iron Sample A Table 3. Lower Jumbo pegmatite. Right.-Fragment from soft,
weathered crystal. Sample B, Table 3. Sunrise pegmatite. B. Top.-Frag-
tourmaline, is widespread and locally very abundant. It forms ments from hard lustrous crystals. Lower Jumbo pegmatite. Loiver left.-
nearly equidimensional, subhedral to anhedral crystals that ap- Similar fragment from Midnight Owl pegmatite. Lower .rig~t.-Fragment
pear as dark chunks in most of the border and wall zones, and from soft, greenish gray crystal. Sample n, Table 3. Mldmght Owl. peg-
also occurs as coarse, stubby prisms in the interior parts of many matite.
pegmatite bodies. In addition, some forms crudely graphic inter-
growths with coarse-grained quartz.
Plate XII.-Veining of perthite and amblygonite. Left.-Large cleavage

fragment of perthite, showing typical thin veinlet of quartz (Q) J which is
parallel to numerous elongate, light-colored plates of perthitic albite (A).
·Picacho View pegmatite. Right.-Weathered and stained surface of am-
blygonite crystal fragment, showing veining by sugary amblygonite. Sun-
rise pegmatite.
The crystals in the outer zones are 1/8 inch to about 6 inches
in diameter. They are extremely dark blue and green in the
thinnest fragments, but appear black in the hand specimen. They
are characteristically much sheared and fractured, and many of
the breaks are cemented with very fine-grained tourmaline and
mica. Most of the crystals also show a crudely developed basal
parting. Nearly all of the schorl is somewhat altered, and in
general appearance resembles some dull-lustered varieties of
coal. Many of the crystals are coated with scaly aggregates of
muscovite.
The more euhedral crystals of the interior zones and cores
are V8 inch to 3 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch to 8 inches long.
Plate XI.-Amblygonite. A. Fragments showing typical weathered and They commonly form bundles of subparallel prisms, as well as
freshly broken. surfac~s. North. Morning Star pegmatite. B. Cleavage radial aggregates, and some groups of prisms are slightly diver-
fragme~t~ shoWIng tYPlCal fra~turIng and brecciation of coarse amblygonite, gent from what appears to be a common base. Many crystal
a~d veInll;g by. very fine-graIned, s~g~ry. a!Ublygonite. Note the slightly groups have maximum dimension:; as great as 12 inches. Th~
dlV~rse orIentatIOns of the cleavage In IndIVIdual fragments. Sunrise peg-
matlte. individual crystals have rough but well defined faces, including
terminations, and are much grooved and striated parallel to their
c-axes. Nearly all are dull in appearance, even on newly broken
surfaces, and are considerably fractured. Most are partly altered
slightly less than :If! inch. Apatite also is a,bundan,t locally in
to mica and clay minerals, and are enclosed by thin, firm layers the central parts of lithium-bearing pegmatI~e bodIes, both as
of overlapping muscovite flakes. The schorI in some deposits stubby prisms and as thin, continuous gray nms on crystals of
contains abundant inclusions of euhedral pyrite. lithiophllite and triphylite. ,
Schorl also occurs in the interior parts of many less coarse- Beryl is present m almost all the pegmatite zones. It occurs
grained pegmatite bodies that have relatively simple zonal struc- in border zones and wall zones as pale yellowish, greenish, a~d
ture, and in them is characteristically associated with irregular blUlsn gray anhedral crystals that are l/S inch to ~1jz inches m
pod-like masses of quartz. Most of the crystals are pencil-like, maximum dimension, and locally is abundant. Most of the crys-
and ordinarily appear much fresher and more lustrous than those tals are very irregular in form, and do not show marked elonga-
described above. The largest of them are about 3 inches in tion, In general they are not readily distinguished ,fr?m some
maximum dimension. Some of the schorl forms graphic inter- quartz and feldspar, although they have ~ charactenstIc greasy
growths with quartz, and these aggregates locally resemble the luster that can be recognized by a practised eye. Much larger
quartz-muscovite "burr rock" in general structure. crystals with rough faces occur in ma~y of the inner zones,
Elbaite, which comprises the lighter-colored types of tourma- generally as thick prisms 2 inches to 11 mches long, ,These ~re
line in the pegmatites, is virtually restricted in its occurrence to pale greenish gray to pinkish, and commonly are assocIated WIth
the inner parts of a few pegmatite bodies. It characteristically lithium minerals.
forms rough prisms :If! inch to 7 inches long and 1/16 inch to Several bismuth minerals are locally abundant in the Outpost
11/2 inches in diameter. These are present in both zones and pegmatite, and are widespread but very mino: const~tuents of
fracture-controlled replacement bodies, where they typically are quartz-rich inner zones in many o~her pegmatite, bodIes. Tl~ey
associated with albite, lepidolite, muscovite, quartz, and spodu- are characteristically associated Wltl,l qua,rtz, albl~e, mUSCOVIte,
mene. The mineral also occurs as inclusions in crystals of lepido- cassiterite, and lead minerals. The chIef pnmary mmeral appears
lite, where it forms longitudinally striated blades and needles. to be bismuthinite, which forms irregular, fibrous to c~lumnar
The crystals of elbaite are euhedral, but most are so severely masses l/S inch to 6 inches in diameter. Some occurs WIth sub-
altered that their faces are pitted and roughened, and most of ordinate quartz and albite as bunchyaggre~atest~at are.2 .mches
the characteristic striations and grooves have been obliterated. to 7 feet in diameter. Individual· crystals of the blsmuthmlte are
The mineral is typically opaque, lusterless, and soft, and jackets considerably -broken, and. some even are brecciated. .
of fine-grained muscovite and lepidolite are present on many of Much more abundant is bismutite, a bismuth carbonate, whIch
the crystals, Despite all this alteration, the color is well pre- typically forms veins and stockworks in quartz, albite, and
served in much of the elbaite. Green, pink, and pale yellow are bisrrtuthinite, and which also occurs as chunky pseudomorphs
most common, and many of the prisms are color zoned, either after blsmutninite. It ranges in color from gray through greems?
longitudinally or concentrically about their c-axes. A few of and yellowisn gray to bnght green and canary yellow, and. IS
the concentrically zoned crystals are typical "watermelon" tour- .distmguished by a d~ll aJ.?-d earthy lust~r, and by very hIgh
maline, in that their green outer rims surround thin colorless specific gravity. NatIve bIsmuth forms ,Irregular, masses, an.d
layers, which in turn enclose pink cores. also occurs as thin flakes in the other bIsmuth mmerals. It IS
typICally silvery to pinkish on freshly broken surfaces.. One m~ss,
ACCESSORY MINERALS
saId to have weighed 2lf2 pounds, was encountere~ durmg m:mmg
Nearly seventy minerals have been recognized as minor con- of the East bulge in the Midnight Owl pegmatite. Beyente, a
stituents of the pegmatites in the district, and more than half calcium-bismuth carbonate, forms grayish green films on the
of these can be classed as primary accessory species. The others bismutite and bismuth. It also occurs as dense masses and as
are mainly of secondary origin, and replace, or fill fractures in, pearly white flakes in small caviti~s.12. ..
pre-existing pegmatite minerals and included wallrock material. Columbite-tantalite is present mamly m quartz-nch mner zones,
The most widespread of the accessory species are apatite, beryl, where it forms thin to moderately thick tablets lfs inch to 2%
bismuth minerals, columbite-tantalite, fluorite, garnet, lithiophi- inches in maximum dimension. Much larger crystals a~e pres~nt
lite-triphylite, magnetite, microlite and pyrochlore, pyrite and locally in the Midnight Owl ~nd s. !ew other peg~atlte bodIes,
other sulfides, and triplite. Other, rarer accessories, generally where they reach maximum dImenSIOns of about 5 mches. Both
noted in only a few pegmatites, include allanite, cassiterite, mona- these and the smaller, thinner tablets commonly are warped or
zite, scheelite and powellite, and spinel. curved. The mineral is characteristically black, with dU~I-appear
Apatite occurs chiefly in border zones, wall zones, and locally ing outer surfaces. Many of the cry~tals are coated .wlth flak,es
along the outer margins of massive-quartz units. It forms gray of very pale yellowish green mUSCOVIte. The columbIte-tantahte
to dark green and dark blue prismatic and tabular crystals with
poorly developed faces. Most individuals are less than 1 inch in 12Frondel, Clifford, personal communication, 1953.
maximum dimension, and their average dimension probably is
46 UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA- BULLETIN
is easily mistaken for triplite and some schorl, but is heavier

than these minerals, and is distinctly more lustrous on freshly
broken surfaces.
Fluorite is widespread, generally as small, inconspicuous gray
crystals in outer zones and as larger subhedral masses in min-
eralogically complex cores and intermediate zones. It commonly
is associated with schorl, especially near the borders of the peg-
matite bodies. The coarsest crystals, % inch to 2 inches in di-
ameter, are white to faintly greenish gray. Cleavage is very well
developed, and many of the smaller crystals appear sugary under
the hand lens. These commonly weather out from pegmatite
outcrops to yield numerous small pits in the rock.
Garnet is present in all the pegmatites observed, and ordinarily
is widely distributed in each pegmatite body. All the specimens
checked were spessartite, the manganese-aluminum garnet. The
mineral ranges from tiny, rounded, orange red to deep red crys-
tals in outer zones to larger, sharply faced, salmon pink to red
crystals in the central parts of the pegmatites. The largest crys-
tals are about 112 inch in diameter. Some garnet forms graphic
intergrowths with quartz, and locally resembles the quartz-
schod intergrowths already described.
Associated with the amblyonite and spodumene in the inner
parts of several lithium-bearing pegmatites are lithiophilite, Plate XIII -Lithiophilite. Freshly broken surfaces of large, salmon-1?ink
lithium-manganese phosphate, and triphylite, lithium-iron phos- crystals, showing dark stai!;s of n:an?anese oxides. B?th crystals are thmly
phate. These minerals form equant to stubby prismatic crystals rimmed by light gray apatite. Mldmght Owl pegmatite.
. with rough faces, and range in maximum dimension from V2 inch
to 6 inches. A few clusters of coarse crystals are as much as a few of the crystals. These are dark red~ish to :rr:ahogany
24 inches in diameter. Freshly broken surfaces are lustrous, and brown, and their cleavage su~faces are c~mtmuous WIth those
range in color from pale bluish gray through flesh to Salmon of the lithiophilite and triphyhte. Hureauhte, a hydrous manga-
pink. Manganese oxides form prominent black stains around the nese phosphate, occurs locally between the cores of th.e crystals
margins of the crystals, and along fractures within them (Pl. and the sicklerite as crystalline aggregates, and also IS prese~t
XIII), and nearly all the observed crystals are coated with thick along fractures in the cores. It is amber to flesh co~ored, a~d.m
crusts of manganite and pyrolusite. general is distinctly lighter in color tJ:an t?e adJacent hthlO-
Several rare manganese and iron phosphate minerals appear philite and more yellowish than the tnphyhte.
to have been formed directly or indirectly from the lithiophilite Tiny needles and plates of purpurite, hydrous iron-manganese
and triphylite, and their relations are similar to those described phosphate, and strengit~, hydr~m~ iron phosphate, form crusts
from several other phosphate-bearing pegmatites in the Black and cavity fillings, mamly wIthm the masses ~f m~m~an~se
Hills region of South Dakota,13 the Pala district of southern Cali- oxides. Most appear as small, felted aggregates WIt~ dIstmctIve
fornia,14 and the Boliden area of Sweden. 15 Sicklerite, iron- pinkish, lavender, and deep reddish color. StewartIte, another
manganese-lithium phosphate, forms thin, discontinous rims on hyrous manganese phosphate, forms numerous pale ye~low films
in the other minerals. It also occurs as fine~y crysta~h~e a~g~e
"'Fisher, D. J., Preliminary report on the mineralogy of some pegmatites gates that cement microbreccias of hureauhte and hthI?phIhte,
near Custer: South Dakota Geol. Survey, Rept. Inv. No. 50, esp. pp. and as thin, subparallel fibers along ir~egular fractures mother
43-47, 1945.
minerals, mainly strengite and purpunte. . . .
"Jahns, R. H., and Wright, L. A., Gem- and lithium-bearing pegmatites Also associated with the spodumene, amblyg~mte, and hthlO-
of the Pala district, San Diego County, California: California State
Div. of Mines, Special Rept. 7-A, pp. 40-41, 1951. philite-triphylite is triplite, a fl~o-phosphate of Iron and manga-
15Quensel, Percy, Minerals of the Varutrask pegmatite. 1. The lithium- nese. It occurs in quartz and albIte as ro~ghly~faced tabular ~rys
manganese phosphates: Geol. Foren. Stockholm Forh., vol. 59, pp. 77-96, tals, % inch to 7 inches in maxi~um ~Im~nsI.o~, that are eIther
1937.
Mason, Brian, Minerals of the Varutrask pegmatite. 23. Some iron-
separate or in groups of slightly dlVe:-gmg md~vIduals (PI. XIV).
manganese phosphate minerals and their alteration products: Geol. Foren. It resembles some schorl and columbIte-tantahte, but has moder-
Stockholm Forh., vol. 63, pp. 134-155, 165-175, 1941.
Plate XIV.-Triplite.
and dodecahedral faces. The feldspar that surrounds such crys-

tals generally is darkened and lusterless, and contains tiny dis-
seminated flakes of muscovite.
Scheelite and powellite are scattered sparsely through some
quartz-rich inner zones, generally as small, roughly faced crys-
tals and as very thin veinlets and stringers in the quartz. Larger
and richer concentrations of both minerals occur in separate
masses of vein-like quartz that are not directly associated with
any of the pegmatite bodies.
Allanite, a rare-earth-bearing member of the epidote group,
forms a few pencil-like crystals in the coarse-grained quartz of
several inner zones. These crystals are 1/2 inch to 4 inches long,
and are dark brown to black in color. They are very lustrous,
in contrast to most of the black tourmaline, and are deeply and
finely striated longitudinally.
Cassiterite is locally common in fractured and brecciated
quartz of several pegmatite bodies, and is especially abundant
in the Outpost pegmatite, where it is associated with bismuth,
lead, and copper minerals. It forms tabular crystals with well
defined faces, many of 'them finely striated. These crystals are
lis inch to 11/2 inches in diameter, with an average of about 3Js
inch. They are honey yellow to very dark brown, and some are
Plate, XIV,-Triplite, Edge-on view of coarse tabular crystals in quartz zoned, with dark rims and lighter-colored cores. A few of the
pe,rth!te, and flesh-colored albite. Small cryst'al of microlite (M) at left'
MIdmght Owl pegmatite. . . .' lightest-colored crystals are dull in appearance, but the remainder
have a high luster. Nearly all are broken along numerous ir-
at~ly good cleavage and is more brownish than either of these regular fractures.
mmerals. Too, freshly broken surfaces are resinous and are not Gahnite, a zinc-bearing member of the spinel group, is present
as lu~tro.us as those of the columbite-tantalite. Rough chemical in the interior parts of the pegmatites, generally as small, blue-
!ests .mdlCate a moderately high ratio of manganese to iron, and gray to deep green octahedral crystals in very coarse-grained
m t.hl~/espect the mineral resembles the triplite noted by Gal- quartz. Many of these crystals are distributed along fractures.
braIth . from the Eureka district to the north. Most is coated They commonly are associated with columbite-tantalite, and
and vemed wit~ manganese oxides, and locally contains films locally with pyrochlore and cassiterite. The spinel pleonaste,
of finely ,crystallIne, bluish gray vivianite. magnesium-iron aluminate, was noted in the border zones of two
:t'1onazlte, .a phosphate of the rare-earth elements, is a very pegmatites, where it forms small crystals in partly digested
mmor ~sso~late, of the tantalum-columbium minerals in the masses of amphibolite. It is greenish black, with a bright luster.
quartz-nch mtenor parts of several pegmatites. Its crystals are Arsenopyrite, bornite, chalcopyrite, galena, loellingite, molyb-
small, well faced, and pale reddish brown to honey yellow in denite, pyrite, pyrrhotite, and sphalerite are sparsely scattered
color. :t'1any have mica coatings like those on the tantalite- through the coarse-grained inner units of most pegmatites in
columblte. the district, and locally are present in surprising abundance.
Magnetite forms small, lustrous crystals and grains in many They are mainly disseminated through aggregates of perthite,
of the. pegmatite, unit~. It is ,widespread but nowhere abundant. quartz, and albite, and are localized along crystal boundaries or
Mos~ IS finely dlssemmated m border zones and iIi the schorl- along fractures within large crystals or crystal groups of quartz
bear.mg :parts of some perthite-rich intermediate zones. and feldspars. Some are included in schorl and muscovite, and
M!crolIte and pyrochlore, essentially tantalate-columbates of some form crystalline aggregates, l/s inch to 7 inches in maximum
calcm,m, occur sparingly i? t.he intermediate-zone quartz and dimension, that appear as irregular "clots" in masses of coarse,
perthlte of the Outpost,. Mldm~ht Owl, Picacho View, and sev- blocky perthite. Pyrite and molybdenite are locally abundant
eral other large pegmatIte bodIes. They form tiny olive green along well defined fractures in massive quartz.
to dark brown and black crystals with sharply defin~d octahedral Pyrite is by far the most abundant of the sulfide minerals,
and pyrrhotite and loellingite are locally abundant, as well. These
16Galbraith, ~. W., Minerals of Arizona (2nd edition): Univ. of Arizona, minerals also have the widest distribution in the cores and inter-
Bur. of Mmes, Bull. 153, p. 56, 1947. mediate zones of the pegmatites. The copper, lead, molybdenum,
and zinc minerals, in contrast, are more restricted to the inner- . Clay minerals are widespread in the near-surface parts of all
most parts of the pegmatite bodies. Many of these minerals are the pegmatite bodies. Most were formed by. weathering of feld-
oxidized in near-surface parts of the pegmatites, and their abun- spars, and they coat and vein crystals of perthite and albite.
da~ce and even their presence in some exposures cannot be
Some also were developed from spodumene by weathering proc-
estImated with confidence. It is likely that at depth these species esses. These supergene clay minerals are white to gray, and are
are present in greater abundance than the surface exposures typically earthy in appearance. Many are stained by iron and
might suggest. manganese oxides.
. Oxidation of pyrite and pyrrhotite has led to development of Some clay minerals of possible hypogene origin also form very
Iron-oxide pseudomorphs, which are particularly common in the fine-grained, white to pinkish, vein-like masses in spodumene,
perthite and schor! of the Picacho View, Outpost, and several lepidolite, amblygonite, and tourmaline. Similar material is scat-
other large pegmatite bodies. Some of the feldspar deposits are tered as cloudy aggregates through many crystals of spodumene
considerably stained by iron oxides derived from these minerals. and tourmaline, and well-defined pseudomorphs of clay minerals
Much of the molybdenite, in contrast, is very fresh within a after spodumene are present in a few places. Some or all of
~ew inches. of th~ surface, and only the material at the outcrop
these aggregates may have been developed through alteration of
IS coated wlth,thm yellow films and ocherous crusts of molybdite. the lithium minerals under hypogene conditions, as suggested
Some molybdlte also appears to have been derived from powel- for similar material in the Pala pegmatites of southern Califor-
lite. . nia,17 This type of clay has been encountered in excavations and
T~e copper-b~aring hypogene sp.ecies have yielded supergene
in drill holes at depths well beneath the lower limit of note-
azunte, malachIte, .chrysocolla, natIve copper, cuprite, and prob- worthy weathering in the feldspars, and is associated with un-
ably some chalcocIte; the sphalerite has yielded hemimorphite altered pyrite and other sulfide minerals.
and hydrozincite; and the galena similarly has contributed to Serecite forms gray to very pale greenish gray vein-like masses,
supergene development of anglesite, cerussite, descloizite mime- films, and coatings in all the other major minerals. It is asso-
tite, pyromorphite, wulfenite, vanadinite, and a little' native ciated with muscovite, and the distinction between the two min-
silver. Most of these secondary minerals are rare, even though erals is somewhat arbitrary, as there are all gradations in grain
they for;ffi rather spectacular occurrences in a few places. Coarsely size and appearance between them:
crystalll~e supergene copper and lead minerals, for example, are
. Cookeite, a micaceous lithium-aluminum silicate, forms rare
present m the quartz-albite-bismutite masses in the Outpost coatings on lepidolite and spodumene, and also fills fractures in
pegmati~e as brightly-colored veinlets, pods, and individual crys-
the interior parts of several lithium-bearing pegmatites. It occurs
tals. It IS not clear how much of this supergene mineralization as white to very pale pink flakes and foils, which commonly are
was genetically related to thosecopper-Iead-zinc minerals that grouped in felt-like aggregates.
are indigenous to the pegmatites. Several species of the zeolite group form fracture fillings in
other minerals, and generally are associatE;dwith epidote and
chalcedonic silica. They are earthy to finely crystalline, and ap-
OTHER MINERALS
pear'to be simple Dpen-space fillings that were not developed by
Epidote is widely distributed in all parts of the pegmatites alteration of the immediately adjacent minerals.
but nowhere in more than trivial amounts. In the border zone~ Crusts and highly irregUlar fracture fillings of opaline and
it forms dark green to brownish green crystals that generally ap- chalcedonic silica are widespread and locally abundant. They
p~ar as fine-grain.ed veinlet~ and irregular mats. They are espe- occur in massive quartz and in quartz-perthite pegmatite, and
~lally .abundant m and adJacent to partly digested septa and also are present in the innermost parts of several lithium-bearing
mcluslOns of mafic wallrock, where they are associated with pegmatite bodies. They are most abundant as cementing mate-
garnet and biotite. In many other parts of the pegmatite masses rial in fractured and brecciated masses of coarse quartz and feld-
epidote occurs as fine-grained, pale grassy green films that coat spar, as in the central parts of the South Morning Star and
fractures and shear planes in the coarse-grained minerals. White Jumbo pegmatites.
~alcit~ occurs as thin veinlets that commonly are associated As already noted, both iron and manganese oxides are wide-
~lt? epl?ote, a~d also ~orms .some anhedral crystals, lis inch to spread. Hematite and goethite, the principal iron oxides, were
}4 m~h m ~axImum dImenslOn, that ~re interstitial to quartz, formed mainly by alteration of pyrite and other iron-bearing
perthIte, albIte, spodumene, amblygomte, and other species in sulfides, garnet, biotite; schorl, magnetite, and ferromagnesian
the central parts of the Midnight Owl, Sunrise and a few other minerals in the adjacent country rock. A little hematite also
large pegmatite bodies. This anhedral materi~l may represent was developed as skeletal crystals within the largest crystals of
a v~ry late stage of hypogene mineral development in the peg- muscovite, presumably by exsolution. The manganese oxides
matItes. "Jahns, R. H., and Wright, L. A., op. cit., p. 39, 1951.
were derived mainly from garnet, several of the phosphate min-

