Mount Wheeler mine area: record SW5403

Region	West, Southwest
States	Nevada
Mineral systems	Climax-type
Deposit types	Greisen Greisen-S-R beryllium Polymetallic sulfide S-R-V-IS
Commodities	copper gold lead molybdenum silver
Critical minerals	beryllium fluorspar tungsten zinc
Other minerals	antimony arsenic beryllium bismuth fluorspar gallium germanium indium lithium manganese REE scandium tin tungsten zinc

Information leading to the delineation of this focus area

Basis for focus area	Outline of the Lincoln mining district, which includes the Mount Wheeler Be deposit.
Identified resources	Identified resources of beryllium, fluorite, and tungsten; historical production of copper, lead, silver, and zinc.
Production	Mount Wheeler (1952-1954); 1,800 tons @1.3% WO3.
Status	Past mining.
Estimated resources	Beryllium: 1959; 100,000 tons 0.75% BeO; 1969: 200,000 tons 0.75% BeO, 0.3% WO3, 22% CaF2; 1972: 59,625 tons ("Proven ore"), 30,200 tons ("Probable ore") and 191,900 tons ("Possible ore"), presumably using the 1969 grade estimates (Foley, Jaskula, Piatak and Schulte (2017); Muntean and others, 2020).
Geologic maps	Stewart and Carlson (1978), scale 1:500,000; Wallace and others (1962), scale 1:48,000.
Geophysical data	Inadequate Rank 4 aeromagnetic and Rank 5 aeroradiometric coverage.
Favorable rocks and structures	Non-pegmatite type beryllium deposits of phenacite and bertrandite in a limestone unit, locally known as the "Wheeler limestone", in the lower part of the Pioche Shale (Whitebread and Lee, 1961).
Deposits	Mount Wheeler (MRDS dep_id: 10037300).
Evidence from mineral occurrences	MRDS: Foley, Jaskula, Piatak and Schulte (2017).
Geochemical evidence	Boron and Ge measured in phenakite (Lee and Erd, 1963). Byproduct Mo, Sn, and As reported at Smith Valley mine (polymetallic replacement deposit in the focus area).
Geophysical evidence	Unknown.
Evidence from other sources	Unknown.
Comments	Tungsten was discovered in 1950 and exploration began in 1952 continuing through 1955. This work led to the discovery of a large Be deposit in 1959. Critical commodity enrichment inferred for Sb, Bi, Ga, In, Mn, Sc, and Sn from mineral system/deposit type table (Hofstra and Kreiner, 2020).
Cover thickness and description	Tungsten-Be deposit at Mount Wheeler was localized in the lower 15 feet of the formation.
Authors	David A. Ponce, Jane M. Hammarstrom, Joshua M. Rosera.
New data needs	Geophysics.
Geologic mapping and modeling needs	None requested at this time.
Geophysical survey and modeling needs	High resolution aeromagnetic and aeroradiometric coverage.
Digital elevation data needs	Lidar in progress.