COVER PHOTOGRAPHS

1

5

9

11

2

7

12

3

6

10

13

4

8

14

1. Asbestos ore

2. Lead ore, Balmat mine, N. Y.

3. Chromite-chromium ore, Washington

4. Zinc ore, Friedensville, Pa.

5. Banded iron-formation. Palmer, 

Mich.

6. R ibbon asbestos ore, Quebec, Canada

7. Manganese ore, banded 

rhodochrosite

8. Aluminum ore, bauxite, Georgia

9. Native copper ore, Keweenawan 

Peninsula, Mich.

10. Porphyry molybdenum ore, Colorado

11. Zinc ore, Edwards, N. Y.

12. Manganese nodules, ocean floor

13. Botryoidal f luorite ore, 

Poncha Springs, Colo. 

14. Tungsten ore. North Carolina
World Nonbauxite 

Aluminum Resources 

Alunite

By ROBERT B. HALL

GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1076-A

A summary of domestic and foreign alunite resources 

including discussion of possible use of alunite as a 

nonbauxite ore of aluminum

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1978
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

CECIL D. ANDRUS, Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

H. William Menard, Director

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Hall, Robert B

World nonbauxite aluminum resources alunite.

(Geology and resources of aluminum) (Geological Survey professional paper ; 1076-A)

Bibliography: p.

1. Aluminum ores. I. Title. II. Series: United States. Geological Survey. Professional paper ; 1076-A.

TN490.A5H34 553'.492 77-608357

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Washington, D.C. 20402 

Stock Number 024-001-03103-5
APPRAISAL OF MINERAL RESOURCES

Continuing appraisal of the mineral resources of the United States is 

conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in accordance with the provisions 

of the Mining and Minerals Policy Act of 1970 (Public Law 91-631, Dec. 

31, 1970). Total resources for purposes of these appraisal estimate include currently minable resources (reserves) as well as those resources 

not yet discovered or not currently profitable to mine.

The mining of mineral deposits, once discovered, depends on geologic, 

economic, and technologic factors; however, identification of many deposits 

yet to be discovered, owing to incomplete knowledge of their distribution 

in the Earth's crust, depends greatly on geologic availability and man's 

ingenuity. Consequently, appraisal of mineral resources results in approximations, subject to constant change as known deposits are depleted, new 

deposits are found, new extractive technology and uses are developed, and 

new geologic knowledge and theories indicate new areas favorable for 

exploration.

This Professional Paper discusses aspects of the geology of aluminum 

as a framework for appraising resources of this commodity in the light of 

today's technology, economics, and geologic knowledge.

Other Geological Survey publications relating to the appraisal of resources of specific mineral commodities include the following:

Professional Paper 820 "United States Mineral Resources" 

Professional Paper 907 "Geology and Resources of Copper Deposits" 

Professional Paper 926 "Geology and Resources of Vanadium Deposits" 

Professional Paper 933 "Geology and Resources of Fluorine in the United States" 

Professional Paper 959 "Geology and Resources of Titanium in the United States"