erals, and in very small quantities from tourmaline and spodu-
mene. They form crusts, veinlets, stockworks, and disseminated
specks and spots in these and many of the other minerals, and
also occur as films and dendrites along cleavage surfaces in feld-
spars, spodumene, and amblygonite.
SEQUENCE OF MINERAL FORMATION
The spatial relations between adjacent mineral grains and

between adjacent zones and other lithologic units in the peg-
matite bodies indicate a general sequence of mineral develop-
ment that is remarkably consistent from one pegmatite body
to another. It is complicated, and locally even obscured, by
some irregularities of detail, but the basic pattern is easily rec-
ognized in all of the pegmatite bodies.
A broad sequence of textures also is characteristic, in that the
general grain size of the major minerals increases from the walls
of the containing pegmatite body inward toward its center, or
from its border zone to its core. The border zones, wall zones,
and some intermediate zones are granitoid or, rarely, porphyritic I
I
I
in texture, and the mineral grains are anhedral to subhedral. I
('0.
('..
I
The inner zones, in marked contrast, are typically giant textured, I
I
I
('..
I
and, with the single exception of quartz, their constituent major ! I
minerals are subhedral to euhedral. The fracture fillings and I ('..

I
I
I
I
I I I
replacement bodies generally are much finer grained than the I
I
I---
enclosing zonal pegmatite, and their occurrence as corrosion I
rims, veinlets, groups and networks of veinlets, and as larger, !>.CIlCll I
OW lJJ I
more irregular masses plainly is superimposed on the structural Zz
zoO II
and textural pattern of the pegmatite zones. ONN
- ...I
The general age-abundance relations of the principal pegma- ~ffi~
tite minerals are shown diagrammatically in Figure 4. The rel- :::Eo?;:
0::0::0
ative amounts of these minerals being formed at various stages ooz
l1.lD«
are indicated very roughly. by the relative heights of the cor-
responding ruled areas. The range of mineral development has
been arbitrarily divjdedinto five general stages, which are listed
from left to right in order of decreasing age. As implied by the ...J
arrangement of the columns, there is much overlap in time be- «
0::
tween the stages of zone formation, on one hand, and the more
I.Ll
extended period during which fracture fillings and masses of Z
replacement material were developed, on the other. Thus, some
cross-cutting veinlets of albite and muscovite appear to have :::E
been formed in the wall zone of a given pegmatite body during
the same period in which the inner intermediate zone was being
developed, and later veinlets of albite and muscovite were formed
in this intermediate zone during the period of core development.
The generalizations on abundance presented in Figure 4 are
based on visual estimates and on eighty-six quantitative deter-
minations of minerals in various pegmatite units, especially the
very coarse-grained inner zones. The general age relations were
determined chiefly on the basis of occurrence of a given mineral:
1. Consistently in a zone or other pegmatite unit whose age masses of granite that are widely exposed in areas to the north.
relations are known, generally through structural evidence. Both of these rocks postdate the metasedimentary and ~etav?l
2. As a filling of cleavage cracks or other fractures in an canic rocks of the Precambrian terrane, and are overlam wlth
earlier mineral or mineral aggregate. marked unconformity by the sediments and flows of Tertiary
3. As a pseudomorph of an earlier mineral, where the exist- and Quaternary age. Both are widespread in their occurrence,
ence and identity of the earlier mineral can be established and the pegmatite is present within the granite .and in the sur-
by means of crystal form, cleavage patterns, other. char- rounding older rocks, as well. Thus the pegmatltes m~y repre-
acertistic structural features, or by the preservatlOn of sent a very late stage in the igneous cycl~ that gave rise to the
residual material. masses of granite, although such a relatlOn cannot be proved
Additional criteria, not ihdividually diagnostic but commonly of on the basis of the present studies.
value when used in combination with one another or with those The pegmatite solutions evidently were introduced along frac-
noted above, include the occurrence of a given mineral con- tures, bedding and foliation planes, and along contacts between
sistently along contacts between other minerals, as jackets around different units in the country-rock terrane. Observed structural
crystals of another mineral, as inclusions oriented along cleavage relations suggest that emplacement was acco.mplished chiefly.by
or other crystallographic directions in the host mineral, as mechanical injection of liquids, and that thlS was accompamed
embayments or other forms that suggest the corrosion of an locally by some replacement of the most susceptible types of
earlier mineral, and in or consistently with another\ mineral country rock. The pegmatite-wallrock. contacts generally. are
whose age relations are known. sharp and despite irregularities of detml,many of them plamly
The pegmatite zones evidently were developed successively repre~ent ~urfaces of fractures that were present in the older
inward from the walls of each containing pegmatite body, as rock.
demonstrated by the detailed relations of many mineral grains It can be demonstrated, through detailed stratigraphic analy-
and especially by the presence in some zones of fracture-filling sis that the foliated rocks that flank some pegmatite bodies were
offshoots from other, younger zones. Quar,tz, albite, and musco- split apart and forced away from the space now occupied by
vite were formed throughout the general period of zone develop- pegmatite. Further, the more schistose rock types commonly ~re
ment, and the range of perthite crystallization was only slightly warped, plicated, or even tightly crumple~ Cl:long th~ p.egmatlte
less extensive (Fig. 4). Tourmaline, apatite, beryl, fluorite, and contacts, as if they had been disturbed by mJ~cted hqmds.. And
garnet also were formed over a wide range, whereas biotite finally, the pegmatite bodies plainly crystalhzed progres~1Ve.ly
was relatively early and many of the rarer accessory constitu- inward from their walls to their centers, a sequence that lS dlf-
ents were relatively late in the over-all sequence. The lithium ficult to explain in terms of pegmatite formation by replaceme:r:t,
minerals were formed mafnly during late stages of zonal de- in situ of country rock. That some replacement of wallrock dld
velopment, and only spodumene appears to have made an ap- occur is demonstrated by the presence of hybrid roc~s wit~in
pearance soon after the close of wall-zone formation in most and along the margins of border zones in many pegmatlte bodles,
pegmatites. but the quantitative importance of this process appears to have
Several mineral species show progressive variations in compo- been small.
sition and physical properties as traced through their periods The postemplacement history of the pegmatite bodies evidently
of formation within a given pegmatite body. Thus schorl was was similar to that of zoned pegmatites in many parts of the
developed during crystallization of border zones, wall zones, and world. The various theories that have been advanced to account
several of the intermediate zones in most of the pegmatites, but for the characteristic structural, textural, and compositional fea-
gave way to elbaite during the final stages of crystallization in tures of such pegmatite bodies have been summarized by Kemp,18
the lithium-bearing pegmatites. And within several pegmatite J ohannsen,19 and Landes,20 and the reader is referred to these
bodies in which tests were made, the alkali content of the beryl, publications for a detailed re:riew. of the genera~ problem.
the lithium content of the elbaite and most of the micas, the The zones in each of the Whlte PlChacho pegmatltes are thought
tantalum-columbium ratio in the pyrochlore-microlite and colum- to have been developed by crystallization of magma progressively
bite-tantalite, the manganese-iron ratio in the columbite-tantalite inward from the wallrock contacts, under conditions approaching
and lithiophilite-triphylite, and the sodium-calcium ratio in the those of a closed system, and the lithologic differences between
albite increase from the earliest- to the latest-formed crystals.
18Kemp, J. F., The pegmatites: Econ. Geol., vol. 19, PP: 697-723, 1924.
GENESIS OF THE PEGMATITES '"Johannsen Albert A descriptive petrography of the Igneous rocks, Vol.
II, The q~artz-be~ring rocks, pp. 74-84, The Univ. of Chicago Press,
The pegmatites are among the youngest of the Precambrian Chicago, Illinois, 1932.
rocks in the district, and perhaps are related genetically to the ""Landes, K. K., Origin and classification of pegmatites: Amer. Mineral.,
Vol. 18, pp. 41-56, 1933.
adja?ent zones seem best attributed to fractional crystallization zone to zone with the distribution predicted for such ele-
and I~co:nplete.re~ctionbetween successive crops of crystals and ments on theoretical grounds.
rest-lIqUId. ThIs IS the view expressed earlier by Cameron et The process of zone development must have involved corro-
al,2I on the ba~is of detailed studies of, pegmatites in m~ny sion and partial or complete resorption of many early-formed
parts of the Umted States, and most recently it has been dis- crystals, partial or complete replacement of some minerals by
cussed by Flawn22 and Jahns. 23 It reflects, wholly or in large others, and the invasion of some earlier, outer zones by apophyses
part, tl::e much earlier conclusions of Bragger,2" Crosby and from later, more centrally disposed zones. The activities of re-
FUller: 2iJ Wa.rren and Palance,2G Kemp,27 Landes,28 Shaub,29 and acting and replacing solutions undoubtedly increased as crystal-
other mvestIgators. lization progressed and the proportion of hyperfusible constitu-
The magl?atic ori~in. of. the minerals that are indigenous to ents in the rest-liquid increased, and they must have reached a
the pegmatIte zones IS mdIcated most strongly by the following climax during crystallization of the innermost zones, when the
features of occurrence: 30 pegmatite bodies in effect "stewed in their own juices" and the
1. y.ridespread .struc~ural evidence for emplacement of orig- attendant deuteric reactions obscured and locally even obliterated
mal pegmatIte flu~d by mechanical injection, in many in- some of the results of primary crystallization. Thus fracture-
stanc.es accompamed by some digestion of country rock. controlled replacement masses of lepidolite were developed along
2. ConsIstent evidence for a sequence of zone development the boundary between the massive-quartz core and the quartz-
fro:n the walls of the containing pegmatite body inward spodumene intermediate ZQne of the North Morning Star peg-
to ItS center. matite, and fracture-controlled albitization obscured several con-
3. Remarkable correspondence in sequence of mineral as- tacts between zones in the Outpost pegmatite.
semblages from one zoned pegmatite body to another. The effects of the replacement processes are not easily evaluated
4. Correspondence of the sequence of essential-mineral de- in quantitative terms, but in general the proportion of material
velopme?t in zone~ pef?'matites with the sequence of the formed at the expense of earlier pegmatite minerals appears to
same mmeral speCIeS m normal igneous rocks' the se- be small. The replacing solutions probably were not derived
quepce of major minerals in zoned pegmatite bodies is from sources outside the pegmatite bodies, but instead appear
baSICally that of Bowen's reaction series. to have coursed outward from the central parts of these bodies
5. Intrinsic. similarities of pegmatite fabrics to those of many along fractures and other, less obvious channels of escape.
normal Igneous rocks, despite the marked differences in On the basis of accessible exposures, it cannot be demonstrated
grain size. that all of the supergene copper-Iead-zinc minerals that appear in
6. Lack of evidence that zo~es in a given pegmatite body the pegmatites were derived from primary minerals in the same
were d~veloped by succeSSIve replacement of pre-existing pegmatite bodies. Indeed, it seems possible that they may have
pegmatIte. been derived in large part from hypogene minerals whose forma-
7. Strong concentrations of rare elements in some masses of tion was not genetically related to the pegmatites.
pegmatite, and the general accordance in occurrences
=,------
thus far investigated, of rare-element distribution from ECONOMIC FEATURES OF THE PEGMATITE, MINERALS
mCameron,E. N., ~::hns, R I;I., McNair, A. H., and Page, L. R, Internal
""structure of gramtlc p~gmatltes: Econ. Geol., Mon. 2, pp. 97-106, 1949. FELDSPARS
Flawn, P. T., Pegmatltes of the Van Horn Mountains, Texas: Econ. USES, CLASSIFICATION, AND MARKETING DATA
23 Geol., vol. 46, pp. 163-192, 1951.
Commercial feldspar is used mainly as a ground raw ingredi-
J~hns, R H., The genesis of pegmatites. 1. Occurrence and origin of ent of glasses, glazes, pottery, and other ceramic products. It
2P~.:tt crystals: Am~r. ~inera~., in press, 1953.
BlO/?ger, W. c;., DIe mmerahen del' syenitpegmatitgange del' SUdnor- also is employed as an abrasive in soaps, scouring powders, and
wegIschen augIt und nephelinsyenite: Zeit. Kryst. Min., vol. 16, p. 230, sweeping compounds; as a binder and filler in harder abrasive
1890. (Translated into English by Evans, N. N., Canadian Rec. of Sci. blocks and wheels; as poultry grit and roofing granules; and in
yol. 6, pp. 34-46, 61-71, 1894.) ,
25Crosby, W.O., and Fuller, M. L., Origin of pegmatite: Tech. Quart.,
various ways as a filler, building material, and high-temperature
vol. 9, pp. 326-56; ArneI'. Geol., vol. 19, pp. 147-280, esp. p. 157, 1897. coating and cementing agent. During wartime periods coarsely
"'Warr~n, C. ~., and P~lache, Charles, The pegmatites of the riebeckite- ground feldspar serves effectively as an extinguishing agent for
aegente gramte of QUlncy, Massachusetts: ArneI'. Acad. Arts ScL, Proc., magnesium incendiary bombs.
vol. 47, p. 146, 1911.
:Kemp, J. F., op. cit., pp.708-09, 772, 1924.
Nearly half of the annual production of domestic feldspar is
Landes, K. K., op.cit., pp. 53-55, 1933. '. used in the manufacture of glass, to which it contributes the
29Sh~Ub, B. M., O~ the origin of some pegmatites in the Town o~.Newry alumina that is required to retard devitrification and improve
Mame~ Arner., Mmeral.; vol. 25, Pp. 684-88 19010. ':,' the viscosity and melting-range characteristics. Feldspar for this
.oJahns, R. H., op. cit., 1953. " "" ' and most other fused products generally is graded on the basis
OCCURENCE
of its content of free silica and its freedom from iron, manganese,
and other discoloring agents. Quartz ordinarily is regarded merely Several of the pegmatite bodies in the White Picacho district
as a diluent, although it does lower the market value of the contain concentrations of coarse perthite that are of potential
product if present in proportions much greater than 1 per cent. economic importance, and among those studied during the course
Biotite, garnet, tourmaline, and other iron-bearing minerals are of the present investigation are the North Morning Star, Picacho
far more objectionable, and tolerances for such impurities are View, Outpost, Friction, and Midnight Owl. None of the con-
very low, generally 0.03 per cent to 0.05 per cent, for nearly all centrations of albite appear to be sufficiently extensive or free
ceramic uses. from impurities to sustain an operation for soda feldspar, al-
Commercial feldspar is a mixture of microcline (or orthoclase) though albite would be a significant constituent of any potash
and sodic plagioclase, and in most material the potash feldspar feldspar mined from the district.
is the dominant constituent. Much of the plagioclase forms per- The feldspar of highest grade occurs as giant crystals and
thitic intergrowths within larger crystals of potash feldspar; in crystal aggregates in the cores and intermediate zones of the
addition, the potash feldspar ordinarily contains appreciable largest pegmatite bodies. A few of the perthite individuals must
amounts of soda in solid solution, and the plagioclase similarly weigh as much as 80 tons, and many others amount to 5 tons
contains some potash. The KzO-NazO ratio in typical commer- or more; all of these represent material that would be readily
cial potash feldspar ranges from about 3: 1 to about 4: 1. The recoverable by hand sorting. Most of the very coarse perthite
best commercial grades of feldspar contain less than 5 per cent is associated with massive quartz, and either flanks cores and
of quartz, and the poorest acceptable material contains about 30 intermediate zones of such material or surrounds large, irregular
per cent of quartz. Thus graphic granite, or "corduroy spar," pods of quartz. In a few deposits, the perthite is associated with
most of which contains l5 per cent or more of free silica, com- very coarse-grained lithium minerals, as well.
mands a relatively low price in those areas where it can be Several intermediate zones consist mainly of large perthite
marketed at all. crystals, and form masses that weigh hundreds, and locally thou-
For many years pegmatite deposits yielded a very large pro- sands of tons. A little interstitial quartz ordinarily is present,
portion of feldspar produced in this country each year, generally and some of the perthite is veined by quartz, finer-grained silica,
as coarsely broken material obtained by hand sorting at the mine. albite, muscovite, or combinations of these minerals. The chief
This product was shipped to near-by plants for grinding and objectionable impurities in the perthite of all these deposits are
blending. Later on, substantial amounts were obtained by direct schorl, sulfide minerals, and garnet. Many of these impurities
processing of aplites and other rocks with very low proportions are removable by selective mining, and all could be eliminated
of dark minerals.. During recent years, concentration by froth by the usual methods of magnetic separation.
flotation has yielded increasing amounts of both feldspars and Perthite also is abundant in the outer parts of the pegmatite
salable by-products from several large masses of pegmatite and bodies, particularly in the outer intermediate zones of bodies
finer-grained igneous rocks in the eastern United States, and with complex internal structure. It is considerably less pure
this method holds attractive possibilities for future operations than the more centrally-disposed material just described, how-
in the western states, where the distance of most deposits from ever, and would not yield as high-grade a product by simple
the principal centers of demand makes it economic to produce hand sorting. Quartz, the most widespread impurity, forms inter-
and ship only the best grades of material. stitial grains and masses, and in some deposits is intimately inter-
Prices for western feldspar at or near the mine range from grown with the feldspar to form graphic granite. Schorl, garnet,
about $3.50 to $12 or more per long ton, with a general average biotite, and local grains of sulfides are present in most of these
of about $6 per ton for all material marketed during the past rock masses, and commonly are so widespread that removal by
twenty-five years. Ground feldspar,chiefly in the minus-200- some mechanical means would be necessary to obtain a market-
mesh range, has commanded prices of $18 to $45 per short ton able product.
in bulk lots during reGent years at various manufacturing centers Economic maps of three perthite-rich pegmatite bodies, the
along the Pacific Coast. It is used mostly in the ceramiC industry, Picacho View, Outpost, and Friction, are presented in Plates XX,
where competition from talc, tremolite, and feldspathic 'glass XXII, and XXIII. These show, in a general way, the distribution
sands is particularly keen. Some extremely pure potash feldspar, of feldspar deposits by grade, and demonstrate the close relation-
used mainly for special abrasives and ceramic products, yields ship between these deposits and the zonal structure of the peg-.
returns of $1 or more per pound, but the demand for such mate-
rial fluctuates widely and never is very large. Producers, grind- "'Metcalf, R. W., Marketing feldspar: U.S. Bur. Mines, Inf. Circ. 7184,
ers, and buyers of feldspar have been tabulated by the U.S. pp. 7-13, 1941.
Bureau of Mines. 31 Metcalf, R. W., Feldspar: U.S. Bur. Mines, Minerals ;':earbook for 1948,
pp. 511-12, 1950.
"'For footnote, see p. 59.
-,
I
TABLE 2.-COMPOSITION OF COMMERCIAL LITHIUM

