Cribbenville Mine

Past Producer in Rio Arriba county in New Mexico, United States with commodities Mica, Uranium, Thorium, REE, Feldspar
Sections on this page
  1. Identification information
  2. Geographic coordinates
  3. Site location context
  4. Geographic areas
  5. Public Land Survey System information
  6. Commodities
  7. Materials information
  8. Host and associated rocks
  9. Nearby scientific data
  10. Geologic structures
  11. Ore body information
  12. Economic information about the deposit and operations
  13. Mining district
  14. Land status
  15. Ownership information
  16. Links to other databases
  17. Bibliographic references
  18. General comments
  19. Reporter information

Geologic information

Identification information

Deposit ID 10087941
MRDS ID D010972
Record type Site
Current site name Cribbenville Mine
Alternate or previous names New Cribbenville, Navidad, El Capitan

Geographic coordinates

Geographic coordinates: -106.03558, 36.48282 (WGS84)
Elevation 2408
Relative position ABOUT 35 MILES S 26 E OF TIERRA AMARILLA, NM

Site location context

Political divisions (FIPS codes)

Rio Arriba(county)

New Mexico(state)

United States(country)

North America(continent)

Land(continent)

USGS map quadrangles

La Madera(quadrangle 1:24,000 scale)

Abiquiu(quadrangle 1:100,000 scale)

Aztec(quadrangle 1:250,000 scale)

Hydrologic units (watersheds)

Rio Chama(hydrologic unit)

Upper Rio Grande(hydrologic accounting unit)

Rio Grande-Elephant Butte(hydrologic subregion)

Rio Grande(hydrologic region)

Federal lands

Carson National Forest(National Forest)

National Forest FS(Type of land area)

FS(Federal land areas administered by FS)

Geographic areas

Country State County
United States New Mexico Rio Arriba

Public Land Survey System information

Meridian Township Range Section Fraction State
New Mexico 026N 009E 18 SW OF SW New Mexico

Comments on the location information

  • LOCATION IS ACCURATE FOR THE PORTAL OF THE I EXCELL TUNNEL. ; INFO FROM LAND.ST :1979

Commodities

Commodity Importance
Mica Primary
Uranium Tertiary
Thorium Tertiary
REE Critical Tertiary
Feldspar Tertiary

Materials information

Materials Type of material
Columbite Ore
Mica Ore
Microcline Ore
Monazite Ore
Albite Gangue
Beryl Gangue
Cleavelandite Gangue
Fluorite Gangue
Garnet Gangue
Magnetite Gangue
Quartz Gangue
Spessartite Gangue

Host and associated rocks

  • Host or associated Associated
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Pegmatite
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic
    Stratigraphic age (youngest) Neoproterozoic
  • Host or associated Host
    Rock type Plutonic Rock > Pegmatite
    Rock unit name Ortega Quartzite
    Rock description Ortega Quartzite

Nearby scientific data

(1) -106.03558, 36.48282

Economic information

Geologic structures

Type of structure Local
Structure description Shearing Is Common Along The Pegmatite Borders. There Are Two Well-Defined Joint Sets And Several Minor Sets. The First Joint Set Trends Parallel With The Elongation Of The Main Dike And Dips Very Steeply. The Second Set With Similar Trend Dips Gently To Moderately South.

Ore body information

  • General form OTHER DIKE
    Strike N 85 W
    Dip STEEPLY NORTH.
    Plunge MODERATE TO GENTLE
    Plunge direction WEST
    Length 242.32M
    Width 18.29M

Comments on the geologic information

  • THE DEPOSIT OCCURS IN THE PETACA SCHIST MEMBER OF THE ORTEGA QUARTZITE.

Economic information about the deposit and operations

Development status Past Producer
Commodity type Both
Deposit size Small
Significant No
Discovery year 1675
Year of first production 1675
Year of last production 1955

Mining district

District name Petaca District: Cribbenville Group

Land status

Ownership category National Forest

Ownership information

  • Type Operator
    Owner Minerals Engineering Co. (Meco)
    Home office Grand Junction, Co.

Comments on the production information

  • JAHNS REPORTS PRODUCTION HAS OCCURRED SINCE THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, BUT MAJOR PRODUCTION DID NOT OCCUR UNTIL 1900. THE BREAKDOWN OF PRODUCTION FIGURES IS 5,000 LBS CLEAR PLATE, 20,000 LBS STAINED PLATE, AND 400 TONS OF SCRAP MICA.

Comments on the workings information

  • WORKINGS INCLUDE SEVERAL SURFACE OPEN CUTS, PITS, AND TRENCHES, AND SEVERAL STOPES, DRIFTS, CROSSCUTS AND THE I EXCELL TUNNEL UNDERGROUND.

Comments on development

  • THE MINE WAS FIRST WORKED IN THE 1600'S BY THE EARLY SPANISH SETTLERS BUT NO MAJOR PRODUCTION OCCURRED UNTIL 1886 WHEN THE I EXCELL TUNNEL WAS DRIVEN.

Reference information

Bibliographic references

  • Deposit

    JUST, E., 1937, NMBMMR BULL. NO. 13, P. 63-70

  • Deposit

    JAHNS, R.H., 1946, NMBMMR BULL NO. 25, P. 195-205

  • Deposit

    REDMON, D.E., 1961, USBM IC 8013, P. 33

  • Deposit

    LESURE, F.G., 1965, NMBMMR BULL. NO. 87, P. 278

  • Deposit

    BINGLER, E.C., 1968, NMBMMR, BULL. NO. 91, P. 122

  • Deposit

    MCLEMORE, V.T., 1983, NMBMMR OFR OF-183, APPENDIX 1

  • Deposit

    NMBMMR GENERAL FILE DATA

  • Production

    JAHNS, R.H., 1946, NMBMMR BULL 25, P. 197

General comments

Subject category Comment text
Deposit THERE ARE TWO MAJOR DIKES AT THE CRIBBENVILLE. THE SECOND DIKE IS 490 FT LONG, 40 FT WIDE, TRENDS WNW AND HAS STEEP NORTH TO NORTHEAST DIPS. THE TWO DIKES ARE JOINED IN THE I EXCELL TUNNEL.
Deposit SEE ALSO: CRIBBENVILLE GROUP ; INFO.SRC : 1 PUB LIT; 2 UNPUB REPT
Deposit Discovery Year: LATE 1600'S

Reporter information

Type Date Name Affiliation Comment
Reporter 01-NOV-1983 Murray, Diane New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources

Beyond USGS

Supplemental information added by qvyshift.com. Not part of the original USGS MRDS record.