CONTENTS

	Page

Abstract _—____—_————_—_——————— Al

Introduction ____________________________ 1

Historical background ____________——— 1

Characteristics of alunite deposits ______————— 2

Mineralogy ________________—__ 2

Types of deposits ______________—— 3

Veins _________________—— 3

Replacements __________—————— 3

Sedimentary deposits _______———— 6

Alunite as an aluminum resource ____———— 6

Pure alunite versus alunitic rock _——— 6

Problems __________________ 6

Acknowledgments __________________ 6

Domestic resources ________________———— 6

Utah __________________________ 10

Marysvale district (Piute and Sevier Counties) 10

Southern Wah Wah Mountains (Beaver and

Iron Counties) ___________—————— 10

Deposits in other areas ____________ 11

Nevada ___________________————— 12

Lincoln County _______________——— 12

Clark County __________————————— 12

Esmeralda County __—_______———— 12

Mineral County _________________ 13

Lyon County _______________———— 13

Humboldt County ________________ 13

Deposits in other areas ________—_— 14

Arizona ____________________———_— 14

Santa Cruz County ________________ 14

Yuma County _______________—— 14

Deposits in other areas ____________ 15

Colorado _________________________ 15

Hinsdale County _________________ 15

Rio Grande County ________________ 15

Custer County ___________________ 15

Dolores County __________________ 15

Deposits in other areas ______________ 16

New Mexico __________________—___ 16

Grant County ___________________ 16

Sierra County ___________________ 16

Luna County __________________ 17

Deposits in other areas ______________ 17

Washington __________________——__ 17

California ________________________ 17

Wyoming __________________———_____ 18

Texas __________________________ 18

Deposits in other States _______________ 18

Minnesota _____________________ 18

Arkansas ______________________ 19

Kansas ______________________ 19

Missouri _______________________ 19

Indiana _______________________ 19

South Dakota __________________ 19

Pennsylvania ____________________ 19

Alaska _______________________ 19

Hawaii ________________________ 19

Puerto Rico ______________________ 20

	Page 

Domestic resources—Continued

Summary of United States resource position __ A20

Foreign resources _____________________ 20

North America __________——______——— 20

Canada ———____———————————————— 20

Mexico __________________——— 20

South America __________________—— 21

Argentina _____________________—— 21

Bolivia —_—_____————————————— 21

Chile _______________________ 22

Peru ____________________———— 22

Europe ___________________———— 22

France ________________________ 22

Spain ________________________ 22

Italy _________________________ 22

Greece _______________________ 23

Czechoslovakia _________________ 24

Hungary —————————————————————— 24

Rumania _____________________ 24

Bulgaria —____________________ 24

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ______—_ 24

Azerbaijan _____________________ 24

Kazakhstan ____________________ 24

Ukraine _______________________ 25

Armenia _____________________ 25

Georgia _______________________ 25

Ural Mountains region _____________ 25

Altai _______________________ 25

Uzbek _______________________ 25

Kuril Islands-Kamchatka _________—— 25

Deposits in other regions ____________ 25

Asia ___________________________ 25

Peoples Republic of China __—____——— 25

Japan ________________________ 26

Republic of Korea ________________ 26

Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea ___ 26

Pakistan _____________________ 27

Iran _________________________ 27

Middle East ______________________ 27

Saudi Arabia __________________— 27

Turkey _______________________ 27

Israel _________________________ 27

Africa __________________________ £7

Egypt ———————————————————————— 27

Morocco _______________________ 27

Tanzania ______________________ 28

Niger ————___________________ 28

Australia _________________________ 28

South Australia _________________ £8

New South Wales _________________ 28

Western Australia ________________ 29

Pacifica _________________________ 29

New Zealand __________________ 29

Sumatra ______________________ 29

Philippines ________—______————— 29

Summary of foreign resource position ________ 29

References cited ________________——__—— 30
VI CONTENTS 

ILLUSTRATION

FIGURE 1. Map showing locations of alunite resources in the conterminous 

United States _______________________________

Page

A7

TABLES

Page 

TABLE 1. Index to numbered alunite localities in the conterminous United

States __________________________________ A8 

2-4. Reserves and resources of alunite in:

2. Vein deposits, Marysvale district, Utah ____________ 10

3. Replacement deposits, Marysvale district, Utah ______— 10

4. Replacement deposits in southern Wah Wah Mountains district, Utah _____________________________ 11
GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

