| Basis for focus area |
Alkaline/peralkaline igneous rocks. The focus area includes the Trans-Pecos alkaline belt in Texas, extending into New Mexico. |
| Identified resources |
Historical production of copper, gold, iron, silver, tungsten, and zinc. Identified copper, molybdenum, niobium, and tungsten resource. |
| Production |
None. |
| Status |
Past mining. Cave Peak deposit drilled and analyzed as a Mo prospect, but never mined. |
| Estimated resources |
Cave Peak deposit reserve (1970): 100 million st with 0.09% Mo; Main Pipe reported reserve (1981): 30.892 million st with 0.13% Mo, 0.05% Cu, and 0.01% W (35% of ore is oxide) at a cut-off-grade of 0.06% Mo (possible Ag, Be, Nb, Sn byproducts); Ore breakdown given as 2 million st oxide ore with 0.272% Mo and 0.1% Nb2O5 (Long, 1992). |
| Geologic maps |
Horton and others (2017), scale 1:500,000; numerous geologic maps cover portions of areas in New Mexico; O'Neill and Nutt (1998), scale 1:24,000; Rawling and Koning (2011), scale 1:24,000; Staatz (1986, 1987), scale 1:24,000; Schmidt and Craddock (1962), scale 1:24,000. |
| Geophysical data |
Recent high resolution geophysical coverage over Trans-Pecos areas in Texas and Cornudas Mountains in New Mexico. Inadequate aeromagnetic and aeroradiometric coverage elsewhere. |
| Favorable rocks and structures |
Silicic intrusions similar to other Climax-type porphyries, but more alkalic. |
| Deposits |
Cave Peak molybdenum deposit (MRDS dep_id: 10178355; USMIN Site_IDs: TX00002; TX00010). |
| Evidence from mineral occurrences |
MRDS; USMIN. |
| Geochemical evidence |
Silicic melt inclusions at Cave Peak contain 9 to 38 ppm W, fluid inclusions contain 7 to 80 ppm W (Audétat, 2010). See McLemore (2022). |
| Geophysical evidence |
Recent Rank 1 aeromagnetic and aeroradiometric data over part of the region (Bultman, 2021). |
| Evidence from other sources |
Cave Peak porphyry Mo-(Nb) deposit is genetically related to a mafic, alkaline intrusion (Audétat, 2010; Urguhan, 2018). |
| Cover thickness and description |
Deposits may be present at depth in mapped sedimentary rocks or concealed by Cenozoic basin fill. |
| Authors |
Brent A. Elliott, Virginia T. McLemore, Joshua M. Rosera. |
| New data needs |
Alteration mapping, detailed mapping of the plutons and dikes in terms of lithology, geochemistry and mineralogy of the veins; geophysics. |
| Geologic mapping and modeling needs |
Detailed mapping needed in many areas. |
| Geophysical survey and modeling needs |
High resolution aeromagnetic and aeroradiometric survey over areas without Rank 1 data. |
| Digital elevation data needs |
Lidar complete (Texas) or in progress (parts of New Mexico). |