matite bodies. The masses of highest grade contain coarse, clean MINERALS FROM PEGMATITES
perthite that can be easily separated from the other constituents Proportion of
(chiefly quartz) by selective mining and hand sorting. Iron- Theoretical Li20 in most
and maganese-bearing impurities are relatively sparse or are Simplified content of marketed con-
restricted to a few local concentrations. Mineral formula Li,O, per cent centrates, per cent
The masses classed as medium grade would yield, by similar Spodumene LiAISi2 0 n b.O.:s > 6.0'
methods of separation, a product with a higher proportion of Lepidolite KLi2 Albi,O lD F 2" 7.65" > 2.5
quartz and muscovite, and in most instances it would be neces- Amblygonite LiAIFPO. 10.10 > 8.0
sary to remove iron-bearing impurities by magnetic separation. Zinnwaldite LiKFeAl2F2Si301n 3.40 > 1.5
The low-grade masses probably could not be worked economically Triphylite LiFePO. 9.47 > 3.5
under present market conditions, due principally to the abundance
Lithiophilite LiMnPO. 9.52 > 3.5
Petalite LiAISLOln 4.89 " ilO
and wide distribution of other minerals. Both these and some "Concentrates containing as little as 4 per cent LhO are sometimes
of the noncommercial masses, however, would merit considera- marketed in special lots.
tion as sources of feldspar and other salable products if bulk "For polylithionite end member.
mining methods were used to supply feed for a mill designed
to separate feldspar, quartz, micas, and possibly other minerals, ever, is processed into lithium carbonate and other lithium com-
as well. pounds, and amblygonite and a little lepidolite also are converted
QUARTZ
to such compounds. Salts of lithium are used in pharmaceuticals,
storage batteries, flares and fireworks, fluxes, soaps, waxes, low-
Quartz, an expectable by-product from any feldspar operations temperature lubricants, refrigerants, deodorants, bleaching agents,
in the disrict, might well be marketed in quantities determined fungicides, beverages, plastics, special cements, luminous paints,
largely by western demands for abrasive and ceramic material. and photographic chemicals, and serve as catalysts in various
A product meeting all normal specifications for these uses could organic reactions, as moisture- and gas-absorption agents in air-
be readily obtained by hand sorting, but its low value of $2 to conditioning equipment and other devices, and as desulfurizing
$6 per ton would seriously reduce any economic margin of opera- agents in petroleum refining and steel manufacture. They also
tion for deposits located so far from major centers of demand. are used in the purification of helium and other inert gases, in
Some quartz of fusing grade, which ordinarily commands the manufacture of textiles, ceramics, and special refractories,
prices of $100 to $150 per ton, could be produced from many of and in the smelting of iron ore.
the deposits, but the total annual demand for such material is Lithium hydride has been employed as a transporter of hydro-
vari~ble, and in most years is not very large. None of the peg- gen in self-inflating rafts, balloons, and other devices. The metal
matItes appears to contain quartz that is suitable for gem or is variously used as a scavenger in the refining of certain other
piezoelectric uses. metals. It also is a minor constituent of several special-purpose
LITHIUM MINERALS alloys, especially for bearings and castings, and generally is added
to aluminum, copper, lead, magnesium, nickel, silver, zinc, or
USES AND MARKETING DATA
combinations of these metals. In addition, it is a major copstitu-
Spodumene, amblygonite, and <:lepidolite are the lithium min- ent of some newly developed magnesium alloys. Lithium has
erals of chief commercial interest in the White Picacho district. several important potential uses in the fields of nuclear physics,
Lepidolite is widely used in glass making, as it not only is an jet propulsion, and underwater propulsion.
excellent fluxing material, but it increases the luster, weather The composition of several commercial lithium minerals from
resistance, and strength characteristics of finished glasses, while pegmatites is indicated in Table 2. The average price quoted for
reducing their coefficients of expansion. Such glasses are in great spodumene during recent years is about $30 per short ton of
demand for high-pressure gages, X-ray and electronic tubes, and clean cobbed or milled material, generally with a minimum ac-
other devices subject to mechanical stresses or sudden tempera- ceptability llmit of 6 per cent contained Li2 0. This represents a
ture changes. Lepidolite also is an ingredient of many high- range in price of $4 to nearly $9 per short-ton unit of lithium
quality porcelains and enamels, in which it is an effective opaci- oxide. The highest prices were quoted during the period of
fier. It increases their resistance to corrosion and stain, and im- World War II, when foreign supply was uncertain and domestic
proves their bonding characteristics where they are applied as production facilities were not adequate in terms of demand.
coatings on metals. Prices for amblygonite, which contains a higher proportion of
Spodumene also can be employed directly in the manufacture lithium, have ranged from $35 to $110 per short ton, with a
of glass to neutralize shrinkage during cooling, and is an ingredi- general average between $40 and $50. The market is somewhat
ent of other ceramic products, as well. Most spodumene, how- limited, mainly because of fluctuations and uncertainties in the
II
I
62 UNIVERSITY OF ARiZONA BULLETIN PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE WHITE PICACHO DISTRICT 63
supply situatio~. Lepidolite containing 3 per cent of LizO has

commanded pYlces of $15 to $50 p2r short ton at the mine and lithium minerals shipped from any given property. Rough ap-
some material with 4 peL' cent Ol:' more of Li 2 0 has been sold for praisals of LizO content can be made for crude amblygonite
as much as $80 per ton. concentrates w~thout serious difficulty, as they can be based
The chief commercial specification for all lots of crude lithium mainly on estimates of the amount of amblygonite relative to
~iner':ll~ is the proportion of lithium oxide that is present, and
,the other minerals that are present. A simple calculation then
Imp~YltIes are otherwise insignificant with respect to most uses.
suffices to establish the over-all grade of each lot; as the lithium
An Important exception involves the ceramic industry, for which content of the amblygonite in the White Picacho pegmatites does
~ateYlal must contain very little iron; the tolerance generally
not vary over a wide range.
IS 0.03 per cent or less. The problem is considerably more difficult with respect to
. R~cov~ry of lithium minerals from the host pegmatite ordinar- the lepidolite and spodumene in the pegmatites, because both
Ily IS a s~mple matter? involving hand cobbing and picking. Few of these minerals show large variations in lithium content. More-
of the mmerals are dIfficult to recognize, and many crystals and over, not all of the variations are easily correlatecfwith the gen-
crystal aggregates of spodumene and amblygonite are so large eral appearance of the materials in question. Casual inspection
that they can be broker: and shipped with a minimum of sorting. during hand sorting already has led. to bitter disappointments
In some places thes~ mm~ra~sare intimately intergrown, and can among mine owners and operators in this and nearby districts,
be marketed as mIxed lIthIUm-bearing material. Other occur- as several lots of spodumene-including two of carload size-have
:ences require mechanical separation, as the lithium minerals are been received by eastern-firms, tested, and then rejected as too
mtergro.w~ with .lithium-free species that are present in abund- low in grade to be usable.
ance.. ~IthIUr:r:mmerals have been recovered by milling at several Some assay control, even if only approximate, should be ap-
10calItIe.s durmg recent .years. A large flotation plant near Kings plied to shipments of the spodumene and lepidolite, especially if
Mountam, N~rth Carolll~a, yielded commercial spodumene con- they are large. This is done as a matter of course with other
centr~tes durmg the perIOd 1943-1945, later was redesigned and mineral commodities, including· many.. for which such data are
reactIvated, and h~s been in operation since 1951. A heavy-media not nearly so critical, and should be equally routine, for the
method of separatIOn has been used in a second mill at Keystone lithium minerals. Fortunately, it also is possible to make pre-
South Dakota. ' liminary estimates of grade by critical visual appraisal of the
Marketing data for lithium minerals have been summarized material itself, as shown by the results of tests made during the
by ~he.u.S. Bur~au. of Mines,3z and some of the industrial aspects present investigations..
of lIthIUm and lIthIUm compounds have been discussed in detail Although some of the spodumene in the district contains 7 per
by Osborg. 33 The demand for lithium minerals has increased cent or more of LbO, and hence is of reasonably high grade,
markedly during the past half century, due mainly to the de- much has been altered to varying degree, with attendant decreases
velopment of new uses, and reached a peak in the wartime year in the proportion of lithium present. The intensity of alteration
~944, .when 13,339 short tons of crude concentrates was produced to fine-grained albite, muscovite, and other minerals varies from
m thIS coupt.ry.. A sub~tantial portion of this output was in the deposit to deposit, and also varies considerably from crystal to
form of ~I-lIthIUm sodIUm phosphate, containing about 22 per crystal within a given deposit. Correlations between lithium con-
cen~ of ~IzO, that was-reco:rered from brines at Searles Lake, tent and some physical properties are shown in Table 3 for four
CalI:£orma; most of the remamder was spodumene obtained from selected samples that represent the major types of spodumene
several pegmatite districts. It has been estimated in a recent crystals (and pseudomorphs) from the district.
summary by LandoW 4 that potential industrial demand might The spodumene of highest lithium content is characteristically
a1?ount to as much as. 100,000 tons of concentrates (5 per cent fresh in appearance, with a light gray to white color and a
LIzO) per year, exclusIve of direct war uses, as compared with glistening, pearly to silky luster. It is readily cleavable into
demands of 10,000 to 20,000 tons per year during World War II somewhat splintery laths and blades. This material is weathered
and an average annual demand of 5,500 tons during the period in near-surface exposures to much white and softer masses that
1946-1950. appear chalky; they commonly contain many elongate, subparallel
DETERMINATION OF GRADE fragments of relatively fresh spodumene that are separated from
It always is desirable, and for obvious reasons, to maintain one another by the altered material. The lithium content of such
adequate grade control on lots of commercial concentrates of weathered crystals generally is about as great as that of the
"2H.ouk, L. G;, Marketing lithium minerals: U.S. Bur. Mines, Information wholly fresh-appearing crystals.
CIrcular 7225, 1942.
""Osborg, Hans, Lithium, theoretical studies and practical applications 68 The spodumene from which all or a part of the original lithium
pp., The Electrochemical Society, New York 1935. ' has been extracted is somewhat different in appearance. Some
""Landolt, P. E., Lithium: Mining Eng., ";01. 3, pp. 1045-48, es. p. 1047, 1951. is hard and light to medium gray in color, and some is much
TABLE 3.-VARIATIONS IN PROPORTION OF MAJOR ALKALI TABLE 4.-LITHIUM CONTENT OF LEPIDOLITE AND PINK
ELEMENTS IN SAMPLES OF SPODUMENE FROM MUSCOVITE FROM THE WHITE PICACHO PEGMATITES
THE WHITE PICACHO PEGMATITES
- . Sam- General Proportion of Proportion of
Sample Proportion of major pIe description Li,O other constituents
of Genel;al alkali constituents* A. Large, lilac-colored plates; very
Spodumene description slightly flexible. Sunrise pegma- 3.92"
Na,O 0.20 a
Li,O N a,O K,O K,O 2.54"
tite. See Plate IX.
A. Hard, fresh-appearing crystal that 7.81 0:64 0.25 B. Small, lilac-colored plates; slight-
breaks into pearly gray to very ly flexible. Sunrise pegmatite. 3.78" N.D.
pale greenish gray fragments with C. Small, lavender to bluish-gray
shining to glistening luster; weath- plates; moderately flexible. White 4.49" N.D.
ers chalky white; excellent cleav·- Jumbo pegmatite.
age. See Plate XA.
D. Large, pale pink plates; flexible. 0.31" N.D.
B. Soft, weathered crystal from sur- 8.02 0:47 0.94 Sunrise pegmatite.
face exposure; chalky white on E. Small, pale pink to gray plates;
faces and along many fractures, flexible. White Jumbo pegmatite. 0.17" N.D.
but elsewhere light pearly gray F. Large, thin, pinkish gray plates;
with glistening luster; excellent flexible. Midnight Owl pegmatite. < 0.10" N.D.
cleavage. See Plate XA.
G. Small, thick, very pale pink to
C. .-lard crystal from surface expo- 4.16 7.00 0.46 gray plates. Midnight Owl peg- < 0.10" N.D.
sure; rough, light gray, enamel- matite.
like faces appear sugary under the aGo L. Cheney, analyst.
hand lens; light to medium gray bR. H. Jahns, analyst.
with glimmering luster, on newly "Determined spectrographically.
broken surfaces, which show some
tiny faces of albite and muscovite' muscovite, and can be cleaved into thin plates only with con-
cleavage very poor. '
siderable difficulty. These plates, moreover, are not nearly so
D. Moderately soft, light greenish gray Tr. Tr. 4.50 elastic as those split from the crystals of muscovite. Finally, the
crystal.with glimmering, waxy lus- lepidolite is readily ·fusible, whereas the muscovite is not. The
ter; fall' cleavage, with surfaces edges of thin flakes of lepidolite can be fused to small globules
that appear to have been smoothed
by rubbing or shearing. See Plate of glass if held over the flame of an ordinary match.
XB. OCCURRENCE
The spodumene and amblygonite form very large crystals in
*G. L. Cheney, analyst.
the central parts of several pegmatite bodies in the district,
softer ~nd more greenish, ?epending upon whether the principal where they are associated with very coarse-grained, anhedral
alteratIOn products are albIte (C, Table 3) or micaceous minerals quartz in cores and intermediate zones. They also occur as much
(D, Table 3), respectively. All types have duller luster than that smaller crystals in some other intermediate zones that contain
of the unaltered spodumene, and. are distinctly waxy in appear- abundant perthite, as well as quartz. Other minerals commonly
ance. Some cleavage commonly ~s apparent, especially in crys-; are present in subordinate amounts, but in general these are of
t~ls that ar~ not completely altered, but in general it is not pos- much smaller grain size. Quartz-spodumene and quartz-am-
SIble to splIt unbroken masses of the material into smoothly blygonite aggregates form separate zones in some· pegmatite
bounde~ cleavage fragments. This is perhaps the most useful bodies, like the North Morning Star and the Sunrise, whereas
and relIable means for distinguishing by inspection this lower- in others, like the Midnight Owl, the two lithium minerals are
grade spodumene from the unaltered spodumene· described above present in the same zones and hence could be recovered in the
The lepidolite, too, is difficult to appraise by casual inspection' mining of single blocks of ground. In a few pegmatite bodies
~ot only because of variations in its lithium content but becaus~ of complex mineralogy, feldspar, beryl, and other minerals are
~t resembles ~ome types of l~thia muscovite that als~ are present potentially recoverable by-products. Both beryl and columbite-
m the deposIts. As shown m Table 4, the true lepidolite is of tantalite, for example, have been sorted from spodumene-bearing
reasonably high grade, whereas the lithium content of the mus- pegmatite at the Midnight Owl mine.
~ov~te is well below all co:nmercial specifications. The lepidolite Much of the amblygonite forms such large masses that it can
IS l~lac,. lav:ender, or gray In co~or, and the lithium-bearing mus- be separated from the adjacent minerals by hand picking, as
covIte IS pmk to gray. Both mICas weather light gray to white already pointed out. The coarsest spodumene also can be han-
and hence cannot be distinguished at the outcrop on the basi~ dled in this way, although its relatively thin, lath-like habit
of color alone. The lepidolite is distinctly more brittle than the makes efficient recovery much more difficult. In addition, a large
66 UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLET1MT, PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE WHITE PICACHO DISTRICT 67
proportion of the total spodumene in most of the lithilum-bearing as guides to the distribution of spodumene-bearing pegmatite at
pegmatites is present as crystals whose maximum dimensions depth (PIs. XVIII, XIX), and to rely mainly upon extrapolation
are less than 2 feet, and high yields of such material co:uld be from the best surface exposures for estimates of the spodumene
obtained at reasonable cost only through the use of mechanical content of such pegmatite.
methods of separation. Although no wholly satisfactory esti- The lepidolite is not a major constituent of any pegmatite
mates can be made on the basis of data now available, it is zone in the district, nor does it form very large, fine-grained
suggested that only about half of the amblygonite and less than masses like those that have been mined in several other dis-
one-fourth of the spodumene in the district could be recovered tricts in the Western States. Instead, it occurs as much smaller,
by hand sorting at reasonable costs. very irregular, tabular to pod-like masses that appear to have
The amblygonite commonly is so coarse and so "bunchy" in been developed by replacement of earlier pegmatite minerals.
its distribution that, for all practical purposes, the proportion of These masses are most abundant along margins of zones that
this mineral ranges from nil to 100 per cent in large parts of are rich in very coarse-grained quartz, or quartz with amblygonite
the pegmatite zones in which it occurs. More me'aningful esti':' or spodumene, and generally consist of platy crystals of lepido-
mates of grade can be made, however, if each zone is considered lite with subordinate quartz and albite. They range in maximum
in its entirety, or if it is arbitrarily separated into only a few dimensions from several inches to about 25 feet, and few of
very large blocks of ground. Blocks of 2,000 tons or more con- them contain more than 10 tons of lepidolite.
tain 0.5 per cent to nearly 12 per cent of amblygonite in several It would be difficult to hand-sort this type of material to a
of the pegmatite bodies, and the average in the best deposits concentrate containing as much as 3 per cent of Li 2 0, mainly
probably is about 4 per cent. because the lepidolite is so closely associated with other minerals.
The spodumene is more uniformly distributed, and hence its It seems likely that lepidolite could be recovered commercially
abundance is more readily estimated by measurement of present from the White Picacho pegmatites only as a by-products from
exposures. Several of the large, spodumene-rich zones contain operations for feldspar, spodumene, or amblygonite, and some
2 per cent to 23 'per cent of this mineral, with an apparent aver- mechanical means of separation probably would be required to
age of about 8 per cent. As exp'sed late in 1951 on the main obtain a satisfactory product. Even then, the total yield from
quarry face in Mitchell Wash, the quartz-spodumene core of the known deposits might not exceed a few hundred tons. And
the Lower Jumbo pegmatite (PIs. VI, VII) contained an average finally lepidolite is most abundant in those deposits in which
of 9 per cent spodumene, and the faces developed during sub- many 'of the spodumene crystals are considerably altered, and
sequent stages of mining have shown that the spodumene con- hence are so low in grade that they are of relatively little eco-
tent of this zone is remarkably uniform. Mining operations in nomic interest.
the east bulge of the Midnight Owl pegmatite (PIs. XV, XXIV) Lithiophilite, triphylite, and zinnwaldite, though present in
have yielded spodumene that amounts to about 6 per cent of the several pegmatites, are nowhere sufficiently abundant to be re-
total rock removed from the pit, and the principal spodumene- garded as significant sources of lithium-bearing mineral concen-
bearing zone in the west bulge appears to contain about 8 per trates.
cent of this mineral in the form of large crystals. BERYL
Considerable thicknesses of spodumene-bearing pegmatite were
penetrated by several diamond-drill holes during recent explora- USES AND MARKETING DATA
tion of the North Morning Star, Lower Jumbo, Sunrise, and Beryl is the present commercial source of beryllium metal
Midnight Owl deposits, but most of the corresponding drill cores and beryllium compounds, which are used in ceramics and re-
were found to contain less than 0.2 per cent of Li2 0. Such low fractories, in the preparation of X-ray tubes and fluorescent
values may be somewhat misleading, however, as the cores may lamps and screens, in special processes of paint and textile manu-
not represent this type of rock within satisfactory limits. facture, and in the optical systems of some electrical instruments.
In the drilling of several pegmatite bodies in other districts The metal also is used in nuclear physics, chiefly as a source of
during recent years, core recoveries were found to be relatively neutrons and as a moderator for fast neutrons. In addition, it
low wherever quartz-spodumene pegmatite was penetrated, as is alloyed with zinc, aluminum, magnesium, iron, and nickel,
high proportions of spodumene were carried off in the sludges. but for many years the major demand has been for copper-base
Moreover, the quartz-spodumene ratio in most recovered frag- alloys, which are exceptionally resistant to fatigue and wear,
ments of core was unduly high, as much spodumene was selec- are responsive to hardening treatments after being worked soft,
tively plucked and torn away by the drill bit before the cores and are harder and otherwise superior to copper in structural
were delivered at the surface. In the light of these factors, there- characteristics. Further, they are good electrical conductors, non-
fore, it would seem best to employ the drill-hole data primarily magnetic, and nonsparking. Alloys of the beryllium-copper group
are used, for exa~ple, in ~on-sparking tools and in springs, con-