WORLD NONBAUXITE ALUMINUM RESOURCES—ALUNITE

By ROBERT B. HALL

ABSTRACT

Alunite, KAMSCXMOHK has been used for centuries 

to make alum, especially in Italy and China. During World 

War I, alunite veins near Marysvale, Utah, were mined to 

extract potassium sulfate fertilizer, and during World War 

II, both veins and disseminated replacement deposits were 

investigated as possible sources of aluminum that would yield 

a potassium sulfate byproduct. However, no commercial 

developments ensued both for economic reasons and because 

the resources at Marysvale were considered inadequate to 

support an alumina industry. Since 1970, large deposits of 

low-grade alunitic rock in the southern Wah Wah Mountains 

of Beaver County, Utah, and in other Western States have 

been investigated by a private consortium; this consortium 

has announced its intention to establish an alumina-fromalunite industry that is planned to have the capacity to 

produce 454,000 t/yr (metric tons each year) of cell-grade 

alumina (alumina suitable for reduction to aluminum in 

Hall-Heroult-type electrolytic cells), 227,000 t/yr of potassium 

sulfate, and 408,000 t/yr of sulfuric acid, if the industry 

can be shown to be economically feasible. Presently, the only 

alumina-from-alunite plant in the world is in Azerbaijan, 

U.S.S.R.; it was established in the early 1960's.

Three main types of alunite deposit are recognized: (1) 

veins; (2) replacement deposits; (3) sedimentary deposits. 

The large-tonnage low-grade replacement deposits in hydrothermally altered volcanic rocks of rhyolitic to dacitic composition constitute the principal alunite resource. In general, 

a body should contain at least 90 million metric tons having 

a content of at least 30 percent alunite to be considered 

potentially minable. Large replacement deposits are characteristically zoned: (1) siliceous core zone; (2) quartz-alunite 

zone; (3) inner argillic zone containing quartz, alunite, 

kaolinite, dickite, sericite assemblage, minor iron and titanium 

oxides, and occasionally containing minor pyrophyllite, 

diaspore, and zunyite; (4) outer argillic zone containing 

quartz, kaolinite, sericite, illite, and less abundant chlorite 

and montmorillonite; (5) propylitic zone of weakly altered 

rock containing quartz, epidote, chlorite, zeolites, pyrite, 

relict feldspar and mica; original rock texture is preserved. 

Propylitized rock grades outward into relatively unaltered 

country rock.

The principal domestic alunite reserves and potential resources are in the southern Wah Wah Mountains, Beaver 

County, Utah, and are identified as being about 630x10" t of 

rock containing about 30 percent alunite. Southern Nevada

has identified resources of several hundred million metric 

tons of alunitized rock, although the alunite content of much 

of it is less than 30 percent. One deposit of 200 X10° t containing roughly 25 percent alunite is in Santa Cruz County, Ariz., 

and a deposit of 250X10" t that may contain 30 percent or 

more of alunite is in Hinsdale County, Colo. Other alunite 

deposits in the United States are numerous but less promising.

Large identified alunite resources are in the U.S.S.R., the 

Peoples Republic of China, Australia, and Mexico. Resources 

of lesser magnitude have long been known in Italy and 

France. Other countries having at least modest alunite resources, part of which eventually may be proven to have 

commercial potential, include Argentina, Greece, Iran, Japan, 

Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Spain, and Turkey.

INTRODUCTION

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Alunite, KA13 (S04 ) 2 (OH) 6, has been mined in 

Italy since the 15th century as a source of potash 

alum, and alunite-rich altered volcanic rock in Chekiang Province, China, has been mined since the 

17th century, also as raw material for making alum. 

During World War I, when the supply of potash fertilizer from Germany was interrupted, attempts 

were made by several companies to develop alunite 

veins of the Marysvale district, Utah, as a source of 

potassium sulfate fertilizer. These deposits had 

been recognized and reported only a few years before the outbreak of the war (Butler and Gale, 

