Paria West Mining District, Kane County, Utah, USAi

Regional Level Types
Paria West Mining District	Mining District
Kane County	County
Utah	State
USA	Country

The Paria West mining district lies about 25 mi east of Kanab in south-central Kane County. Manganese mineralization was initially discovered in 1908, but production did not begin until World War II when the district became a small Mn producer (Buranek, 1945). Total district metal production at modern metal prices is estimated at $115,000. The Manganese King mine is the only producer in the district.
The Paria West district is situated in the Grand Staircase on the Colorado Plateau. The district contains both Mn and U prospects, but only the Mn made it to production. Both the Mn and U ores are hosted in the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation. The Manganese King ores occur in the Petrified Forest Member of the Chinle. The section consists of a lower bentonitic mudstone that grades upward into a dark manganiferous shaly mudstone, which is in turn overlain by a calcareous, rhyolitic (?) tuff and sandy limestone.
The ore at the Manganese King occurs primarily as botryoidal nodules up to several inches in diameter in the top few feet of the dark mudstone (USGS Model 34b). The main ore minerals are psilomelane, pyrolusite, and earthy black Mn wad. Barite and calcite crystals and veinlets occur within the ore zone clay (Baker and others, 1952). The nodules may contain over 50% Mn (Buranek, 1945), but the in-place grades are only approximately 10% Mn. The Mn ore was extracted by a series of short tunnels and surface cuts. A total of at least 191 tons of Mn nodules were shipped (Havens and Agey, 1949; Doelling and others, 1989).
The small Kitchen Corral U occurrence is hosted in the Shinarump Conglomerate Member of the Chinle Formation and is associated with accumulations of carbon trash in the channel (USGS Model 30c).