tact plates, bushmgs, shIms, and corrosion-resistant parts of factory analytical methods have been developed for the deter-
~oto:s and gages. They also are employed for parts in preci-
mination of beryllium in ores,35 they are time' consuming and
SIOn mstruments and machines. expensive. Spectrochemical analysis, which is rapid and only
. For several years prior to 1941, prices for clean-cobbed domes- moderately expensive, has been used for numerous BeO deter-
tIc beryl were quoted at $30 to $35 per dry short ton or at $2.75 minations, especially in low-grade ores,36 but requires laboratory
to ~3.60. per dry sh~rt-ton unit in sampled and analyz~d lots. The facilities and costly equipment. The simplest, most rapid, and
umt pnce. r~:)Se durmg World War II to a maximum of $14.50 for least expensive method of analysis thus far available is based
or.e contammg 8 per cent or more of BeO. Postwar prices de- upon determination of the ordinary (w) index of refraction of
clmed sharply, but later began a steady rise that carried them the beryl, which decreases with increasing beryllium content.
well above t?-e previous wc:-rtime high. As of January 1, 1953, The effects of composition on index of refraction have been
~ome dom.es.tIc b~rylwas bemg sold directly to the General Serv-
determined by Schaller and Stevens 37 on the basis of detailed
ICes AdmImstratIon of the Federal Government at the rate of studies of seventy-two different beryls, and it was found that
$400 .per dry short ton for visually inspected lots presumed to a simple curve shows the relation between the BeO content and
contam not less th~n 8 per c.ent o~ BeO, or on a sliding scale ordinary index. Thus, once the index uf refraction of the sample
of $40 to $50 per umt, the specIfic pnce depending upon the grade is established, generally by study of crushed fragments under a
of each lot as determined by sampling and chemical analysis microscope, the corresponding proportion of BeO can be read
The remainder of ~he dom~stic output was sold on the ope~ directly from this curve.
market, some at pnces as hIgh as $58 per unit and some low- All the beryl tested from the White Picacho pegmatites has
grade material at prices of $25 to $40 per unit.' been found to contain more than 12.0 per cent of BeO, and most
~ ~eryl is produced commercially from most deposits in the appears to contain 13.0 per cent or more. The crystals with high-
~m~ed StCl;tes as a b:y-product of mining operations for feldspar, est index of refraction, and hence of lowest beryllium content,
lIthIUm mmerals, mICa, or other pegmatite commodities. It is occur in the cores and inner intermediate zones of such min-
recovered from the host rock by rough cobbing and hand sorting eralogically complex lithium-bearing pegmatites as the North
and henc~ only deposits that contain coarse crystals and masse~ Morning Star, Sunrise, and Midnight Owl.
of the mmeral have b~en of majol' economic interest. A great OCCURRENCE
deal of laboratory testmg has been done in an effort to devise
som~ mec:-ns of mechanical separation of beryl from other peg- The coarsest beryl in the district occurs in the inner parts of
matIte mmerals, and the results obtained from several of these the pegmatite bodies, where it generally is associated with mas-
tests seem t.o offer co~side!abl~ promise; at present, however, sive quartz. Coarse perthite also is present in some deposits, and
no commercIal productIOn IS bemg obtained by means of flota- other associated minerals include albite, muscovite, lepidolite,
tion, heavy-media separation, or other types of milling. spodumene, and amblygonite. Columbite-tantalite, fluorite, lithi-
DETERMINATION OF GRADE ophiliate-triphylite, and triplite also occur with beryl in the east
Ordinary inspection, even if carefully made, does not suffice bulge of the Midnight Owl pegmatite, where the beryl consti-
to determme the BeO content of a given lot of commercial beryl tues approximately 1.1 per cent of the intermediate zone that
concentrates, due mainly to variations in the BeO content of the has been mined in a small quarry Similar beryl-bearing inner
beryl itself. These variations have the same economic effect as zones in six other pegmatite bodies contain 0.08 per cent to 1.6
those in th~ Li2 0 content of the spodumene, which already have per cent of this mineral, with an average of about 0.7 per cent.
been descnbed, but fortunately are of lesser magnitude and are Many other zones, however, appear to be completely barren of
much !TI0re syst~~atic. They ~ppear to reflect primary differ- beryl.
e~ce~ m C?mposItIOn ~f the mmeral, and in general the beryl The largest masses of the beryl are only about a foot in maxi-
~'nthm a ~lVen p~gmatIte body in the district shows progressive mum dimension, but they can be separated economically from
mcreases m alkalI content-and attendant decreases in BeO con- the broken rock by hand methods, especially by persons who
tent-as traced in its occurrence from the walls inward to the have learned to recognize the characteristic pale colors and some-
c~re. The maximum observed variation, in the beryl of the Mid- what greasy luster of the mineral. The much smaller anhedral
mght O;VI pegmatite, amoun~s to approximately 1.8 per cent of
BeO; thIS corresponds to a dIfference of $75 to $100 in the per- 35Stevens, R. E., and Carron, M. K., Determination of beryllium in ores:
U.S. Geol. Survey, Bull. 950, pp. 91-100, 1946.
ton value of clean concentrates, as determined from price sched- ""Marks, G. W., and Jones, B. M., Method for the spectrochemical deter-
ules in effect during the winter of 1952-53. mination of beryllium, cadmium, zinc, and indium in ore samples: U.S.
The BeO content of pure beryl ranges from about 10 per cent Bur. Mines, Rept. Investig. 4363, 1948.
to a theoretical maximum of nearly 14 per cent. Although satis- "Schaller, W. T., and Stevens, R. E., A study of beryl, manuscript in prepa-
ration, 1953.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~ - - - - - - -...""'--~--
_
70 UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLETIN PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE WHITE PICACHO DI;ST1:UC~T
crystals in the outer zones of several pegmatite bodies probably considerably, and again were based upon size and ql;lality
could not be recovered economically except by some mechanical the prepared sheets. During re~ent months, however, pnces once
means. These crystals represent a potentially important reserve again experienced a general nse, and by the end o~ 1952 were
of marketable material, and in some border-zone deposits, like back in the general range of the World W~r!I penod.. ..
those in the Midnight Owl pegmatite, they constitute 3 per cent Scrap mica ordinarily is processed. by grmdmg, and IS claSSI-
to 8 per cent of rock masses that amount to 50 tons or more. fied on the basis of its mechanical punty and the color and coarse-
ness of the ground product. Most grou?d mica is prepared by
MICA dry methods, and is used in asphalt ~hmgles and .other roofing
CLASSIFICATION, USES, AND MARKETING DATA
materials refractories, foundry facmgs, decoratlve concrete,
Commercial muscovite that is flat or nearly so, and is large stuccos a~d plasters, paints, plastics, and in t~e man:ufacture of
enough and sufficiently free from structural defects to be used rubber products and y-arious trp~s of molded msulatlOn.. !t also
in some types of electrical equipment and certain other manu- is used in the insulatlOn of bmldmgs, and I?-0dest quantltles. are
factured articles generally is known as sheet mica. It must yield processed into Christmas-tree snow, greetm&-card ~ecorat~ons,
trimmed sheets at least 1 % inches by 2 inches in size. Punch and other specialized products. Wet-ground m~ca, w!llchordmar-
mica yields somewhat smaller trimmed or punched sheets, gen- ily is much finer grained, is employed extenSIvely II?- the m~mu
erally at least 1 inch in diameter. Scrap mica includes all mate- facture of rubber, wallpaper, paints an~ other prote~tlVe coatmgs,
rial that is too small or that in some other way is not acceptable lubricants, textiles, and plastics. It IS an effect~ve.filler and
for sheet or punch uses. bonding medium, and commonly i~creases the reSIstance of the
Most sheet and punch mica is employed as an electrical insulat- products to corrosion, heat, and fatlgue. .,
ing material, either directly as cut, stamped, or punched pieces, The domestic demand for scrap mica has grown steadIly durmg
or as a wide variety of built-up forms made by cementing numer- the past two decades, and annual production has reach~d levels
ous splittings of mica with an appropriate bonding medium. The in excess of 30,000 tons, most of which represents mIca from
properties most desired in material of superior quality are flat- pegmatitic sources. Prices during recent years have ranged from
ness, uniform splitting characteristics, reasonable hardness and $25 to $55 per ton for most raw scrap mica, from $30 to $80 per
flexibility, elasticity, transparency, freedom from inclusions of ton for dry-ground mica, and from $~25 to $170 per ~on f~r wet-
other minerals, and freedom from various structural imperfec- ground material. Additional marke~mg d~ta and. dls~usslOns of
tions. 3s Such mica requires a considerable amount of processing the mica-grinding industry are avaIlable m pubhcatlOns of the
after it is removed from the deposit in which it occurs. In gen- U.S. Bureau of Mines. 40
eral it is split and sorted several times, trimmed and/or punched
OCCURRENCE
one or more times, and is carefully graded and classified at least
once before it reaches the end-use stage. Muscovite is abundant in many parts of the district, and espe-
Prices for sheet mica fluctuate widely in response to changes cially in a widespread group of pegmatite bodies that are exposed
in demand, and vary according to the size and quality of the on both sides of the drainage divide ?etween Buckhorn Wash
material. The ranges for clear mica are great, and during a on the north and Trilby and San DommgoWashes to the south
thirty-year period the price for 3 by 3 inch trimmed sheets in (PI. I). It is scattered as small books thro~gh. many of the
the Southeastern States, the major producing area in this coun- border zones and wall zones, in some of whl.ch It amounts. to
try, ranged from $0.58 to $2 per pound, and that for 11/2 by 2 20 per cent or more of the rock. Locally, as m the Long DIke
inch trimmed sheets ranged from $0.12 to $0.60 per pound. Prices deposit, it forms as much as 80 .per cent of the rock, but no
characteristically reach very high levels during war periods, and very large masses of such matenal appeal;' t.o be present a~y
for several months in 1944, for example, a flat price of $8 per where in the district. Inasmuch as all of thIS outer-z~ne ~Illc.a
pound was in effect for full-trimmed sheets 2 by 2 inches and forms small flakes, plates, and books, it is of commerCIal SlgIll-
larger. 3o Subsequent purchasing schedules were scaled down ficance as scrap-grade material only. .
38For discussions of these and other significant features of commercial mus- Larger crystals of muscovite are abundant m the cores and
covite, see: C
' 'ntermediate zones of some pegmatite bodies, where they are
sterrett, D. B., Mica deposits of the United states: U.S. Geol. Survey,
Bull. 740, pp. 11-28, 1923.
~mbedded in masses of very coarse-grained quartz or are clustered
Albertson,J. M., Hammond, W. E., and ~~ackly, C. D., Mica: U.S. Tariff around the margins of such masses. Numerous occurrences of
Comm., 89 pp., 1947. .:" ',j,.
Jahns, R R, and Lancaster, F. W., PhY~l.c}lJ.'~b,araCteristics of commer~· <OM W M MI'ca' US Bur Mines Inf. Circ. 6205, pp. 7-8, 14-18, 1929.
yers ." . , -. . , f C' 6822 10 12 28 30
cial sheet muscovite in the southeastern Uniteli;~tates: U~S. Geol. Survey, Horton, F. W., Mica: U.S. Bur. Mines,. In: lrc. ,pp. - , - ,
Prof. Paper 225, pp. 4-28, 1950. . ...• ,,~. ,:" .'..' .' 1935 (revised 1941). . '. . 7258 15 .
3"For more detaile,d .information On prices, see Jahns, It. H., and LancasteD;. Gwinn, G. R, StrategIC mIca. U.S. Bur. Mines, Inf. Circ. ,pp' .....
F:W.;· op. cit., pp.27-28, 1 9 5 0 . ' · · .' . . 17, 1943.
this type are well exposed in the irregularpegm~tite dikes' at to 6.5, and that of all material commercially marketable;' as
tpe head of Independence, Gulch, west of the Midnight Owl mine tantalite is greater than 6.5. Determinations can be made eCJ'sily
t~l. I). ?ome ~asses of mtergrown books, commonly with asso- and quickly by, means of gravity balances, which are available
c~ated I?mor albIte and quartz, are as much as 8 feet in maximum in many labOl:~atories.
dImensIOn. More a~:lUndant, ~owever, are somewhat larger masses Columbite-'tantalite is present in several of the White .Picacho
of ro~k that conta~n less mICa ,an~ considerably more quartz. pegmatites, 'and locally in sufficient concentrations of coarse crys-
ThIS coarser-gramed muscovIte IS light green in color clear tals to be economically recoverable by hand sorting. Small lots
~ard, and free splitting. Most is severely ruled and fr~ctureci already have been obtained, during operations for beryl and
tPl. VIII), howe:ver, and t~e largest, books are marred by "A"- lithium minerals at the Midnight Owl mine, and it seems likely
structure. Warpmg, wedgmg, and mtergrowths with adjacent that a modest yield of by-product material can be anticipated
bO,oks further reduce the amounts of high-quality material that from most mining operations in the large and mineralogically
mlg~t be recovered by careful splitting and trimming. Thus, complex pegmatites. Unfortunately, much of the columbite-
desp:te the satisfactory size-range of the largest books, the pro- tantalite and all of the other columbium-tantalum minerals in
portIOn of punch and small-sheet mica that could be obtained the district are too fine grained for effective recovery by hand
flom them pro?ably does n?t exceed 0.1 per cent, and nearly methods, although they do merit consideration as potentially
all of the dep~sIts ~re best vIewed as sources of scrap mica only. valuable by-products in the event that appropriate milling facil-
The muscovIte YIelds an excellent white product when ground, ities become available.
and s,hould .find a ready m,arket. Unfortunately, it is not closely BISMUTH MINERALS
assocIated m the pegmatItes with many other minerals that
could ~e :ecove,red as commercial by-products in a separation Most domestic bismuth is obtained as a by-product from the
and .grmdmg. mIll. Quar.tz and possibly a little beryl might be smelting of lead ores, but a limited market exists for concen-
o?tamed ~urmg processmg of the pegmatite masses with the trates of raw bismuth minerals, and especially for those that
hIghest mICa content, but the potential yield of columbite-tantalite are free from arsenic and antimony. Bismuth metal and bismuth
a,n~ other acces~ory minerals would be negligible. Large quan- compounds are used mainly in special alloys, pharmaceuticals,
tItIes of muscovIte are not present in any of the lithium-bearing phosphors, and catalysts. The average value of ores sold during
pegmatites thus far observed. recent years is about $0.50 per pound, and the metal has com-
manded an average price of slightly more than $2 per pound.
COLUMBIUM-TANTALUM MINERALS Bismutite and other bismuth minerals form minable concen-
The domestic market for columbium and tantalum minerals trations in a few of the pegmatite bodies, notably the Outpost
generally is excellent, owing to demands based on uses of the' and the Midnight Owl. They are spotty in their distribution and
metals in radio and electronic equipment corrosion-resistant extent, but almost invariably occur in zones that are rich in
tools ~~d other devi~es, special .glasses, a~d numerous alloys. massive ,quartz.
In addItIOn, t~ntal~m IS emp~oyed m the manufacture of synthetic More than 10 tons of bismutite-bismuthinite concentrates were
rubber, and IS umsruely satIsfactory as a surgical metal. Prices obtained from one large, pod-like mass at the Outpost mine,
quoted for columbIUm-tantalum ores vary according to the total and reportedly were marketed at an average price of $1.25 per
content of Cb20 5 and Ta205; in addition, the most desirable ores pound. This occurrence was of course exceptional, but a. few
are ~ow-tantalum columbite and low-columbium tantalite. Prices others like it might well be encountered during future mining
durmg 1952 ranged from $2 to nearly $7 per pound of contained for feldspars and lithium minerals in the district. The bismuth
Ta205 or Cb20 5 for most concentrates, with the highest values minerals seem best viewed as potential by-products that are
applied to tantalite with 75 per cent or more of Ta205. Most readily recoverable by hand picking wherever they are encoun-
lots of tantalum or columbium concentrates are marketed under tered in large enough quantities, but whose major occurrences
specific ~greemen~s betwe~n the producer and purchaser. cannot be predicted in advance of mining.
The wIde range m the pnce scale for columbite-tantalite makes
assays, in ,advance o~ so~ting and shipping a practical necessity. MINING AND PROSPECTING
QuantItatIve determmatIOns of tantalum and columbium oxides METHODS AND PAST DEVELOPMENTS
?y ch~mical analysis is a. slow and very costly process, but it
IS possIble to make apprOXImate though rapid estimates for mem- The pegmatites of the White Picacho district were visited and
bers of the columbite-tantalite series on the basis of the con- examined from time to time over a period of many years, mainly
sistent relation between specific gravity and Ta205 content. In by prospectors in search of gold, copper, or tungsten deposits.
ge1;1eral the grav~ty rises .with increasing proportion of tantalum Their potential value as sources of nonmetallic commodities does
OXIde. The specIfic gravIty of most columbite ranges from 5.2 not seem to have been recognized until 1947, when they were
--_ ------------------------
........

Plate XV.-View of Midnight Owl pegmatite, looking north. The Upper

cut, at left, is in the west bulge of the pegmatite body; the Lower cut, at
right, is in the east bulge (see Plate XXIV). Note bold outcrops of pegma-
tite in center and right foreground.
noted during an aerial reconnaissance for deposits of high-grade