1912). An estimated 238,000 t (metric tons) of vein 

alunite were produced for fertilizer during World 

War I (Thoenen, 1941, p. 21). Extraction of alumina 

from alunite was not attempted except on a laboratory scale. During World War II, the supply of imported bauxite from Surinam and other sources was 

threatened so that the Marysvale alunite deposits 

again received attention, this time as a source of 

alumina that would yield potassium sulfate as a byproduct. A plant was erected in Salt Lake City, and 

in 1943, about 10,800 t of vein alunite were treated

Al
A2 GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

by the Kalunite process (Fleischer, 1944). No permanent operation resulted, and after the war, alunite was relegated to the status of a potential submarginal aluminum resource. The veins at Marysvale are high grade but do not contain sufficient 

reserves to support an industry. Low-grade replacement-type deposits in altered volcanic terrane neighboring the veins at Marysvale, Utah, and in similar 

deposits in other Western States contain a much 

larger reserve than the high-grade veins; however, 

these low-grade deposits were considered very 

costly to process because formidable problems of 

metallurgical extraction had to be solved, and so 

these deposits were deemed to be not competitive 

with bauxite (Natl. Materials Advisory Board, 

1970, p. 62). Between 1934 and 1945, an experimental plant in Japan produced more than 7,000 t 

of alumina from alunite-rich rock. The process was 

considered to be a technologic success but an economic failure (Alien, 1947, p. 72-75). During both 

World Wars, alunite was rained in Australia for 

potash fertilizer and later was investigated in laboratory tests as an ore of aluminum (Australia Advisory Council Sci. Ind., 1917; Fitzgerald, 1945; 

Bayliss and others, 1951).

In 1970, a private firm headquartered in Golden, 

Colo., discovered large replacement deposits in altered Tertiary volcanic rocks of the southern Wah 

Wah Mountains in Beaver County, Utah, 87 km 

northwest of Cedar City. By 1974, the company and 

its consortium partners had announced a proven 

reserve of more than 91X106 t that was estimated 

to contain 35-40 percent alunite. Indicated and inferred reserves amounting to 544x10° t also were 

reported (Walker and Stevens, 1974). From 1973 

until the end of 1976, the consortium partnership 

operated a pilot plant in Golden, Colo., to perfect an 

economic process for treating low-grade siliceous 

alunite ore. The consortium has proposed to establish a full-scale commercial plant adjoining the 

Beaver County deposits; the plant will be designed 

to produce 454,000 t/yr of cell-grade alumina (alumina suitable for reduction to aluminum in HallHeroult-type electrolytic cells), 227,000 t/yr of 

potassium sulfate fertilizer, and 408,000 t/yr of sulf uric acid. The acid may be reacted with phosphate 

rock transported by railroad to the plant from southeast Idaho to make phosphate fertilizer (Parkinson, 

1974, p. 78; Thompson, 1976, p. 684).

The activities of this consortium have revived interest in alunite as a potential nonbauxite source of 

aluminum. In 1974, the U.S. Geological Survey began 

an updated inventory of domestic alunite resources to 

determine the place of alunite among various potential domestic nonbauxite resources; updating the 

inventory was in response to a growing national 

concern over near-total dependence on imported 

bauxite and alumina. The only presently operating 

commercial plant in the world extracting cell-grade 

alumina and byproduct potassium sulfate from 

alunite ore is in Azerbaijan, U.S.S.R. (see p. A24).

CHARACTERISTICS OF ALUNITE DEPOSITS 

MINERALOGY

The formula for pure alunite is KA13 (S04 ) 2 (OH) 6, 

and the theoretical composition is K2 0, 11.37 percent; A12 03 , 36.92 percent; S03 , 38.66 percent; and 

H2 0, 13.05 percent. The formula for the sodium isomorph, natroalunite, is NaAl3 (S04 ) 2 (OH) 6 ; its 

theoretical composition is Na2 0, 7.79 percent; 

