Lincoln Mining District, Beaver County, Utah, USAi

Regional Level Types
Lincoln Mining District	Mining District
Beaver County	County
Utah	State
USA	Country

The Lincoln mining district is in south-central Beaver County, about 13 miles west of Beaver and just north of Minersville. The district is known as one of the oldest mining areas in Utah and was originally organized as the Pioneer district in 1864, although initial production reportedly began well before this in 1854 (Perry and McCarthy, 1977). The district was later reorganized as the Lincoln district in 1871 and it was a modest Pb-Cu-Au-Ag producer. Total district metal production at modern metal prices is estimated at $3.5 million. The Creole Cu-Au-Ag ±W underground mine was probably the largest producer.

The Lincoln district is situated on the Wah Wah–Tushar mineral belt in the Basin and Range Province in southwestern Utah. The district is on the west flank of the Mineral Mountains on the very south end of the range. The Mineral Mountains expose a large, Oligocene-Miocene (25 to 17 Ma) batholith (78 sq mi). The range has been strongly rotated to the east (40°–85°) (Rowley and others, 2005). The extent of this rotation in the Lincoln district is uncertain, but the stratigraphy in the district youngs eastward from Mississippian- through Jurassic-age rocks and moderately east-dipping Oligocene-Miocene-age volcanic rocks are on the east flank of the range.

Despite its long history, the Lincoln district has had only minor production (about 10,000 tons) of Pb-Zn-Cu-Au-Ag ±W ±Bi ores (Perry and McCarthy, 1977). The mineralization occurs as small Cu skarns (USGS Model 18b) and Pb-Zn-Ag replacement deposits (USGS Model 22c) developed in the Pennsylvanian-Permian carbonate rocks peripherally to the Oligocene (~25 Ma) Lincoln monzonite-granodiorite stock (0.9 sq mi) (Rowley and others, 2005). The strongest mineralization is in the Creole-Lincoln-Rattler group of mines on the east flank (paleo-top?) of the Lincoln stock.

The Lower Permian Kaibab Formation is the primary ore host in the district. Alteration of the carbonate host rocks includes bleaching, recrystallization-marblization, and the formation of the skarn minerals garnet, epidote, vesuvianite (idocrase), tremolite, and wollastonite. The primary ore/sulfide minerals include chalcopyrite, bornite, galena, sphalerite, argentite, scheelite, pyrite, and bismuthinite in a gangue of magnetite, fluorite, calcite, quartz, tourmaline, and amethyst (Perry and McCarthy, 1977).