feldspar by the Whitehall Company of Keene, New Hampshire.
The largest pegmatite bodies, as well as those containing abundant
massive quartz, are particularly conspicuous when viewed from Plate XVI.-Anderson mica mill, in upper part of San Domingo Wash.
the air, and their positive identification thus was easily accom-
plished. The locations of both these and other masses of pegma-
tite were plotted on maps during the initial reconnaissance, and ments of marketable material. Mining was being continued,
the airplane map then was used as a guide for location and chiefly 'in the Lower cut, when the property was last visited in
examination of each pegmatite on the ground. 41 June, 1952. Additional quantities of amblygonite and spodumene
During 1947 several of the most promising pegmatites were were shipped in 1951 from the North Morning Star property,
further exposed by stripping with a bulldozer, and were explored wholly from two open cuts that were developed in the. main
for deposits of feldspar and lithium minerals by means of trenches, dike (PI. XVII). The rock excavated from one small cut n~ar
cuts, test pits, and shallow drill holes. Numerous short access the north end of this dike yielded 17 tons of coarse amblygomte.
roads were built, and quarries were developed in the Picacho The most recent operations for lithium minerals in the dis-
View, Outpost, and Friction deposits in order to test them more trict were begun in the Lower Jumbo pegmatite late in 1951
fully as sources of commercial feldspar. The entire exploration (PI. VI), and have yielded at least one carload shipment of
program was well planned and effective. It quickly focused marketable spodumene. .
attention on the deposits of greatest economic potential, and During 1950 the Anderson brothers mined modera~e quantities
yielded valuable information concerning their form, extent, and of muscovite-bearing pegmatite, chiefly from deposIts near the
grade. head of Independence Gulch (PI. I). Some were shipped to a
During this time, several small lots of bismutite and bismu- mill at Aguila for separation and grinding, and the remainder
thinite were obtained from the Outpost pegmatite by Earl F. was processed in a small mill that was built in San Domingo
Anderson and Sidney B. Anderson of Mesa, who developed an Wash about a mile east-northeast of the Riley place (PIs. I, XVI) .
open cut and short appended incline in a small but rich occur- This mill effected the separation of a rough scrap mica product
rence of bismuth and copper minerals that had been exposed by several stages of cr:ushin~ and screening, and it is repor~ea
during stripping operations by the Whitehall Company. A nearly that a small air-separatlon umt also was tested for a short penod
pure concentrate of shipping material was recovered by careful of time. The mill has been idle since 1951.
hand picking during 1947 and 1948. Nearly all the deposits of pegmatite minerals that have been
The Anderson brothers then turned their attention to the Mid- mined in the district were discovered through inspection of out-
night Owl pegmatite, which they explored and mined on a small crops or through the tracing of float material to its source. Loose
scale for amblygonite, spodumene, beryl, and columbite-tantalite. fragments of quartz, which are strewn over many ridges and
Open cuts were developed in two major bulges of the pegmatite slopes have proved to be good indicators of feldspar, amblygonite,
body (PIs. XV, XXIV), and these operations yielded several ship- and spodumene deposits high on the slopes, and close inspection
of the float commonly has revealed fragments of these minerals
41Whitney, R. J., How a bird's-eye view from a plane makes prospecting in association with the blocks of quartz. It seems likely that
easier: Eng. and Min. Jour., vol. 153, no. 3, pp. 84-86, 1952. examination of these float occurrences and the available outcrops
of pegrr:atite should lead to recognition of most near-surface con- TABLE 5.-PRODUCTION OF PEGMATITE MINERALS FROM
THE WHITE PICACHO DISTRICT, 1947-1952
centratIOns of economically desirable minerals in the district. -
Most exploration and mining thus far has been confined to Mineral Deposit Quantity Grade
(tons) (per cent)
surface excavations, and the typical sequence of operations has
b~en outli!led in earlier paragraphs. A few deposits, like the Picacho View Large
Outpost lots
PIcacho VIew, have been tested by means of short tunnels and No.1
Friction for
shallow shafts,. ar:d the North Morning Star, Sunrise, Lower Feldspar
testing
Jumbo, .and MIdmght Owl pegmatites were diamond drilled by Midnight Owl
t~e PaCIfic Coast ~orax Company in 1952. Future mining opera- Amblygonite
North Morning Star 26 8.5 Li20
tIons probably WIll follow the course taken in most other peg- Midnight Owl 62 7.4 Li2 0
matite districts, in which widespread open-cut work has led to North Morning Star 20* 5* Li,O
under.ground .mi!ling in many of the best deposits. Spodumene Lower Jumbo 55
A lIttle stnppmg has been required to expose fully the outer Midnight Owl None shipped 2-3 Li 20
surfaces of some deposits, but the surficial overburden rarely is Beryl Midnight Owl 13 11-12 BeO
more than 3 feet thIck. Nearly all of the pegmatite is hard and Bismutite Outpost 12 -
~nweathered,. so that drilling and blasting are necessary in min- Muscovite Several deposits 100* -
mg. S?me J:.11Ica has been recdvered by milling of pegmatite that Columbite-
tantalite Midnight Owl < 1 Not known
was mm~.d m bulk, but all other production thus far has resulted
from. somewha~ s~lective mining, followed immediately by hand "'ApproXImate
cobbmg and pICkmg of the desired minerals. .period of a decade or more. The immediate future of the dis-
Where overlying masses of country rock would necessitate a trict therefore will depend not so much upon continued search
change to underground methods if mining were extended to for additional deposits as upon appraisal and development of
deeper levels, no unusual problems should be encountered in the those that are known. The effectiveness of such work will be
support of the workings. Little timbering should be needed except governed in turn by the degree to which all significant geologic
perhaps at the portals of some openings. Ground water also and economic factors are recognized and properly evaluated. .
WOUld. be no problem in most mines, especially those that lie The development of several deposits in the district during the
well above the levels of nearby major washes. past five years reveals the general pattern that might be expected
for any future operations based upon selective mining and hand
PRODUCTION sorting of salable minerals. Plainly the major possibilities lie
The produ~tion data. for p~g~atite minerals during the initial in the production of high-grade. feldspar, several large deposits
five-year pe~lOd C!f actIve mIlling m the White Picacho district of which are known and have been explored. Reserves of re-
are summanzed m Table ~. These modest totals comprise the coverable material probably amount to at least 70,000 tons, and
0.utput from a few.small mmes .and an additional yield of mate- might prove to be considerably greater after further exploration
nal recovered durmg e~ploratIOn of several pegmatite bodies. of the largest pegmatite bodies. The chief problems attending
They represent. a combm~d value of approximately $45,000, a commercial operations for feldspar would be economic rather
subs~antIal portIOn of WhICh applies to the bismuth minerals than geologic, at least in the early stages. They would require
obtamed f.r?m the Outpost mine. It is not possible to estimate· careful analysis of mining, sorting, and hauling costs, as well
the. quantItIes or value of feldspar mined from the major de- as the appraisal of present and potential market conditions, espe-
nosIts, although the total amount certainly exceeds 2,000 tons. cially in the industrial areas of the Pacific Coast region.
qnlJ:" a few test lots actually were shipped, and the remainder Reserves of lithium minerals in the district probably amount
lIes m several dumps and stockpiles. to at least 8,000 tons, and production of very coarse-grained
spodumene and amblygonite might well reach modest levels.
FUTURE POSSIBILITIES Operations would be handicapped by the great distance of the
TI:e recent recognition of. the White Picacho pegmatites as deposits from the principal eastern centers of demand, and per-
poss~b.le sources of commerCIal feldspar and other mineral com:" haps to a much greater degree by the relatively. low average
modItIes m~y well J?rov.e to be of considerable economic· signifi- lithium content of the spodumene that could be obtamed. Further,
cance, partIcula!ly m v~ew of the markedly declining discovery substantial proportions of the spodumene and amblygonite in
rate for domestIc depo~Its o~ pegmat~te ~inerals during the past the district could not be recovered effectively by hand sorting
few: dec~des.. The WhIte PICacho dIstnct is one of the few in from the pegmatite in which they occur.
WhICh dlsc.ove.ry and ~xplC!ration are far ahead of development Future production of beryl, mica, quartz, and other minerals
and explOItatIOn, a SItuatIOn that promises to continue for a could be continued on the basis of small-scale mining and hand
picking, especially under favorable market conditions like those

obtaining at the present time. Much of this output probably a mile west-southwest of the Riley place, in the western half of
"..ould be in the form of by-products recovered during operations sec. 16, T. 7 N" R. 3 W. White quartz and coarse potash feldspar
for feldspar and lithium minerals. form several bold outcrops along the crest of a ridge that rises
The broader, long-term outlook for the district might be steeply on the northwest side of San Domingo Wash, and th~se
brightened considerably if a mill were erected for treatment of have contributed abundant float to the slopes below. Peg:r;natIte
pegmatite in large quantities. The net value of the mined rock also appears along low cuts made during recen~ constructIOn of
could be materially increased by mechanical recovery of several a truck road, and in several shallow prospect PIts and trenches,
marketable minerals, and columbite-tantalite, pyrochlore, and as well. f I' d
some of the other accessory minerals could be concentrated as The country rock in this general area is thinly oIat,e. to
by-products, even though they are not sufficiently abundant in slabby amphibole schist, quar~z-b~otite s~hist, and quart~-bIOtIte
anyone ore body to be considered as a primary basis for exploita- muscovite schist, most of WhICh IS medIUm dark gray m color.
tion. In addition, milling of pegmatite would encourage the adop- These rock types are intimately interlayered, and locally con-
tion of low-cost bulk methods of mining, and might shift atten- tain lenses of amphibolite and epidosite, Most appear to be of
tion from high-grade, pockety deposits to more extensive and volcanic origin, and several thick, tabular ma~se~ of agglomer:=tte
continuous deposits of lower grade. and breccia are clearly recognizable. Both folIatIOn and layermg
Grinding plants for feldspar and scrap mica might be operated strike west-northwest to west, and dip 45° to 55° north. The
in conjunction with the mill, and the products shipped to areas general structure is rather uniform, but the rocks are :r;nuc,h
of demand as fully prepared material. Neither mill nor grinding crumpled and contorted in d,etail. Here an~ there the schIst IS
plants should be built, however, in advance of adequate data on cut by quartz veins and by dIkes of fine-gramed, very dark gray
available reserves of near-by pegmatite material and a careful amphibolite. , .
analysis of all economic factors involved, Near the pegmatite contacts the SChISt has been Impregnated
The commercial potentialities of individual pegmatite bodies with abundant potash feldspar and flakes of pa.le ,gre~n mus~o
should be appraised before any attempts at full-scale mining are vite. All transitions between amphibole- or bIOtIte-nch SChISt
begun. The exploration program of the Whitehall Company sat- and nearly pure muscovite schist are visible on a small kn?b
isfied the need for surface and near-surface data on extent and immediately north of the thickest part of the s~uth pegm~tIte
grade of several major deposits, and the more recent program dike Most of the muscovite forms thin flakes I/s mch to 1jz mch
of the Pacific Coast Borax Company demonstrated that the dia- in diameter, and both these and the gross foliation of the rock
mond drill can be an effective tool if its use is directed in close are much contorted in detail. .
accord with known structural features of the pegmatite body The south prospect is in a large, s~mew.hat bulbous dike with
being tested. Geologic data on these and several other deposits a general outline like that of a bO,wlmg pm, It trends east, and
in the district are presented in the following section of this re- appears to dip steeply north, It IS abo~t 300 feet long and 70
port, and are aimed mainly at providing mineralogic and struc- feet in maximum outcrop breadth, and Its broa~est 'part forms
tural information of greatest potential economic usefulness. Ap- a distinct topographic knob, Several stubby proJectIOns extend
plications of such data have been discussed on previous pages, southward on both sides of the ridge..
and in addition have been treated in more general terms in the The pegmatite body consists of five readily distinguishable
published record. 42 zones. The poorly exposed border, zone, w,hich raJ?-ges in t~ic~
DESCRIPTIONS OF SELECTED MINES AND PROSPECTS ness from a knife edge to 11/2 feet, IS a medIUm-gramed gr,amtOId
aggregate of quartz, plagioclase, and scat.ter~d m,uscovlte. In
MORNING STAR PROSPECTS
The Morning Star pegmatites (1, PI. I) are irregular, steeply most places it is rich in quartz" some of WhIC.h IS vemed by very
dipping dikes that are exposed on a prominent ridge about half fine-grained aggregates of plagIOcla~e and mIC~. Co~rser. musco-
vite chiefly in stubby crystals l/s mch to 1jz mch m dIameter,
"See, for example, is s~attered through the rock, and locally is associated w~th small
Cameron, E. N., Larrabee, D, M" McNair, A, H" Page, J. J" and Shainin, prismatic crystals of ve::y dark green to black tourmalI,ne. The
V. E" Structural and economic characteristics of New England mica de- continuity of the zone IS broken here and there by WISpS and
posits: Econ, Geol., vol. 40, pp, 369-93, 1945. slabs of schist, and by pod-like aggre~at.es of coarse hornblende,
Jahns R. H., Mica deposits of the Petaca district, Rio Arriba County,
New Me~ico: New Mexico School of Mines, Bur. of Mines and Min. Res. some of which has been altered to bIOtIte.
Bull, 25, pp. 39-51, 261-64, 1946, The wall zone, a discontinuous unit about 6 .fe~t in maximum
Cameron, E. N" Jahns, R. H" McNair, A, H" and Page, L, R" Internal thickness, is a medium- to coarse-~rained gramtOId, aggregate of
structure of granitic pegmatites: Econ. Geol., Mon, 2, esp, pp. 106-07, 1949.
Jahns, R. H., Geology, mining, and uses of strategic pegmatites: Amer. perthite, plagioclase, and subordmate qu~rtz, WIth ~oderate
Inst. Min, and Met. Eng" Trans" vol. 190; pp, 45-59, 1951. amounts of fine-grained plagioclase. A lIttle mUSCOVIte and
-------------------------- - ----~-
80 UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLETIN PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE WHITE
garn.et also is p:-esent. This unit grades into an outer inter- The pegmatite body is about 50 feet in outcrop
medIate zone! 6 mches to 8 feet thick, that is composed chiefly the vicinity of the Main cut, and broadens northeastward
of co~rse-gr~n.ned, subhedral to anhedral perthite with subordi- maximum of nearly 100 feet. Prominent branches extend
nate mterstItIal quartz. Some of the potash feldspar contains ward and northwestward beyond the mapped area (PI. XVII).
quartz in crudely graphic intergrowths. The country rock is thinly foliated, light to medium gray quartz-
The. inn~r intermediate zone, the most conspicuous unit in biotite-muscovite schist. Its well developed planar structure
the dIke, IS 2 feet to 28 fee~ thick. It consists almost wholly trends west-northwest and dips north-northeast at moderate to
of coarse- to very coarse-gramed, subhedral perthite, and some steep angles. The rock is cut by several dikes of fine-grai~ed,
of the crystals are as much as 7 feet in maximum dimension dark gray amphibolite, and also contains numerous quartz vems.
Most are considerably fractured, and locally are brecciated o~ The pegmatite-wallrock contacts are sharp, and in places the
a small scale. Many thin shear zones are present, and several outer part of the pegmatite body is complicated by tabular inclu-
curving, roughly grooved surfaces of movement resemble the sions and elongate septa of schist. Several of these are exposed
grooved surfaces that are so common in some basaltic rocks. in the Main cut, and others were penetrated by drill holes during
The feldspar is ~hite .to bluish gray, but weathers to a creamy recent exploration of the property (PIs. XVII, XVIII).. ..
tan color. Some IS stamed b.y. manganese oxides, and a little by The pegmatite dike is remarkably well zoned, and IS dlstm-
chrysocolla, as well. InterstItIal quartz is present in only a few guished by prominent inner zones with giant texture.. The seg-
pla~es, and ~onstitutes less than 3 per cent of the rock. Fine- mented core consists almost wholly of very coarse-gramed anhe-
g~amed plagIOclase occurs in some of the fractured and brec- dral quartz. The two largest segments are pod-like, and form
CIated crystals of perthite. . irregular knobs whose summits are about 120 feet apart on the
. Irreg~lar pods of massive quartz, 6 inches to 9 feet in maximum crest of the ridge. Many float blocks of white quartz are strewn
d~mensIOn, form a segmented core in the thickest part of the over the broad slope to the southeast. Fine-grained white albite
dIke. Well formed crystals of perthite a few of them as much forms some fracture-filling veinlets in the core, but constitutes
as 3 feet in diameter, are scattered sp~rsely through the outer an extremely small proportion of the rock.
parts of the largest core segments. Both the perthite and the Five distinctive intermediate zones appear to enclose or partly
quartz are locally sheared and brecciated, and are veined with enclose the principal core segments. The innermost interme-
muscovite. an~ fine-grained,. lustrous white albite. Aggregates diate zone is a very coarse-grained aggregate of quartz and
?f ~Uscovlte, m pale yellOWIsh green crystals l/s inch to 2 inches amblygonite, and grades inward into the massive quartz of the
m dIameter, occur as thin, discontinuous fringes around most of core. It crops out only on the ridge north and northeast of the
the quartz pods.
north quartz knob, and evidently extends for a considerable
A small, quartz-rich dike is exposed on the hill slope across distance down the steep dip of the dike (PIs. XVII, XVIII).
a ~mall gully. to the northeast. It is teardrop shaped, and con- The amblygonite is scattered through the quartz as crudely
tams a conspICUOUS core of quartz that in places is much frac- formed crystals and irregular masses, some as much as 5 feet
tured and brecciated.. A wall zone of coarse, blocky perthite, in diameter. Weathered surfaces of these masses are buff col-
also much fractured, IS 6 feet to 12 feet thick in the southwest ored and somewhat cellular in appearance, and are easily dis-
part of th«; dike, but elsewhere is 18 inches or less in thickness. tinguished from weathered surfaces of coarse feldspar. Fresh
In places It appears to be absent altogether. surfaces are white to very pale greenish buff, and show a some-
Neither of these dikes contains large amounts of highest-grade what pearly luster. Much of the amblygonite has been frac-
feldspar, but a modest reserve of coarse perthite does exist in tured and brecciated on a small scale, and the breaks have been
the thickest part of the south dike, where the inner intermediate "healed" with fine-grained, breccia-like aggregates of pale green-
zone is most broadly developed. ish to bluish amblygonite.
Quartz-spodumene pegmatite forms the next intermediate
NORTH MORNING STAR MINE zone, the inner part of which contains some amblygonite. This
unit, which appears to be relatively continuous, is exposed on
The North Morning Star mine, about 600 feet N. 10° E. of the the rubble-strewn surface of the saddle between the two quartz
prospects described above, is in a steeply dipping pegmatite dike knobs, and also is very poorly exposed high on the slopes that
~hat tr~nds north-northeast to northeast along the same' prom- flank the knobs. The spodumene occurs as rough prismatic crys-
ment rIdge (PIs. I, XVII). Some spodumene has been obtained tals that range in thickness from less than 1/2 inch to 6 inches,
from the Main cut, a large, trench-like opening developed across and in length from 11/2 inches to at least 24 inches. It is buff
a saddle betweeJ:?- two elongate knobs of massive quartz, and to bluish gray in color, and, though opaque, does not appear
coarse amblygomte has been recovered commercially from a to be much altered or leached. Most of the near-surface mate-
smaller cut at the thick northeast end of the dike (PI. XVII). rial, however, is considerably weathered, and locally is stained
by oxides of iron and manganese.