A12 03 , 38.42 percent; S03 , 40.23 percent; and H2 0, 

13.56 percent. However, virtually all natural alunite 

contains at least a small amount of Na in substitution for K, and natroalunite invariably contains 

appreciable K. By convention, the mineral is called 

natroalunite when the atomic (not weight) ratio of 

Na:K equals or exceeds unity. If the Na:K atomic 

ratio exceeds 1:3, the mineral may be called sodian 

alunite, although no rule is consistently followed, 

and this term is sometimes mistakenly interpreted 

as a synonym for natroalunite. Parker (1962) could 

not synthesize 100-percent-pure end members by 

using the purest available reagents; apparently, 

small amounts of Na and K leached from laboratory 

glassware entered the crystal lattice of Parker's 

synthetic products. A solution in which the Na:K 

atomic ratio was 93:7 yielded synthetic alunite 

having a Na:K ratio of 42:58 (Parker, 1962, 

p. 128-129), indicating strongly preferential uptake of K in the lattice. This preferential uptake of 

K accounts for the predominance of K over Na in 

most natural alunites, even in areas where host rocks 

contain more Na than K. The K-rich alunite has 

greater commercial value than natroalunite because 

potassium sulfate fertilizer can be recovered as a 

valuable byproduct of the alumina. Theoretically, 

salt cake (Na2S04 ) also can be recovered from alunite, but it is less valuable than K2S04 . During 

World War II, a small amount of soda alum 

(NaAl(S04 ) 2 -12H,0) was recovered at the experimental alumina-from-alunite plant at Shikama, 

Hyogo Prefecture, Japan (Alien, 1947, p. 38-40, 72- 

75), but except for this Japanese experiment, no 

process designed to recover both K2S04 and Na2S04 

from alunite has been reported.

Other minerals listed as belonging to the "alunite group" include jarosite, KFe3 (S04 ) 2 (OH) 6 ;
WORLD NONBAUXITE ALUMINUM RESOURCES—ALUNITE A3

natrojarosite, NaFe3 (S04 ) 2 (OH) 6 ; ammoniojarosite, (NH4 ) Fe3 (S04 ) 2 (OH) 6 ; argentojarosite, 

AgFe3 (S04 ) 2 (OH) 6 ; plumbojarosite, PbFe6 (S04 ) 4- 

(OH) 12 ; and beaverite, Pb(Cu,Fe,Al) 3 (S04 ) 2 (OH) 6 

(Palache, Berman, and Frondel, 1951, p. 555-570). 

These isostructural chemical relatives may be 

formed in environments similar to those where alunite or natroalunite form, but, except jarosite and 

possibly natrojarosite, they are much rarer than 

alunite and natroalunite.

The crystal form and physical properties of alunite are well described in mineralogy textbooks and 

journals, and it is pointless to repeat these data 

here, especially because the bulk of alunite resources 

exist, not in veins of pure mineral, but in large 

bodies of altered volcanic rock where fine-grained 

alunite is intimately mixed with microquartz, commonly associated with kaolinite, halloysite, dickite, 

opaline cristobalite, muscovite ("sericite"), rutile, 

anatase, and hematite, and less commonly with 

pyrophyllite, diaspore, zunyite, and other alteration 

minerals. These alunitized rocks bear little resemblance to the ideal crystals and museum specimens 

of alunite described by mineralogists. Identification 

of alunite-bearing rock in the field is not easy. A 

field test developed by Schaller was described by 

Butler and Gale (1912, p. 63). A simple quick test 

using pH-sensitive paper to measure acidity of 

water driven off the powdered sample and condensed 

in a test tube is fairly reliable if used with discretion (Cunningham and Hall, 1976). Powder X-ray 

diffraction patterns can be used to estimate K:Na 

ratios and to distinguish between K-rich and Narich alunite (Cunningham and Hall, 1976, p. 1597). 

Ultimately, a combination of X-ray analysis, examination under the petrographic microscope, and 

chemical analysis is needed to determine accurately 

the composition and possible commercial value of a 

given material.

TYPES OF DEPOSITS

Three main types of alunite deposits are recognized: (1) veins; (2) replacements; (3) sedimentary 

deposits. Type 3 has two subdivisions: (3a) nodular 

layers and thin seams formed supergenically in 

clayey or micaceous sedimentary and metasedimentary rocks; (3b) lacustrine kaolinic sediments that 

have been diagenetically or supergenically alunitized. 

