| Basis for focus area |
Alkaline/peralkaline igneous rocks Tertiary REE-U-Th veins in alkaline rocks. Focus area is based on outlines of the following districts and areas in McLemore (2014, 2015b, fig. 1, 2017): Gallinas-Red Cloud Mining District, Ojo Caliente No. 2, Salinas Peak, Capitan Mountains, Three Rivers, and San Simon. |
| Identified resources |
Identified beryllium resource. |
| Production |
Unknown. |
| Status |
Unknown. |
| Estimated resources |
Resource of 43,060 metric tons, grade of 0.26% BeO, and grade of 0.094% Be (Foley, Jaskula, Kimball and Schulte, 2017). |
| Geologic maps |
McLemore (2010c), scale ~1:100,000. |
| Geophysical data |
Inadequate Rank 5 aeromagnetic and Rank 3 aeroradiometric coverage. |
| Favorable rocks and structures |
Porphyritic trachyte (Tertiary), porphyritic latite (Tertiary), rhyolite (Tertiary) and quartz-bertrandite veins that cut volcanic rocks (for example, Apache Warm Springs (Foley, Jaskula, Kimball and Schulte, 2017). |
| Deposits |
Apache Warm Springs. |
| Evidence from mineral occurrences |
Foley, Jaskula, Piatak and Schulte (2017). |
| Geochemical evidence |
Apache Warm Springs area has bertrandite hosted in quartz veins and small disseminations. |
| Geophysical evidence |
Unknown. |
| Evidence from other sources |
None. |
| Comments |
Lithium and U enrichment in the volcanogenic Be deposits has been inferred and requires more testing. |
| Cover thickness and description |
Covered rhyolite intrusive in areas between the known and outcropped intrusive bodies are to be sought using geophysics. The known mountains are isolated from one another, and additional intrusions are probably between, beneath shallow cover. None of the outcropped intrusions has the desired geochemistry and petrology, namely that of an end-member evolved peraluminous fluorine-rich rhyolite analogous with Round Top Mountain rhyolite. |
| Authors |
Lukas Zurcher, Timothy S. Hayes, Mark E. Gettings, Virginia T. McLemore, David A. Ponce, Joshua M. Rosera. |
| New data needs |
Geophysics, geologic mapping. |
| Geologic mapping and modeling needs |
Updated geologic mapping. |
| Geophysical survey and modeling needs |
Magnetic data together with local gravity measurement has potential to discover a buried body analogous to Round Top Mountain Rhyolite (see Pingitore and others, 2014; Hulse and others, 2012). High-resolution, Rank 1 aeromagnetic and radiometric surveys. |
| Digital elevation data needs |
Lidar complete or in progress. |
