Tower Mine, Luis Lopez Manganese District, Socorro County, New Mexico, USAi

Regional Level Types
Tower Mine	Mine
Luis Lopez Manganese District	Mining District
Socorro County	County
New Mexico	State
USA	Country

”Recently, at the Tower mine, near Socorro, N. Mex., a drill hole 1,425 feet (ca. 434 m) long cut the vein zone 1,000 feet (ca. 305 m) below the surface. At the surface the vein contained only abundant manganese oxides with some fluorite and barite, but 1,000 feet (ca. 305 m) lower it contained only fragments of rhodochrosite in a wide zone in which the country rock was altered to chalcedony, clay, and adularia. Sparse barite veinlets were found from place to place through the entire length of the drill hole. The minerals in the vein indicate that it may be regarded as representing the precious-metal group.”

“At this mine an opencut 1,600 feet (ca. 488 m) long and about 30 to 40 feet (12.19 m) wide explores a zone of oxide veins to a depth that ranges from 80 to about 150 feet (45.72 m). As this is one of the most persistent veins known in New Mexico, the vein and its minerals have been closely studied by the writer. Here and at most of the other productive veins of this district, the host rock is rhyolite, but near the veins the feldspars are widely altered to adularia. At this mine, most of the veins of manganese oxide minerals are confined to zones 5 feet (1.52 m) or more thick adjacent to the walls. The veins are made up of layers of manganese oxides as much as several inches thick that cement angular fragments of altered host rock; probably psilomelane is the most abundant oxide, but hollandite and coronadite are persistently present. Coronadite is so abundant that most shipments of concentrate contained 2 to 4 percent lead. […] Among the nonmetallic minerals, crystals of fluorite are present in the early and late layers of manganese oxides, and small amounts of barite and chalcedony are present.”