Veins, type 1, contain the highest grade of alunite, 

but reserves are small and costly to mine. Nodular 

layers, type 3a, are numerous and widespread but 

have little economic importance; lacustrine deposits, 

type 3b, have been reported only in Australia where 

some were mined briefly for potash fertilizer, but

they have limited economic potential. The bulk of 

United States and world alunite resources are type 

2, large bodies of relatively low grade hydrothermally and solfatarically alunitized ignimbrites, tuffs, 

flows, agglomerates, and feeder intrusive porphyries 

and associated volcanic rocks of dacitic to rhyolitie 

composition. Although these bodies are low grade, 

rarely containing more than 30 percent alunite, 

equivalent to only 11 percent A12 03 , they can be 

mined by large-scale low-unit-cost open-pit methods.

VEINS

Alunite vein deposits are best exemplified by the 

high-grade veins and lenses found on Alunite Ridge 

in the part of the Marysvale district in Piute County, 

Utah; these deposits were first described by Butler 

and Gale (1912), and a summary description was 

given by Callaghan (1973, p. 66-81). The veins here 

are steeply to moderately dipping fissure fillings of 

sinuous trend in altered rhyolitie tuff and breccia of 

Oligocene age (Callaghan, 1973, p. 10, 67-81). They 

persist along strike for distances ranging from a few 

meters to 500 m and have widths of from less than 

0.3 m to 20 m; local widths of 6 m are not rare. 

Pinching and swelling along both strike and dip are 

marked, and irregular branches and offshoots from 

principal veins or lenses are common. Some veins 

persist to depths of 130 m below the surface, but 

few have been developed so thoroughly that all 

dimensions are known. Unlike replacement-type rock, 

alunite veins are fairly pure; they consist of fine- to 

coarse-grained crystalline aggregates of pinkish 

alunite and only minor amounts of diluting minerals, 

such as kaolinite, veinlets of dickite, microquartz, 

and iron oxides. A faint banding parallel to walls 

is common. Inclusions of altered volcanic wallrock 

may be locally dispersed in the vein matter, and 

vein walls are silicified, alunitized, kaolinized, and 

pyritized. However, the content of alunite in the altered wallrock generally is low. Although resources 

in veins are relatively high grade, they are too small 

to support processing plants of economic size; the 

veins can be mined only by high-cost underground 

methods. The most likely use for alunite veins is as a 

supplementary millfeed or "sweetener" of low-grade 

replacement rock in areas where both types of deposit are found.

REPLACEMENTS

Replacement deposits constitute the bulk of alunite resources, both in the United States and in the 

rest of the world. Deposits of this type are known in 

Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, 

although it has not yet been proven that even the 

largest and richest of them can be mined and proc-
A4 GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

essed profitably. Vein deposits in the Marysvale district of Utah were mined commercially on a small 

scale for potash fertilizer during World War I 

(Loughlin, 1916; Phalen, 1917; Callaghan, 1938); 

pilot-plant testing for extraction of alumina from 

both vein and replacement deposits at Marysvale was 

done during World War II (Fleischer, 1944; Hild, 

1946; Callaghan, 1973, p. 66, 89). Presently, large replacement deposits in the southern Wah Wah Mountains of Beaver County, Utah, are considered the 

most promising for commercial development, and 

approximately 1,800 t of alunite rock from this district have undergone test processing at a pilot plant 

in Golden, Colo. (Thompson, 1976).

In general, a replacement deposit may be considered as potentially exploitable if it contains at 

least 90 million metric tons of rock containing on 

average at least 30 percent alunite (W. W. Walker, 

Earth Sciences Inc., oral commun., 1974). The rock 

should consist mainly of a microquartz-alunite mixture and should contain only small amounts of reactive silica as opaline cristobalite, clay, or mica. 

Quartz is not unduly troublesome in the metallurgical treatment. However, cristobalite and the 

phyllosilicate minerals break down in the caustic 

leach and contaminate the alumina solution with 

silica; the removal of silica in order to make an acceptable alumina product adds appreciably to processing costs and loss of alumina and soda.

