Wind Mountain (Cornudas Mountains)

Region West, Southwest
States
Mineral systems
Deposit types
Commodities
Other minerals

Information leading to the delineation of this focus area

Basis for focus area Alkaline/peralkaline igneous rocks; district boundary from McLemore (2017).
Identified resources None.
Production No production, but test shipments of nepheline syenite.
Status Past exploration for nepheline syenite and REE.
Estimated resources Unknown.
Geologic maps O'Neill and Nutt (1998), 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 Nepheline syenites, adjacent limestones.
Deposits Wind Mountains prospect (MRDS dep_id: 10125858).
Evidence from mineral occurrences MRDS.
Geochemical evidence See McLemore (2018a), New chemistry indicates most samples below 71 ppm Ga, but a few are up to 7450 ppm.
Geophysical evidence Recent Rank 1 aeromagnetic and aeroradiometric data over part of the region (Bultman, 2021).
Evidence from other sources New Mexico Mining and Minerals Division mine permits.
Comments Important, but poorly understood REE deposit in New Mexico (McLemore, 2018a).
Cover thickness and description Wind Mountain is at the surface but there are geophysical anomalies in the area that suggest potential subsurface occurrences of similar intrusions.
Authors Virginia T. McLemore, Joshua M. Rosera.
New data needs Alteration and mineralization mapping, geochemistry.
Geologic mapping and modeling needs Wind Mountain is included on the geologic map of O'Neill and Nutt (1998) but no detail showing the mineralization and alteration is shown. Additional detailed mapping is needed.
Geophysical survey and modeling needs High resolution aeromagnetic and aeroradiometric survey over areas without Rank 1 data.
Digital elevation data needs Lidar complete in Texas, in progress in New Mexico.