Black, green, and pink tourmaline, as well as lepidolite, apa- Medium- to coarse-grained perthite-quartz-albite pegmatite
tite, columbite-tantalite, and some muscovite, occur in the spod- forms a very poorly exposed wall zone that ap:rea~s ~o be about
umene-bearing pegmatite, generally in association with albite. 3 feet in average thickness. The border zone IS dlstmctly finer
The black tourmaline is scattered through the outer parts of the grained, and contains a much higher proporti~n of quartz. Asso-
zone, whereas the elbaite forms local pod-like concentrations of ciated with the quartz are albite, schorl, perthIte, and some mus-
rough, prismatic crystals. Most of these green and pink crystals covite. Like the wall zone, the border zone is covered by talus
are 1/2 inch to 5 inches long, and are considerably altered. Much and soil in most places.
smaller, more sharply faced crystals form inclusions in some of The deposit seems to offer some promise as a source of lithium
the coarsest books of lepidolite. Thin tablets of columbite-tanta- minerals. Amblygonite forms 6 per cent to 10 per cent of the
lite, ¥S- inch to 1% inches in maximum dimension, are associated inner intermediate zone, as determined by traverse measure-
with the tourmaline, spodumene, and quartz, and are most ments. This unit is exposed only in the northern part of the
abundant in and near the Main cut. Anhedral crystals of dark dike, but may well have a moderately large vertical dimensi~:m
bluish gray apatite are scattered sparsely through the entire (PI. XVIII). It is estimated that about 160 tons of amblygomte
zone. is present to a depth of 100 feet, and that the reserves of thIS
Lepidolite occurs in both the spodumene- and amblygonite- mineral in the entire dike may well exceed 500 tons. The ton-
bearing units as fine-grained aggregates and as scattered coarse nage of spodumene present to tne same ~epth ':ln~oubtedly is
books, some of which are as much as 5 inches in diameter. The much larger, but the major spodumene-bearmg umt IS even more
mica is pale pinkish to gray where exposed at the surface, but poorly exposed than the inner intermediate zone, and hence spe-
crystals obtained from depths of 3 feet or more have a moderately cific estimates cannot be made. At least 500 tons of very coarse-
deep lilac color. The coarsest plates are severely ruled, and many grained potash feldspar of good quality should be present to. a
are distinctly curved. Most are associated with coarse-grained depth of 30 feet in a small area just west of the Amblygomte
cleavelandite. As exposed on the two knobs and in small pros- cut and north of the north quartz knob, and substantially greater
pect pits on the northwest slope of the ridge, the fine-grained reserves may well exist elsewhere in the dike.
aggregates of lepidolite form irregular fracture fillings and SUNSET PROSPECT
fracture-controlled stockworks in the much coarser quartz and The Sunset dikes (2, PI. I) are on a ridge immediately east
spodumene. Some of the large quartz crystals are veined with and northeast of the Riley place, in the NE % of sec. 16, T. 7 N.,
aggregates of lepidolite so fine grained that they appear waxy. R. 3 W., and the sinuous outcrop of the main dike is plainly
The middle, or third, intermediate zone is a very coarse-grained visible from San Domingo Wash to the south. This dike trends
aggregate of quartz and euhedral crystals of perthite. It appears N. 40 E., dips steeply, and is approximately 530 feet long. It is
0
as a hood-like mass in the north part of the dike, and is best 2 feet to 18 feet thick, but most of it ranges in thickness from
exposed on the slope about 50 feet west of the Amblygonite cut 8 feet to 14 feet.
(PI. XVII). The feldspar crystals are about 10 inches in average The country rock is dark greenish gray amphib?le s~I:ist and
diameter, but some are as large as 4lf2 feet. The ratio of per- amphibole-rich breccia that appear to be of volcamc orIgm. The
thite to quartz ranges from about 2:1 to as much as 10:1. Aggre- layering in these rocks trends N. 65 E. and dips steeply north-
0
gates of lepidolite and cleavelandite are present locally, espe- northwest along the east side of the pegmatite, but strikes N.
cially in and immediately adjacent to fractures, and some sugary 0 0
80 E. and dips 70 N. beyond the ends of the dike.
albite is scattered irregularly through the rock. The pegmatite in the main dike is distinctly different from
Flanking the middle intermediate zone is a much more con- that of the Morning Star dikes. It contains no lithium minerals,
tinuous unit of coarse- to very coarse-grained quartz and sub- but includes abundant muscovite, schorl, and graphic granite.
hedral perthite, with subordinate albite and schorI. This rock is It is chiefly a fine- to medium-grained aggregate of potash feld-
similar in composition to that of the middle intermediate zone, spar, quartz, and muscovite, with minor plagioclase, schorl, and
but is distinctly less giant textured and is characterized by higher garnet, and its central part .is m~rked by elongate masses of
perthite-quartz ratios. Further, the crystals of perthite are quartz 8 inches to 24 inches m thIckness.. Th~se cor~ segmer:ts
markedly less euhedraI. of quartz are most abundant where the .dIke I~ relatively ~hm;
The outer intermediate zone is a medium- to coarse-grained where it is thicker, its central part consIsts chIefly of med~um
aggregate of quartz, albite, perthite, spodumene, and muscovite, to coarse-grained graphic granite with abundant scattered prIsms
with minor accessory garnet and schorl. It is exposed only along of schorl. -
the northwest side of the dike in and near the Main cut, where The grain size of the pegmatite varies considerably from place
it flanks an elongate septum of schist (PI. XVII), and nowhere to place, even within the units that are rich in graphic g~anite.
is it more than 8 feet thick. , Relatively coarse crystals and crystal aggregates of perthite are
84 UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLETIN PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE WHITE PICACHO DISTRICT
scattered through much finer-grained perthite-rich pegmatite, is represented on the upper part of the front plate in the isometric
much as the quartz core segments are scattered through the cen- diagram (PI. XIX). It thickens considerably northward along
tral part of the dike. Some of the feldspar is almost free from its plunge, and its keel appears to be complicated by one or more
quartz, especially where it lies along the flanks of these core large, curving septa of country rock. Only one end of this bulge
segments. Clots of quartz and coarse schorJ, locally in graphic is exposed at the surface, but it was penetrated by several of
intergrowth, also are scattered through the inner parts of the the drill holes, and must be at least 200 feet long.
dike. The pegmatite body does not extend across the narrow canyon,
All the minerals are considerably fractured and crackled, and but instead thins abruptly in the canyon bottom and bends sharply
many of the fractures are filled with aggregates of fine-grained, westward to join a subparallel dike nearby. This second dike,
sugary albite. This feldspar also is present along contacts be~ which is 8 feet to 15 feet thick, is separated from the main dike
tween crystals of potash feldspar, and is there associated with by 20 feet to 45 feet of country-rock gneiss. As traced north-
flakes of yellowish green muscovite. Coarser books of muscovite eastward, it joins the upper bulge of the main dike high on the
occur locally as fringes around segments of the quartz core. canyon wall (PI. XIX).
The border of the dike consists of fine- to medium-grained Like most of the other lithium-bearing pegmatites in the dis-
quartz-plagioclase-perthite pegmatite through which are scat- trict, the main dike is spodumene-rich in its thickest part, but
tered abundant crystals of schorl. In the south, relatively thh. is perthite-rich elsewhere. As exposed on the canyon wall, its
part of the dike, several tabular masses of fine- to coarse-grained upper bulge comprises three zones. A fine-grained border zone,
quartz transect the other minerals, and some of them clearly which ranges in thickness from about l/s inch to 5 inches, con-
cut across the perthite and quartz of graphic-granite masses. sists of perthite, albite, quartz, schorl, muscovite, and a little
Sugary albite locally is intergrown with this late-stage quartz. pale bluish-gray beryl. Where this selvage is thickest, it con-
Other, smaller dikes of pegmatite crop out lower on the slope tains numerous prisms of schorl, 112 inch to 3 inches long, that
to the west. Several prospect pits expose rock similar to that are graphically intergrownwith quartz and subordinate feld-
in the main dike, and no lithium minerals are visible. The coun- spars. The wall zone, which is 6 inches to 8 feet thick, is mainly
try rock is chiefly amphibole-rich schist that contains some a medium-grained aggregate of perthite, quartz, albite, schorl,
chlorite- and epidote-rich layers. and muscovite. It characteristically weathers to hard, light-gray
LOWER JUMBO MINE surfaces that give the rock a deceptively fine-grained appearance.
The Lower Jumbo mine (3, PI. I) is in the lower, canyon-like A few scattered, irregular crystals of greenish-gray beryl, 3
part of Mitchell Wash, about half a mile north-northeast of the inches to 5 inches in maximum dimension, also appear in this
Riley place. It lies near the SE corner of sec. 9,T.7 N., R. 3 W. zone.
The principal opening, a small "stripping quarry" on the wall The central part of the bulge is occupied by'a thick unit that
of the canyon, was developed during 1951 and 1952 by Earl F. is similar to the wall zone in mineralogy, but in general is dis-
Anderson of Mesa. A carload of hand~sorted spodumene was tinctly coarser grained. Most of its minerals are about 4 inches
shipped from the deposit late in 1951. in average diameter. The rock coarsens perceptibly toward the
The quarrY face exposes a thick, bulge-like pegmatite mass center of the bulge, particularly m:ar its south end. Much of the
that contains abundant spodumene in very large crystals (PIs. coarsest quartz is veined and partly replaced by albite, which
VI, VII). This mass is a part of a very irregular dike that trends locally forms well-defined stockworks.
north to north-northeast and dips steeply westward. It is enclosed The quarry face (PI. VI) provides an excellent and complete
by hard, fine-grained, greenish gray feldspathic hornblende gneiss wall-to-wall exposure of the main, or . lower, bulge. Here the
that is thinly and regularly layered. This rock weathers to a border zone about 6 inches in average thickness, consists of
dark grayish brown, essentially the color of desert varnish. Its fine-grained'perthite-albite-quartz-schorI-muscovite pegma-
well developed foliation strikes N. 85° W. and dips 45° to 60° N. tite. As in the exposures higher on the hill, it contains a little
As shown in Plate XIX, the pegmatite body is a connected beryl. Scattered small crystals of spessartite also are present.
pair of elongate bulges whose major axes plunge very gently Immediately inside this border zone in most parts of the bulge
in a northerly direction. The upper bulge, which appears to con- is a medium- to coarse-grained layer of perthite-albite-quartz-
tain little or no spodumene, is dominant at the surface, where spodumene-muscovite pegmatite that is about 15 inches in aver-
its exposure is about 170 feet long and 30 feet to 50 ff2et wide. age thickness. This unit, which probably i~ an intermediate zone,
The results of diamond-drill exploration, however, indicate that dies out as traced upward along the margms of the large, spodu-
the lower, spodumene-rich bulge probably is much larger. It is mene-bearing core; in the upper flanks of the bulge, it is sepa-
about 60 feet in maximum thickness where exposed in the quarry rated from the border zone by a thin layer of wall-zone pegma-
(PI. VI), and its general surface trace on the steep canyon wall tite similar to that in the upper bulge (PI. XIX).
east-northeast of the stripped area. The northern prong tapers

The bulk of the lower bulge is composed of giant-textured out about 50 feet beyond the point of separation, but the southern
spodumene-quartz pegmatite. The intermediate zone described prong appears to be more continuou~. ,
above grades into this unit with a rather abrupt increase in the The country rock is a dark greemsh gray, fin~-gramed ~orn
size and amount of contained spodumene crystals. These crystals blende-biotite schist, with interlayered coarse-grall~ed amphIbole
are lath-like in form, and some are as much as 5 by 10 inches in schist. A distinct foliation trends N, 70° E. and dIpS 65° NNW.
section and 16 feet in length. Most, however, are 4 feet to 6 The pegmatite dike contains a co~e of m~ssive .quartz that
feet long, These laths, which are scattered through the very forms a small but distinct topographIC knob ImmedIately south
coarse-grained quartz as giant jackstraws (PIs. VI, VII), are of the stripped area, and also appears as another s~gment to
typically bent, fractured, and even broken apart; where broken, the east-northeast. The quartz is much sheared, breCCIated, and
most have been "healed" by quartz. cemented with finely crystalline quartz and opaline to chalce-
Spodumene and quartz constit~te about 98 per cent ?f this donic silica. It also contains numerous small vugs that are lined
unit which is the core of the dIke. The only other mmerals with prismatic crystals of quartz, and some of these cavities are
pres~nt are albite, which forms scattered veinlets and irreg~lar marked by molds of calcite crystals. The entire rock looks not
concentrations, and a few crystals of garnet and very pale ~mk unlike a mass of vein silica.
ish beryl. Much of the spodumene is partly altered, espe~Ially A thin and poorly exposed inner intermediate zone consists
in the outer parts of the core, and such crystals are relatIvely chiefly of quartz and spodumene. The spodumene occurs both
soft and chalky. They range in color from brownish gray as small, wedge-shaped crystals and as ,much, longer laths! some
through yellowish to pale greenish gray. In contrast, most of of which are 20 inches in maximum dImenSIOn. Both mme~als
the spodumene in the central part of t?-e core appea::s to be form individual fragments in brecciated and sheared zones SIm-
quite fresh, It is hard,very pale greemsh gray, and IS trans- ilar to those in the adjacent core. Asso~iated with the sI?odur:r:e~e
parent on the thinnest edges. is some bluish to light gray amblygomte, as well as m:nor hthI-
Spodumene forms about 20 per cent. of the rock in :vhich it ophilite, apatite, and lepidolite. A ~mall prospect pIt on the
is most concentrated, but over the entIre quarry face ItS aver- ridge immediately north of the mam quartz knob exposes a
age proportion is about 9 per cent. It is least abundant toward highly weathered aggregate· of spod~mene,am,blygonite,,quartz,
the center of the core, where the largest crystals occur. Re- and perthite which is veined by strmgersof pmk clay mmerals.
serves of spodumene-bearing pegmatite in the lower bulge must An outer 'intermediate zone, which fringes the core and the
amount to at least 20,000 tons, and this rock may well be present lithium-bearing inner intermediate zone,consists of coarse, blocky
in considerably greater quantity. perthite with minor quartz. This unit ranges in outcrop breadth
The smaller, northwesterly dike is similar to the main dike, from less than a foot to about 30 feet, with an average of slightly
except that its central unit consists of m~ssive quartz with less than 10 feet. The relatively continuous wall zone is a coarse-
gigantic crystals of light to dark gray perthIte, Some of these grained aggregate of potash feldspar, qua~tz, ar:d subord~nate
crystals are as much as .. 7 feet long., A littl~ medium-grained plagioclase and muscovite. The border zone IS conSIderably ncher
spodumene is present along the maq~ms of, thIS zone, Both peg- in quartz, and also contains locally abundant plagioclase and
matite dikes contain many tabular mclusIOns of country rock, schorl.
none of which appear to be systematically o,riented. These inclu- The proportion of lithium minerals and the aggregate tonnage
sions are scattered at random through the dIkes, and even appear of lithium-bearing rock in the deposit are not great, but mod-
near the center of the core. Five of them are exposed in th~ erately large concentrations of potash feldspar are present. Much
quarry face. of this feldspar, however, is veined wit,h fi:nely ~rystal~ine quartz,
WHITE JUMBO PROSPECT and nearly all the near:-surface matenal IS stamed WIth manga-
The White Jumbo lithium pegmatite (4, PI. I) is on a south- nese and iron oxides.
west-trending ridge about a mile northeast of the Riley place, SUNRISE PROSPECT
and lies in the east half of the SW % of sec. 10, T. 7 N., R. 3 W. The Sunrise lithium pegmatites (5, PI. I) are about 2,500 feet
It has been exposed by means of bulldozer stripping, chiefly alo:r:g northwest of the White Jumbo prospect and a mile north-north-
the crest of the ridge and on a small knob, and also appears m east of the Riley place, and lie near the northwest corner of the
several shallow cuts high on the west side of the ridge. SW % of sec. 10, T. 7 N., R. 3 W. The main pegmatite body is
The pegmatite body is a dike that trends N. 75° to 85° E" and exposed along a nearly flat-crested ridge that trends northe~st.
probably dips. south-southeast at moderate to steep angl~s. It Not far to the northwest is a second, somewhat smaller dIke,
forms almost a dip slope immediately northeast of the stnpped which forms a small topographic knob where it crosses a west-
area. The dike is more than 40 feet in outcrop breadth in the erly trending ridge (Fig. 5). Both dikes are locally rich in
vicinity of the prospect openings, but splits into two prongs
lithium minerals, and have been prospected by means of several