The typical replacement deposit is formed in Tertiary volcanic terrane in a thick pile of ash-flow 

tuff, ignimbrite, and breccia of andesitic to rhyolitic 

composition, where hot sulfuric-acid-charged fluids 

have moved upward and laterally through fissures 

or vents during the late fumarolic stages of a volcanic episode. Rock adjacent to the conduit is strongly leached and altered, but also great volumes of 

surrounding rock are affected by the fluids permeating outward through minute pores and fractures. 

The hypogene alunitizing process is not fully understood, but it includes leaching of soluble alkaline constituents (Na, K, Ca, Mg) and destruction of the lattice of the feldspar, mica, amphibole, and other primary minerals in the original volcanic rock (Hemley 

and others, 1969). The breakdown of the original 

rock is facilitated by relatively high porosity and the 

typical fine granular to glassy texture. The process 

entails volume-for-volume metasomatic replacement 

of feldspar, mica, and other primary minerals in such 

a way that the pyroclastic texture of original tuff 

or breccia may be surprisingly well preserved in 

spite of the profound change in chemical and mineral composition. The relict primary texture may not 

be evident in hand specimen but commonly is recognized in thin section. Quartz phenocrysts may be left

intact, except for corroded edges, but silica is liberated (presumably as gel) during the breakdown of 

the primary alumino-silicate rock minerals and is 

recrystallized as a very fine grained mosaic (microquartz) intermixed with fine shreddy alunite. The 

rock may resemble chert, except that the microquartz mosaic is seen under the microscope to have 

interstices filled with fine granular flakes or shreds 

of alunite. Russian geologists call this kind of hydrothermally altered siliceous rock "secondary quartzite" (Kashkai, 1961,1970, v. 1, p. 245; Naboko, 1958, 

1963; Kirova, 1959; Kerimov, 1959; Rusinov, 1966). 

In some areas, milky near-opaline cristobalite may 

constitute the major silica phase instead of microquartz. Cristobalitic rock is undesirable because of 

its greater susceptibility to Bayer caustic-leach attack and consequent high silica contamination of the 

alumina solution.

Large replacement deposits generally are characteristically zoned:

(1) Siliceous core zone. The innermost zone typically is whitish and highly siliceous. The original 

rock is leached of alkaline components and much of 

the alumina and is metasomatically replaced by finely 

crystalline quartz (microquartz) or, less commonly, 

milky opaline cristobalite. The texture may be so 

porous as to resemble siliceous sinter. Native sulfur 

locally may fill pores and cavities in "spongy" chert. 

This porous zone is believed to represent the main 

vent for hot, strongly acid fluids. Probably corrosive 

solf ataric gases accompanied boiling water and steam 

in what has been called a hydrosolfatara (Naboko, 

1958). Original rock texture is obliterated, and alunite and other minerals are sparse.

(2) Quartz-alunite zone. Variegated grayish-white 

to pink bleached rock consisting of fine-grained 

microquartz intimately mixed with fine shreds and 

flakes of alunite forms an envelope around the siliceous core. Small amounts of clay mineral, usually 

kaolinite or dickite, may be present, and goethite or 

hematite and anatase or rutile are normal minor accessories in alunitic rock. This zone contains the best 

"ore" because alunite content may be 30 percent or 

higher and because the principal gangue is microquartz. Original pyroclastic texture may be blurred 

but still recognizable in thin section.

(3) Inner argillic zone. Bleached appearance of 

the rock still is strongly evident as the quartz-alunite 

zone grades outward into a broad argillized envelope 

in which the alunite content decreases as the amount 

of fine-grained kaolinite or kaolinite-sericite mixture 

increases. Dickite may be present instead of, or in 

addition to, kaolinite. Quartz content equals or exceeds phyllosilicate content. Minor amounts of iron 

and titanium oxides are ubiquitous, and less com-
WORLD NONBAUXITE ALUMINUM RESOURCES—ALUNITE A5

monly, pyrophyllite, diaspore, and zunyite also may 

be present. This material is a less likely source of 

aluminum and potash than that in the quartz-alunite 

zone because of its lower alunite content and because 

the intermixed phyllosilicates are undesirable contaminants. Original rock texture may appear blurred 

in hand specimen but distinct in thin section.