small, shallow cuts. In addition, an extensive area along the
ridge was stripped with a bulldozer by the Whitehall Company
in 1948.
The main dike trends northeast, and appears to dip steeply.
z .. It is roughly propeller-shaped in plan, and its northeastern part
] has a gently curving trace that is concave toward the southeast.
,.<J
~ 0: It is more than 500 feet long, and in most places is at least 30
'" '"
II .~ feet in outcrop breadth. Prominent bulges, 45 feet to 60 feet in
rES' ~
J~
, <ij
outcrop breadth, are present near the middle and near both
'\J
.. ends of this dike (Fig. 5). The other dike is poorly exposed,
~
- but contains one well defined bulge that is about 100 feet long
and 60 feet in maximum width.
The country rock is mainly light gray to greenish gray, thinly
foliated quartz-muscovite schist. Much of the muscovite and
feldspar appear to have been introduced during injection of the
pegmatite material, as the rock grades into more massive quartz-
'~\"" biotite-amphibole schist away from the pegmatite contacts. The
"'" mica-impregnated schist locally is much crenulated and plicated.
""""'_:l-St!:'2.~,,!O Inclusions and septa of this rock are abundant along the north-
west margin of the main pegmatite dike.
The outer parts of both dikes are largely concealed by surface
accumulations of quartz blocks and other detritus, but appear
to be lithologically similar to the border zone and wall zone of
the White Jumbo pegmatite. The inner zones, in contrast, are
locally well exposed. A large core segment of massive quartz
lies near the northeast end of the main pegmatite, and smaller
pods crop out elsewhere in both dikes. Surrounding or flanking
these core segments are intermediate zones of quartz-amblyg-
onite pegmatite, quartz - amblygonite - spodumene pegmatite,
quartz - spodumene pegmatite, and quartz - euhedral perthite
pegmatite. The quartz-amblygonite pegmatite is best developed
as a fringe around the largest mass of quartz, and also appears
to form isolated concentrations elsewhere in the central part of
the dike. Spodumene-bearing pegmatite is most abundant farther
southwest on the ridge (Fig. 5).
The amblygonite occurs as coarse, rough crystals and groups
of crystals. It is gray to bluish gray, and locally is veined with
sugary aggregates of more bluish amblygonite (PI XIB). Much
of the spodumene forms light gray, log-shaped crystals that range
in maximum dimension from 2 inches to 6% feet. In contrast,
the crystals that are nearest the walls of the dike are distinctly
smaller, and are short, stubby, and commonly wedge-like in form.
Most are less than 4 inches long and 1 by 2 inches in section.
Coarse crystals of lepidolite are scattered through the inner
zones, and typically are associated with spodumene, Individual
books are lfs inch to about 4 inches in diameter, and most are
marked by closely spaced ruling and tiny crenulations. Some of
the crystals form tangled intergrowths, and when broken yield
stubby fragments that are bounded by cleavage and parting
planes. The mineral is tough but brittle, and cannot be readily erly directions. Local variations are common, especially near the
cleaved into thin flakes. It is white to light gray at the outcrop, borders of the main pegmatite mass.
but the color becomes more typical pink and lavender with in- Many stringers, dikes, and large, irregular pods of pegmatite
creasing depth beneath the surface. are scattered through the older rocks, and a curving pegmatite
Accessory constituents include small, tabular crystals of colum- dike about 160 feet long and 30 feet to 40 feet wide forms a
bite-tantalite, dark blue masses of apatite, scattered tiny crystals small ridge southwest of the main dike. A larger dike is exposed
and rare large masses of spessartite, and a few prisms of green farther northwest, outside the mapped area (PI. XX). The peg-
tourmaline. Irregular masses of lithiophyllite, some of them as matite-wallrock contacts are very sharp in most places, and locally
much as 5 inches in diameter, are exposed in three places along show much evidence of shearing. Small-scale "feathering" of
the crest of the main ridge. Most of these masses are rimmed pegmatite into schist is common, and larger irregularities appear
with flesh-colored hureaulite,. and are stained along fractures in a few places. One prominent curving septum of schist, ex-
by manganese oxides. Manganese-oxides crusts surround some posed in a pit near the southwest end of the main ridge (PI.
of the lithiphilite, and contain small cavities that are partly filled XX), is about 30 feet long and 6 feet to "8 feet thick. Other
with tiny crystals of pinkish to lavender purpurite and strengite. septa and inclusions of country rock are exposed in the Main
Although lithium minerals appear to be abundant and wide- cut, especially on the floor and low on the principal face. They
spread in the inner parts of the dike, the exposures are too in- are bounded from the pegmatite by shear planes in most places.
complete to permit an appraisal of their commercial possibilities. The main pegmatite body comprises five well defined zones.
Coarse-grained, blocky perthite is locally very abundant in the A discontinuous outer selvage, approximately 8 inches in max-
intermediate zones of both dikes, but these units appear to be imum thickness, is a fine- to medium-grained aggregate of quartz,
too thin to constitute a significant commercial reserve of feldspar. albite, perthite, muscovite, and schorl. The outer half inch of
PICACHO VIEW MINE this unit is rich in fine-grained mica, but elsewhere quartz is
by far the most abundant mineral. Mica-rich partings and other
The Picacho View feldspar mine (7, PI. I) is on a ridge crest types of mineralogic layering give the rock a distinctly platy
about % mile northeast of Mitchell Wash, and lies in the east appearance where it is exposed along the western margin of
half of the NW % of sec. 10, T. 7 N., R. 3 W. Recent operations the dike.
by the yYhitehall Company have led to development of a large,
bench-lIke open cut on the southeast slope of the ridge (PI. II), The wall zone is 2 feet to 55 feet in exposed breadth, and is
several smaller cuts higher on the ridge to the west, and a long, most extensively developed at· the north end of the pegmatite.
narrow bench on the north end of the ridge (PI. XX). Extensive It is composed mainly of coarse-grained perthite and quartz, with
stripping also has been done. The large Main cut is 120 feet scattered albite and flake muscovite. Its outer parts are rich in
long, about 40 feet wide, and 18 feet to 27 feet deep along its quartz and schorl, and are distinguished from the adjacent border
northwest face. Stockpiled feldspar and dump material from zone solely on the basis of grain size. Quartz constitutes the bulk
this opening now conceal an adit and a shaft that were pre- of several septa that extend into the country rock from the main
viously developed in showings of lead, zinc, and gold. These dike. These are thinly ribboned and vuggy, and the quartz re-
and other old prospect openings along the opposite side of the sembles typical vein material.
ridge are chiefly in schist and gneiss. Quartz is not particularly abundant elsewhere in the wall
The main pegmatite body is a large, irregular mass that is zone, and forms less than 10 per cent of the entire unit. It occurs
essentially rectangular in plan (PI. XX). It is about 240 feet both as interstitial material and as 1/16-inch to %-inch veinlets
long, 140 feet in maximum outcrop breadth, and trends N. 55° and thin, irregular pods in the coarse perthite. Some rod-like
E. Its northwest side dips 35 ° to 55 ° southeast, and much steeper masses of quartz are oriented in crudely graphic pattern within
southeastward dips along its opposite side suggest a marked crystals of the potash feldspar, and such graphic granite is
downward thinning of the entire mass. The steep dip of the abundantly exposed in the face of the North cut (PI. XX).
contact at the southwest end of the Main cut may reflect only The outer intermediate zone consists chiefly of very coarse-
a local roll, however, as the same contact dips 35° southeast grained blocky perthite, with distinctly less quartz than is pres~
where exposed just beyond the cut, as well as in the nearby ent in adjacent parts of the wall zone. This unit also contains
adit that is now beneath the dump (PI. XX). veinlets and interstitial aggregates of finely crystalline albite,
The country rock is thinly foliated quartz-mica schist and veinlets and small, almond-shaped masses of very fine-grained",
quartz-mica-amphibole schist, with interlayered epidosite and yellow to yellowish green sericite, and numerous scattered coarse
chlorite-rich rocks that appear to include both pyroclastic and prisms of altered schorl. In several places along the northwest
instrl,lsive types. The foliation and layering trend east-northeast side of the ridge, tourmaline forms as much as 7 per cent of
to east,and dip 30° or le~s in both northwesterly and southeast-: the rock.
The inner intermediate zone comprises very coarse crystals "of 10,500 tons, about 80 per cent of which should be recoverable
perthite and scattered masses of quartz. Some of the quartz is by the usual methods of hand sorting.
interstitial to the feldspar crystals, but most of it forms small Considerably greater reserves of medium-grade feldspar ()ccur
pods of very coarse-grained anhedral crystals. There are all farther from the center of the pegmatite body, chiefly in the
gradations between the largest of these pods and irregular masses outer intermediate zone. This material presents a more difficult
of quartz that seem best interpreted as segments of a discon- problem of hand sorting, even though the proportion of quartz
tinuous core. These segments, which are largest and most abun- in the rock is distinctly lower than that in the high-grade per-
dant on the ridge immediately above the rim of the Main cut, matite. Despite the occurrence of large masses of nearly pure
range from about 3 feet to nearly 40 feet in maximum dimen- blocky perthite, much of the feldspar in the rock contains scat-
sion. The distinction between the core and the inner intermedi- tered crystals of schorl and irregular masses, veinlets, and inter-
ate zone is somewhat arbitrary, and the two units are shown stHial aggregates of anhedral quartz. These impurities would be
together in Plate XX. difficult to remove without serious loss of time or waste of coarse
Scattered through the feldspar and quartz of the inner peg- feldspar. Thus, it does not seem likely that more than 10,000
matite units are pyrite, biotite, garnet, and iron oxides. Small tons of feldspar could be recovered by hand methods as a prod-
quantities of allanite, columbite, molybdenite, sphalerite, galena, uct of No.1 grade from the 21,500 tons of medium-grade feldspar-
and such supergene minerals as molybdite, cerussite, hemimor- bearing pegmatite estimated to be present to a depth of 30 feet,
phite, and wulfenite also are present, chiefly along fractures in even though the same mass of rock probably would yield nearly
quartz. Dark green and black tourmaline forms single prisms 20,000 tons of No.2 grade material if it were carefully mined
1/" inch to 1% inches in diameter, as well as bunches of elongate a:r.d then shipped without further sorting.
crystals that diverge slightly from common ends. The crystals The third commercial unit in the pegmatite, shown as low
sho~ all stages of alteration to mica and clay minerals, and many grade in Plate XX, contains too much intimately mixed quartz
are Jacketed by scaly aggregates of muscovite. . and other impurities to yield a No.1 product by hand cobbing.
Pyrite, much of it altered pseudomorphically to iron oxide, is Although material similar to this is marketed as No.3 and even
~oca~ly abundant as well-formed cubes lfs inch to nearly an inch as No.2 grade feldspar in some eastern states, this deposit lies
III dIameter. Most of these are scattered in and along the mar- so far from centers of demand that the lower grades of feldspar
gins of 1/4 -inch to 6-inch fracture fillings of quartz, and some derived from it probably could not compete successfully under
others, generally of much smaller size, are strung out along frac- current market conditions. Substantial reserves of higher-quality
tures in the altered tourmaline. The concentrations of sulfide material seem to be present on the property, however, as the
minerals are marked by streaks of iron-oxide stain in outcrops inner units of the pegmatite body probably extend to depths
and in the faces of the cuts. considerably greater than the 30 feet assumed in the foregoing
Very coarse-grained potash feldspar of excellent commercial calculations of tonnage.
grade surrounds the quartz masses of the core and inner inter- OUTPOST MINE
mediate zone, and also is abundant in the inner part of the
out~r intermediate zone. Typical material is well exposed in the The Outpost feldspar mine (11, PI. I) lies near the west end
Mam cut. Large aggregates of very coarse perthite crystals also of a prominent ridge in the NW % of the NE lf4 of sec. 3, T.
are exposed in the North cut, but much of this material con- 7 N., R. 3 W. It was worked for bismuth minerals during 1947
tains considerable quantities of intimately intergrown quartz, and 1948 by the owners, Earl F. Anderson and Sidney B. Ander-
Rnd hence is of distinctly lower commercial grade. son of Mesa, and in 1947 the deposit was explored for high-grade
The general distribution of coarse-grained potash feldspar, as feldspar by the Whitehall Corporation of Keene, New Hamp-
mapped solely in terms of commercial factors, plainly bears a sl'ire. Production to date includes approximately 12 tons of
systematic relation to the zoning within the pegmatite mass (see bismuth minerals and a 1,500-ton stockpile of feldspar.
insert, PI. XX). Material of top quality, for example, is closely The workings comprise the bench-like Main cut, which is 90
associated with the pods of massive quartz, and requires only feet long, 35 feet wide, and about 20 feet deep at the face; the
a rough cobbing for commercial separation. This feldspar of the smaller Bismuth cut and appended 20-foot incline 60 feet to the
inner intermediate zone, moreover, represents a relatively high east; and several irregular trenches, pits, and cuts higher on
proportion of the rock that must be handled in mining. On the the slope to the south and east (PI. XXI). Much of the mine
basis of counter-wheel traverses, spaced 5 feet apart and run in area has been stripped with a bulldozer, and the rocks are un-
two directions at right angles, iUs estimated that approximately usually well exposed.
68 per cent of the high-grade feldspar-bearing unit shown in The pegmatite body is a large, thick pod, the uppermost parts
Plate XX is coarse-grained perthite. The reserves of such mate- of which have been laid bare by erosion on the north slope of
rial to a depth of only 30 feet should amount to approximately the ridge. This pod trends north to north-northeast, appears to
94 IJNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLETIN PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE WHITE PICACHO DISTRICT 95
dip steeply east, and plunges north-northeast at a moderate angle. is exposed in and adjacent to the Main cut, and numerous pods
It is curved in plan, and its western margin is broadly convex 2 inches to 18 feet in maximum dimension are scattered on the
as exposed on the ridge and on the slope to the south (PIs. XXI, hill slope !o the. south and east (PI. XXI). Some of these may
XXII) . The north, or crestal, part of the pod is largely con- be proJectIOns {rom one or more larger core segments that lie
cealed by dump material, but it appears to split into two sub- only a few feet beneath the surface. .
parallel prongs that are 15 feet to 70 feet thick immediately The outer parts of the quartz masses contain veinlets of sugary
north of the mine area. albite and larger, more equidimensional aggregates of cleavelan-
The country rock is mainly dark-colored hornblende gneiss dite in crystals % inch to llf2 inches long. Cleavelandite also
and quartz-hornblende-biotite gneiss and schist, Chlorite-rich and forms scattered rosettes and masses that. are call1iflower-like
epidote-rich layers are abundant, and a few thickly tabular masses in form. These range in diameter from a few inches to 4l/z feet
of greenish, punky-appearing intrusive rock also are present. A and in :places are fringed by, or intergrown with, aggregates of
thick inclusion of hornblende schist and gneiss is exposed im- :nuscovlte~ooks. These J:?asses of albite are most abundant along
mediately east of the Main cu,t, and a somewhat larger, more ..he .we~t sIde of the mam core ,segment, where albite-rich peg-
elongate inclusion appears at the southwest end of the cut (PI. mahte IS shown aSlia separate umt on the map (PI. XXI). Similar
XXI). Schorl is abundant in the schists and gneisses near the aggregates of cleavelandite also are scattered sparsely through
pegmatite contacts. Most of the country rock is thinly foliated, parts of the perthite-rich intermediate zones.
and this planar structure trends east and dips steeply north. Th,e chief access<;>ry species in the pegmatite are apatite, beryl,
The thin border zone of the pegmatite body is fine to medium fluonte, garnet, mlCrolite, pyrochlore, pyrite and other sulfides
grained, and consists mainly of quartz with subordinate albite, schorl, and a varied assemblage of bismuth, lead, vanadium;
p~rthite, schorl, muscovite, and biotite. It encloses a wall zone and copper minerals. Apatite is present in the outer part of the
that is 2 inches to 16 feet thick, and has an average thickness quartz-rich units as gray to dark bluish gray crystals without
of about 3 feet. This zone is chiefly a medium- to coarse-grained clear-cut faces, Beryl occurs as small anhedral crystals in the
aggregate of quartz, albite, perthite, muscovite, and schorl. Much berder and wall zones, and rarely as prismatic euhedral crystals
of. the quartz, the principal constituent, is albitized ahWig frac- iE the inner parts of the inner intermediate zone. A few of these
tures. Muscovite and biotite are plesent in small quantities near crystals extend into adjacent masses of quartz. -Most of the
contacts with the wallrock. As traced inward toward the center beryl is pale bluish green in color. Pale greenish fluorite and
of the pegmatite body, the wall zone coarsens gradually and salmon pink to orange-red spessartite are scattered through parts
contains increasing amounts of potash feldspar as scattered of the outer zones, chiefly as tiny crystals that are associated
anhedral to subhedral crystals. The proportions of schor 1, quartz, with schor!. They also form a few much larger crystals in the
and albite decrease correspondingly, although albite is locally central part of the dike.
abundant along the eastern margin of the dike. Sulfide minerals, chiefly pyrite and pyrrhotite, are scattered
irregularly through the inner units, and are similar in distribu-
The outer intermediate zone, mainly a coarse-grained aggre- tion to the sulfides in the Picacho View pegmatite. Local clusters
gate of perthite with subordinate. quartz and minor albite and of these crystals have imparted a considerable stain to the adja-
muscovite, ranges in outcrop breadth from less than an inch to cent feldspar masses in the zone of weathering. Pyrochlore and
about 55 feet, but its true thickness probably is nowhere greater microlite are present as tiny, highly lustrous, olive green to
than 15 feet. Pod-like concentrations of muscovite, in l/z-inch to d&rk brown and black crystals, principally in the intermediate
4··inch books, are scattered through this unit; one of these is zones and adjacent parts of the wall zone. These minerals are
well exposed in a bench-like cut that lies a short distance south widespread, but individual crystals are inconspicuous and no-
of the Bismuth cut (PI. XXI). where constitute more than 0.1 per cent of the pegmatite in
The inner part of the pegmatite body comprises an inner inter: which they occur.
mediate zone that is rich in blocky perthite, and a segmented . Bismu~ite and other bismuth m~nerals are locally abundant
core of massive quartz. The intermediate zone is arch-like in Hi breCCIated and sheared quartz-nch pegmatite that is capped
form, and is thickest on the crest of the core; it thus is most b.y a. 2-foot to 9-foot ~ayer of partly albitized wall-zone pegma-
broadly exposed on the northerly slope of the ridge. The per- tlte m and near the BIsmuth cut. They form veinlets and stock-
thite is white to pale flesh colored, and occurs in very coarse- w?rks in the quart~, a~d also occur as scattered irregular masses
grained aggregates that contain little other material. 2 mch~s to 7 feet m dIame~er. The bismutite is canary yellow,
The quartz core is unusually large with respect to the other yellOWIsh green, and greemsh gray, and associated with it are
zones. It forms irregular masses, the largest of which is about small aggregates of finely crystalline, light gray beyerite. Scat-
80 feet wide and extends southward from the ridge crest for a tered through both minerals are tiny flakes of native bismuth.
distance of at least 175 feet. A smaller, highly irregular segment Dark masses of bismuthinite form the cores of several large
96 UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLETIN PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE WHITE PICACHO nT."rn,,,;~.....
aggregates of bismutite crystals, and probably are hypogene. grained perthite - albite pegmatite that contains
Well formed pyramidal crystals of honey yellow to very dark quartz. The central part of the dike is mainly coarse, blocky
brown cassiterite, some as much as an inch in diameter, are perthite, with scattered pods of massive quartz. Some of the
scattered through the earthy masses of bismutite, and are ~x quartz masses are relatively continuous, and are as much as
tensively fractured and veined by both bismutite and beyente. 50 feet in maximum dimension.
The bismuth minerals are themselves transected by fracture- Albite is unusually abundant, particularly in the exposure
controlled veinlets that contain wulfenite, vanadinite, pyromor- along the edge of the wash and south of the wallrock mass noted
phite, mimetite, anglesite, cerussite, chrysocolla, cuprite, and above. The mineral occurs in the coarse perthite and quartz as
fluorite. Most of these minerals form small, sharply faced crys- large, platy crystals, and elsewhere as compact, lustrous aggre-
tals. Tiny flakes of native silver and molybdenite are disseminated gates of small, tabular, white to pale green crystals. The central
through some masses of bismutite and beyerite. parts of the dike are cut by 1-inch to 4-inch fracture-filling
The Outpost pegmatite offers greatest commercial promise as stringers of very fine-grained, compact, pale green muscovite.
a source of potash feldspar. The intermediate zones, which are The part of the pegmatite body exposed on the east side of
very rich· in coarse perthite, would yield a hand-sorted prod~ct the wash contains a large core of massive quartz, which is locally
of excellent quality. As shown in Plate XXII, the most readIly sheared and thinly veined with copper, lead, zinc, and bismuth
recoverable high-grade feldspar occurs in the inner intermediate minerals. The mineralogy is somewhat similar to that of the
zone. This unit is best exposed on the slope southeast of the rock mined from the Bismuth cut at the Outpost deposit. The
Main cut where it surrounds some quartz core segments and quartz core is flanked by pegmatite rich in large, subhedral
plesumably forms a blanket over other, more extensive parts crystals of perthite.
of the core. FRICTION MINE
The minable rock exposed in . the stripped area between the
Main cut and the east wall of the dike contains about 17 per The Friction feldspar mine (13, PI. I), on the east side of a
cent of core quartz, as determined from north-south linear tr~v prominent ridge in the SE % of the SE % of sec. 34, T. 8 N., R.
el'ses spaced 5 feet apart. This is in essential agreement wIth 3 W., lies near the end of a well defined belt of abundant pegma-
a quantitative comparison of the respective outcrop area~ of the htes that can be traced for at least 1/2 mile to the southwest.
iwo units as shown on the map (PI. XXI). If allowance IS made The deposit has been worked in a bench-like cut about 100 feet
for the masses of quartz and for those parts of the intermediate long, 30 feet wide, and 15 feet high at the face, and also is
zone that contain objectionable quantities of muscovite, albite, exposed in parts of a stripped area above the cut to the north
or interstitial quartz, a reserve of approximately 6,~00 ~0I1;s ~f and northwest.
high-grade potash feldspar, recoverable by hand sortmg, IS mdI- The pegmatite body appears to be a large, irregular lens, the
cated to a depth of 10 feet. Total reserves in the deposit undoubt- south margin of which is concealed on the slope below the Main
edly are much larger, as the coarse feldspar-bearing rock prob- cut (PI. XXIII). It is elongate in an east-southeasterly direc-
2bly extends downward along the flanks of the pegmatite body, tion, and may have a general dip to the southwest. All observed
ae well as northward and downward along its crest. dips are moderate to steep, but few contacts are exposed. North-
west of the cut the pegmatite body splits into two north- to
northeast-trending prongs, which are separated by about 25 feet
OUTPOST EXTENSION PROSPECT
of thinly foliated quartz-mica schist. This country-rock septum
The Outpost Extension pegmatite (12, PI. I) is exposed on both appears to taper downward. Similar irregularities in the peg-
sides of San Domingo Wash about 1,200 feet north-northeast of matite-wallrock contacts are exposed on the lower slope east
the Outpost mine. It is a cross-cutting mass that trends east- of the cut.
northeast and plunges in the same direction at low to moderate A thin zone of quartz-albite-schorl-perthite pegmatite forms
angles. It may be arch-like in section, as suggested by exposures the border of the lens, and grades inward into a coarse-grained,
on the southwest side of the wash. Here the dike, which is 25 perthite-rich wall zone. The intermediate zone, by far the largest
feet to 35 feet thick, forms a broad hood over a mass of dark unit in the pegmatite body, consists of coarse- to very coarse-
gray schist and pink to gray quartzite. This mass of country graIned blocky perthite, with subordinate quartz that occurs both
rock crops out for only a short distance above the level of the interstitially and as scattered irregular masses that are 2 inches
wash, and might be an inclusion or the tip of a large, upward to 13 inches in maximum dimension. The core comprises numer-
projecting septum. ous irregular segments of very coarse-grained anhedral quartz,
The border zone of the pegmatite body is 2 inches to 14 inches the largest of which has an exposed length of 11 feet. Most of
thick, and is a fine- to medium-grained aggregate of quartz, albite, the pegmatite that appears on the face of the open cut repre-
pE:rthite, and schor!. It grades inward into distinctly coarser- sents the inner part of the intermediate zone. Here the coarse
perthite is virtually free from interstitial quartz, but massiv~ the main dike is 15 feet to 25 feet in outcrop breadth. Most
quartz is present as core segments, which form 5 per cent to observed contacts between pegmatite and country rock are steeply
25 per cent of the rock. inclined, but gentle to moderate dips appear along the margins
In many places the pegmatite is transected by numerous tiny, of the maj or .bulges (PI. XXIV).
irregular veinlets of sugary quartz, and by even thinner veinlets Nearly all of the mining has been done in the thick eastern
of fine-grained, waxy, yellowish green muscovite. Some prisms and western bulges of the main pegmatite body. Open-cut meth-
and stubby, rounded crystals of schorl are concentrated along ods have been employed thus far. The irregular Upper cut, in
fractures, and others are scattered irregularly through the rock. the northeast part of the west bulge, is 40 by 50 feet in plan and
Garnet is a rare constituent of the outer zones, and a few small, 25 feet in maximum depth. The Lower cut, about 250 feet to
tabular crystals of columbite occur within and adjacent to the the east, is a slightly smaller opening in the central part of the
Jarge quartz masses in the inner part of the pegmatite body. east bulge (PIs. XV, XXIV).
The deposit has some promise as a source of high-quality potash The country rock in the mine area is mainly a dark gray
feldspar. Little interstitial quartz and mica are present in the quartz-hornblende-mica gneiss, in which a well defined foliation
part of the perthite-rich intermediate zone that is best exposed trends. northeast and dips steeply northwest through most of
in and above the Main cut, where an average of approximately the mme area. Exposed on the hillside immediately west of the
18 per cent of coarse quartz does occur in the form of core seg- main pegmatite body are numerous thick layers of silvery gray
ments. This quartz could be removed by hand cobbing, and about quartz-muscovite schist that contains scattered metacrysts of
400 tons of commercial feldspar could be recovered from the garnet, chloritoid, and altered staurolite. Schorl is locally abun-
zone to a depth of 20 feet. The reserves of high-grade material dant in both of these rock types near the pegmatite contacts.
migM well be considerably greater than this, however, as the The schist and gneiss occur as inclusions and septa in most of
inner part of the intermediate zone almost certainly extends to t~e pegmatite dikes, and are particularly abundant near the mar-
greater depths. Moreover, abundant medium~gfade feldspar is gms of some bulges. A large septum of schist is exposed in the
present in the much more extensive outer parts of the inter- northwest part of the Upper cut, and several wallrock inclusions
mediate zone, and reserves of such material that could be re- have b,een encountered during the course of mining in the Lower
coverable by hand sorting probably amount to at least 500 tons cut (Pi. ~XIV). Two tabular masses, 3 feet in average thickness,
per 10 feet of depth in the pegmatite body. o~ greel1l~h gray, punky appearing rock may be post-pegmatite
dIkes of mtermediate to basic composition.
MIDNIGHT OWL (LITHIA KING) MINE The border zone of the main pegmatite body and its principal
The Midnight Owl pegmatites (18, PI. I) are in the northeast- off~hoots. is a fine- to medium-grained aggregate of quartz and
ern part of the district, a short dIstance north of the divide be- albIte, wIth subordinate perthite, schorl, apatite, muscovite, and
tween the Trilby, Wash and Buckhorn Wash drainages, and lie beryl. It is particularly well exposed in the Upper cut and on
in the north half of the NW % of sec. 31, T. 8 N., R. 2 W. They the lower hill slope to the southwest of this cut, as well as at
are exposed along the steep north slope of Independence Gulch, the north end of the Lower cut.
and can be reached via San Domingo Wash or Trilby Wash over The wall zone is similar in mineralogy to the border zone, but
ungraded truck roads. Since the summer of 1950, two of the contains a higher proportion of potash feldspar and is much
deposits have been worked for bETyllium, lithium, and colum- coarser grained. It ranges in th~,ckness frem a knife edge to at
bium-tantalum minerals by the owners, Earl F. Anderson and least 20 feet, with an average of about 3 feet. Most of this
Sidney B. Anderson of Mesa. outer-zone pegmatite is readily recognized, even in areas of few
Several pegmatite dikes are exposed in the mine area, where outcrops, by concentrations of schorl, which form dark-colored
they form a belt that trends nearly due east. Though broadly crystals as much as 8 inches long and locally constitute more
tabular, they are very irregular in detail, and bulges, thick, than half of the rock. Some of these crystals are grouped in
stubby projections, and long, thin, branches are common (PI. aggregates 5 inches to 12 inches in diameter, but most are scat·
XXIV). The principal dike trends east, but its component seg- tered irregularly as individuals, or are intergrown with quartz
ments and major branches are elongate in northeasterly, easterly, in crudely graphic pattern.
and southeasterly directions. It terminates westward in a very Apatite forms rough, thickly tabular crystals in much of the
large bulge that measures 80 by 140 feet in its nearly rectangular wall-zone pegmatite. The largest of these are very dark green,
outcrop plan, and a slightly smaller bulge marks the junction and some of them are marked by outer rims of distinctly lighter
of major branches in the eastern part of the mine area (PI. color. Beryl occurs as scattered anhedral crystals l/s inch to
XXIV). In the central part of the area is a third bulge, 90 feet 3% inches in maximum dimension. It is pale green to white, and
long and about 40 feet in outcrop breadth, and from it major in places constitutes as much as 40 per cent of the rock. Biotite'
branches extend southward and northwestward. Between bulges and muscovite are locally abundant in both wall and border
--------------------------------------------------l

zones, especially within and adjacent to thin wisps of partly
digested country rock. . TABLE 6.-GENERAL CORRELATION OF EXPOSED ZONES IN
The outer intermediate zone is a coarse- to very coarse-gramed, MAJOR BULGES OF MIDNIGHT OWL PEGMATITE BODY
granitoid aggregate of flesh-colored perthite and gray quartz, Zone General West bulge Central bulge East bulge
with subordinate spodumene, albite, and schor 1. Less common texture
constituents,' in general distributed irregularly thr~ugh th~ rock,
include muscovite, lepidolite, beryl, and amblygomte. ThIs zone Core Quartz - amblyg- Quartz - spodu-
is fairly continuous in and near t~e main p~gmat~te bulges, where :mite pegmatite _nene - perthite
it is 5 feet to 30 feet thick. It IS the chIef umt that has been pegmatite
mined in the Upper cut (PI. XXIV), where spodumene. and a
little amblygohite have been recovered. The spodumene IS pale Perthite - quartz
bluish, pinkish, and dark pinkish gray, and forms wedge-s~aped Quartz - spodu- Quartz - spodu- - albite - spodu-
mene pegmatite mene pegmatite mene pegmatite,
crystals less than 2 inches long. These commonly are fn~ged Very
with beryl, col-
with albite, and in places have been altered to ~ery fine-gramed, cClD.rse
umbite-tantalite,
dense, waxy-appearing aggregates of muscovIte that are pale grained, Massive quartz Perthite - quartz lepidolite, and
non- pegmatite, with phosphate min-
yellow to greenish gray. . Inter- grani- local pods of erals
As traced in a direction away from the walls m the eastern mediate
toid massive quartz
parts of the main dike, the outer .interme~iate zone coarsens zones
Perthite - quartz
markedly and grades into another mt~rmedI8;te zone that con- pegmatite
Perthite - quartz - albite _
tains less spodumene and mo~e perth~te. ThIs ~~arse- to very Coarse muscovite pegmatite, with minor
coarse-grained unit varies co;nsIderably I~ composItIon fro~ place to spodumene and schorl
to place but in general consIsts of perthIte and quartz, wIth sub- very
ordinat~ albite and muscovite, and minor spodumene and schorI. coarse
grained, Perthite - quartz - spodumene - albite pegmatite,
It is well exposed on a small ridge about 25 feet southwest of mainly with minor schorl, micas, beryl, and amblygonite
the Lower cut, and constitutes the major part of th.e expo~ed granitoid
pegmatite in the central bulge (PI. XXIV). Although It c~mtams Medium
some widely scattered plates .a~d laths of s:podumene, thIs zone Wall to coarse Perthite - quartz - albite pegmatite, with some
seems to be analogous in posItIon and relatIve age to the outer zone grained, schorl, micas, and beryl
part of the spodu~ene-free rerthite-quartz zone that appears as granitoid
a very thick, curvmg lens m the west b~lge (PI. XX;IV). Fine to
---
The innermost zones of the two mam bulges dIffer m?re Border medium
markedly, as shown in Table 6. I~ the we~t bulge the l?erthIt~ zone grained, Quartz - albite - schorl - perthite pegmatite
quartz intermediate zone .grad~s .Inward mto a .hood-lIk~ umt granitoid
of massive quartz, and thIS umt m turn grades. mto the mn~r
most intermediate zone, which consists ot maSSIVe quartz wIth exposed dimension, appears to be an aggregate of crystals 3
very large, elongate crystals of .spod':l-mene . (PI. XXIV). The inches to more than 4 feet in diameter. Associated with the
core, which is exposed on the ndge ImmedIately: west of ~he spodumene and amblygonite are individual crystals and coarse
open cut, is very coarse~grained.quartz-amblygomte pegmatIte. aggregates of lepidolite and schorl. Much of the lepidolite occurs
The lithium minerals m these mnermost zones form some very with cleavelandite, and the distribution of these two minerals is
large crystals. Many of the spodumene logs and laths are at clearly controlled by fractures in the host quartz, spodumene,
least 3 feet long, and a few are as much as 11 feet .long and 10 and amblygonite.
by 18 inches in section. M~st of these crystals ~re ,Partly alter~d, In the east bulge the second intermediate zone grades inward
and range in color from lIght gray through pmkIsh and blmsh into a thick, lens-like zone of perthite-quartz-albite-sppdu_
gray to very dark gray. Under the microscop~, however, ma;ny mene pegmatite that also contains amblygonite, apatite, beryl,
of them appear surprisingly fresh, although mIca and clay mm- columbite-tantalite, lepidolite, lithiophilite-triphylite, and spes-
erals are present along numerous closely spaced fractures and sartite. This unit in turn grades into the innermost exposed
cleavage planes. . zone, which consists of dark-colored massive quartz, coarse lath
Some of the amblygonite in the core forms rough, nearly eqm- spodumene, and minor blocky perthite. Some albite is also pres-
dimensional masses 12 inches or less in diameter, and many of ent as interstitial aggregates, irregular veinlets, and locally as
these show crude but distinct crystal form. Other masses are prominent stockworks in the quartz. This zone probably co:rr~
much larger, and one unusually large pod, 20 feet in maximum sponds in position to the inner intermediate zone of the west
bulge (PI. XXIV, Table 6), and hence further exploration of
the east bulge might well reveal a core of quartz-amblygonite and the general structure of the dike is so imperfectly known,
pegmatite. that no meaningful estimate of reserves can be made at the
The spodumene in the two inner units of the east bulge present time.
occurs typically as a mesh of lath-shaped and log-shaped crystals, INDEPENDENCE PROSPECTS
most of which are chalky and considerably altered. Some are
replaced pseudomorphically by lepidolite, pink muscovite, and Additional deposits of spodumene, amblygonite, and beryl occur
albite. Interstitial to the spodumene crystals are very coarse- south of the Midnight Owl workings, chiefly in two pegmatite
grained quartz and perthite, as well as cleavelandite, sugary dikes that are exposed high on the opposite side of the canyon
albite, dark bluish gray apatite, white to pale greenish blue (19, PI. I). These dikes, which lie on the Independence claim,
amblygonite, white to pale yellowish green beryl in anhedral are very irregular and in general seem to be thinner than those
crystals V2 inch to 11 inches in maximum dimension, thinly tabu- on the Midnight Owl property.
lar to stubby crystals of columbite-tantalite as much as 5 inches Neither of the dikes is well exposed for its entire length, but
in diameter, and scattered but locally abundant prisms of schorl. both plainly contain discontinuous, beryl-bearing border zones,
Golden brown to wine-colored euhedral crystals of spessartite as well as lens-shaped, lithium-bearing inner zones. The border
are scattered irregularly through the rock. Amblygonite and zones and adjacent parts of the wall zones are medium- to coarse-
apatite are most closely associated with the spodumene, and grained aggregates of perthite, plagioclase, and quartz, with sub-
some flesh-colored lithiophilite-triphylite appears as large, ir- ordinate beryl, apatite, and schor!. The beryl is anhedral, and
regular groups of crystals that are stained by manganese oxides. few of the crystals are more than 2 inches in maximum dimen-
Bismutite and other bismuth minerals are present as fracture sion.
fillings and small, pod-like masses, especially in the quartz-rich Spodumene and a little amblygonite occur in quartz-rich inter-
parts of the zones. mediate zones and segments of the core, where they are asso-
ciated with scattered coarse crystals of perthite and with irregu-
Most of the lithiophilite-triphylite forms crudely faced crystals lar aggregates of albite and lepidolite. A few pods of "burr
1/2 inch to 5 inches in diameter, and some' clusters of such indi-
rock" comprising fine~grained to medium-grained book musco-
viduals are as much as 24 inches in maximum dimension. All vite'in massive quartz, are scattered through the inner parts of
the crystals thus far exposed are thickly encrusted with manga- both dikes. Some of this rock also contains a little spodumene
nese oxides, which also stain the adjacent crystals of quartz, and fine-grained albite.
feldspar, spodumene, and muscovite. Needle-like crystals of
purpurite and strengite form felted masses that line tiny vugs
and open fractures in the manganese oxides, and they also occilr LONG DIKE MINE
with stewartite along fractures in the lithiophilite-triphylite. A very large, mica-bearing pegmatite dike crops out boldly a
The west bulge has been mined for spodumene, and in addi- short distance north of the Midnight Owl workings, and extends
tion is a potential source of commercial amblygonite and beryl. across the line between secs. 30 and 31, T. 8 N., R. 2 W. A thinner,
At least 1,800 tons of pegmatite that contains approximately 8 juxtaposed dike has been mined on a small scale for scrap mus-
per cent of coarse-grained spodumene appears to be present to covite by Earl F. Anderson of Mesa, mainly in an open cut near
a depth of about 30 feet, and the reserves may prove to be much the bottom of a canyon that drains eastward into Independence
greater when the vertical dimensions of the intermediate zones Gulch (20, PI. I). This cut is 30 feet long, 15 to 18 feet wide,
this and the central bulge, and in at least three exposures with and its 20-foot face is being advanced along the base of a high,
cent to 40 per cent of the border zone and wall zone in both nearly vertical cliff. Some of the mined material has been trucked
ths and the central bulge, and in at least three exposures with about 5 miles to a small mill in San Domingo Wash, and some
areas of 40 square feet or more this mineral forms approximately has been hauled about 50 miles to Aguila for pr()c€'Ssing.
6 per cent of the rock. Nearly all the crystals are too small for The large dike is 15 feet to 50 feet thick, aV,er8lge
recovery by hand sorting. thickness of about 25 feet, and is traceable for a distaIlce
The east bulge has been worked for spodumene, beryl, and least 1,800 feet along the strike. It is somewhat SitlU(IUS
columbite-tantalite. The rock thus far mined has contained an but in general trends N. 65 E.
0
average of approximately 6 per cent of spodumene and 1.1 per enclosed and
cent of beryl recoverable by hand sorting. This intermediate-zone biotite
beryl is much coarser than the wall-zone crystals in the other
parts of the dike. Although the spodumene-beryl-columbite ore
is well exposed in the 12- by 20-foot face of the Lower cut, ex-
posures beyond the cut to the west and southwest are so poor,
Most of the large dike is a medium- to coarse-grained aggre- for a distance of several hundred feet along its strike. It appears
gate of perthite, quartz, plagioclase, and muscovite. Irregular to be 4 feet to 25 feet thick.
intermediate-zone masses of graphic granite are common in the Th~ dike comprises a fine- to medium-grained quartz-albite-
central parts of the dike, as are several pods of massive quartz. p.er~hIte - scho:l. border zone, a coarser-grained wall zone of
The pods are 6 inches to 10 feet in maximum dimension, and SImIlar c~mposItIo~ but with a higher proportion of perthite,
probably are segments of a discontinuous core. Some of them ~n ou~er mter1?edIate zone rich in coarse, blocky perthite, an
are studded with small but thick books of muscovite, and such mner m~erme~hate zone of perthite, quartz, and lath spodumene,
masses of "burr rock" have been prospected for mica in several and a dIscontmuous core ~f quartz-amblygonite pegmatite. In
places. Accessory minerals in the pegmatite include garnet, ge~eral these zones are lIthologically similar to those in the
schorl, apatite, and rare beryl. Beryl and columbite-tantalite thIckest parts of the Midnight Owl dikes.
also are present in tabular masses of quartz, 6 inches to 3 feet Beryl occurs both as small, anhedral masses in the outer zones
thick that transect the outer zones of the dike at several places. and as muc~ la~ger, anh~dral to subhedral crystals in the spod-
Th~ smaller, mica-rich dike is about 10 feet thick, and diverges ~mene-?earmg. mtermedIate zone. The coarser beryl commonly
in an east-southeasterly direction from the main dike at the IS assOCIated WIth t~bular crystals of columbite. Lepidolite, albite,
canyon bottom. It adjoins the main dike as traced southwest- and. some mUSCOVIte form scattered fine-grained aggregates in
ward from the point of junction, but tapers out approximately the mner part of the dike.
25 feet beyond the open cut. The contact between the two dikes
is smooth in detail, but some broad_iiuting is visible in the walls
of the cut. A small fault, also exposed in the cut, displaces the
main dike about 2 feet, but evidently antedates the other;cmica--
rich dike.
The smaller dike is mainly a fine- to medium-grained aggre-
gate of albite, perthite, quartz, and very abundant muscovite,
with a discontinuous border zone of quartz-muscovite "burr
rock." All the mica occurs as crinkled, ruled, sheared, and torn.
books of green to yellowish green color, and most of these books
are tightly intergrown. The mica content for the entire thickness
of the dike ranges along the strike from 30 per cent to 80 per
cent, and the average is nearly 40 per cent. The total tonnage
of such pegmatite available for mining probably is not very
large, however, as the pegmatite appears to pinch out net far
beyond the cut.
NEW LOOKOUT PROSPECTS
Several muscovite-bearing pegmatite dikes have been exten-

sively prospected on the slopes and ridges west of the Midnight
Owl mine. These dikes (21, PI. I) consist mainly of medium-
to coarse-grained perthite and quartz, with widely scattered
sugary albite. Small books of muscovite are abundant in the
border zones, and larger books fringe pods of massive quartz
in the central parts of the dikes. Some muscovite also
within the quartz pods to form "burr rock." None of these de-
posits contains as high a proportion of muscovite as the small
dike that has been worked at the Long Dike mine.
LONE GIANT PROSPECT

The lithium-bearing Lone Giant -dik€ (22, PI. I) is
on the walls of Independence Gulch, about 2,800 feet
the Midnight Owl mine, and lies in the SE % of sec.
R. 2 E. This dike dips steeply, trends north, and is
II
SERVICES OFFERED BY THE ARIZONA BUREAU OF MINES
(Continued from inside front cover)
3. Geologic investigations of mmmg districts and counties and the

making of topographic and geologic maps and reports. In cooperation with
the United States Geological Survey a large-scale base map, a reconnais-
sance geologic map, and a topographic map (100-meter contours) of the
entire State have been published. Geologic reports on various mineral
resources of the State are prepared.
4. Th Bureau provides an ore-testing service fo rores originating within
the State of Arizona. Full details will be furnished on request.
5. Semitechnical meetings with miners and prospectors are held through.
out the State.
6. The collection and dissemination of statistics relating to the mineral
industries of the State.
7. The collecting and filing of items regarding Arizona mines and min-
erals from Arizona newspapers and technical periodicals.
MAPS OF ARIZONA
The Arizona Bureau of Mines now has prepared for distribution the fol-
lowing maps of the State:
A. Base Map of Arizona on a scale of about 17 miles to the inch. This
map is strictly geographic, indicating towns, railroads, rivers, surveyed
lands, national forests, national parks and monuments, revised to 1939. It
is printed in black on one sheet 22x26 inches and sells for 30c.
B. Topographic Map of Arizona in one sheet 42x54 inches, on a scale of
about 8 miles to the inch. It conveys all of the information given by the
Base Map and, in addition, shows topography and highways. The topog-
raphy is indicated by contour lines of 100-meter interval. A table for con-
verting meters to feet is printed on the map. This map was issued in
1933 and revised as to highways in 1946. It is sold for $3.00.
C. Geologic Map of Arizona in one sheet of many colors. It was issued
in 1924 on the same scale as the Topographic Map, but is now out of
print, and its lithographic plates are worn beyond repair. The Geologic
Map is available for inspection at the office of the Arizona Bureau of Mines
on the University campus and at the office of the Arizona Department of
Mineral Resources in Phoenix.
The Bureau is prepared to supply sets of 44 Kodachrome slides, 2x2
inches in size, covering the entire map. The slides may be used with either
a low-cost pocket viewer or a projector. The price of the set is $9.00 which
includes mailing charges.
D. Metallic Mineral Map of Arizona, 25x27 inches. This map consists of
a red overprint made on Map A, and shows the principal known localities
of metallic minerals by means of representative symbols. It also gives the
value of metal production for the major districts and for the State. Roads
are indicated. This map was revised in May, 1946, and sells for 35c.
E. Nonmetallic Mineral Map of Arizona, 25x27 inches, similar to Map
D but devoted to nonmetallic minerals. This map sells for 35c.
F. Map of Arizona Mining Districts, 25x27 inches. This map consists of
a red overprint made on Map A and shows the principal mining districts
or mining localities by means of numerals and index. Roads are also
indicated. This map is sold for 35c.
G. Base Map of Arizona, 42x54 inches, similar to Map A but on a scale
of about 8 miles per inch. This map sells for 50c.
All communications should be addressed and remittances made payable

to the Arizona Bureau of Mines, University Station, Tucson, Arizona.

Pegmatite Deposits of The White Picacho District

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Pegmatite Deposits of The White Picacho District

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Pegmatite Deposits of The White Picacho District

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

iI

Vol. XXIII, No. 5 November, 1952

WALTER R. BIMSON, Preside

PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE

r---·'7"-----------·------ --------'------------'-l lithium mmerals known to occur in Arizona are lepidolite in

f localities, and valuable data on their extent and grade were

8 UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLETIN PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE WHITE PICACHO DISTRICT 9

10 UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLETIN PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE WHITE PICACHO DISTRICT 11

the north and northeast.

Plate Hr.-Typical pod-like mass of pegmatite, west side of Mitchell Wash,

segregations of extremely coarse-grained minerals. In addition

others remain beneath the present surface. Evaluation of these

RELATIONS TO COUNTRY ROCK

a few wall zones also contain a little spodumene. The proportions

accessory minerals. Where thus discolored, the albite generally

because of its more bluish color.

hand specimen, but some is fresh and moderately lustrous on

Plate XII.-Veining of perthite and amblygonite. Left.-Large cleavage

is easily mistaken for triplite and some schorl, but is heavier

and dodecahedral faces. The feldspar that surrounds such crys-

were derived mainly from garnet, several of the phosphate min-

SEQUENCE OF MINERAL FORMATION

The spatial relations between adjacent mineral grains and

minerals are subhedral to euhedral. The fracture fillings and I ('..

60 UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLETIN PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE WHITE PICACHO DISTRICT 61

TABLE 2.-COMPOSITION OF COMMERCIAL LITHIUM

supply situatio~. Lepidolite containing 3 per cent of LizO has

are used, for exa~ple, in ~on-sparking tools and in springs, con-

70 UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLETIN PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE WHITE PICACHO DI;ST1:UC~T

74 UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLETIN

Plate XV.-View of Midnight Owl pegmatite, looking north. The Upper

noted during an aerial reconnaissance for deposits of high-grade

picking, especially under favorable market conditions like those

80 UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLETIN PEGMATITE DEPOSITS OF THE WHITE

by oxides of iron and manganese.

east-northeast of the stripped area. The northern prong tapers

lithium minerals, and have been prospected by means of several

100 UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA BULLETIN

Several muscovite-bearing pegmatite dikes have been exten-

LONE GIANT PROSPECT

SERVICES OFFERED BY THE ARIZONA BUREAU OF MINES

(Continued from inside front cover)

3. Geologic investigations of mmmg districts and counties and the

All communications should be addressed and remittances made payable

You might also like