(4) Outer argillic zone. The inner argillic zone 

grades into the outer argillic zone, which is characteristically dull gray or brownish gray and contains little or no alunite and an increasing amount 

of kaolin minerals. Quartz always is present, partly 

as an unaltered original rock constituent, and partly 

as a very fine grained metasomatic replacement mineral accompanying phyllosilicates in the alteration 

assemblage. Sericite is common and may exceed 

kaolinite in total amount. Illite, which is degraded 

sericite or muscovite (sometimes called "hydromica" 

in this form), may be the principal mica constituent, 

especially toward the outer margin of this zone; however, positive distinction between sericite and illite 

in X-ray patterns and thin sections of these rocks is 

difficult. Likewise, chlorite, montmorillonite, and 

mixed-layer clay species may appear in this zone, but 

identification usually is uncertain. Feldspar, biotite, 

and other primary rock minerals may be preserved 

in badly corroded relict crystals.

(5) Propylitic zone. 1 The outer argillic zone grades 

into a dark grayish-green zone of propylitized rock 

composed essentially of partially sericitized potassium feldspar, saussuritized plagioclase, quartz, 

chloritized or uralitized mafic minerals and interstitial carbonate or zeolite, and dispersed tiny pyrite 

crystals. Montmorillonite or mixed-layer clay species 

commonly are present as subordinate alteration products; alunite is rare or absent. The propylitic zone 

grades into rock relatively unaffected by hypogene 

alteration, although it may be weathered in outcrop.

The preceding description is of an "ideal" replacement deposit, rarely observed in nature, although 

alunitized volcanic terranes in the Western United 

States commonly show at least three of the abovedescribed alteration zones.

SEDIMENTARY DEPOSITS

The most common and geographically widespread 

kinds of sedimentary alunite deposits are the nodular 

layers and associated thin seams. Ellipsoidal nodules 

are found along disconformities in argillaceous sediments; most are only a few centimeters across, but

1 "Propylitic" Is applied here to weakly altered, that is, "propylitized," igneous rocks ranging in composition from anclesite to 

rhyolite. Strictly defined, n propylite is mildly hydrothermally 

metamorphosed andesite, typically containing secondary calcite, 

chlorite, epidote, quartz, and pyrite.

some in Australia are as much as 60 cm across, and 

some at the Madriat deposit in France are as much 

as 2 m long. Nodules a few centimeters across are 

found dispersed in some bauxites in Hungary and 

Greece (Bardossy, 1959; Bardossy and Mack, 1967). 

Ground water containing sulfuric acid derived from 

the oxidation of disseminated pyrite in adjoining 

rock is the agent usually invoked to explain formation of the nodules. Many nodules are sodic alunite 

or natroalunite, suggesting much higher availability of Na+ than of K+ .

Lacustrine deposits are found in Australia where 

shallow ephemeral lagoonal basins are filled with 

alunite-rich clayey sediment whose origin is unclear; 

King (1953) postulated sulfate-charged ground 

water acting upon original kaolin sediment to explain 

deposits at Pidinga, South Australia. The Australian 

alunitic sediments are high grade, but the total resource may not exceed a few tens of millions of 

metric tons.

ALUNITE AS AN ALUMINUM RESOURCE

PURE ALUNITE VERSUS ALUNITIC ROCK

Although alunite contains only 37 percent alumina, 

treatment of the pure mineral is relatively easy. If 

nearly pure alunite existed in 10-million- to 100- 

million-metric-ton bodies, it could easily compete 

with, or perhaps even be preferred to, bauxite, which 

commonly contains about 50 percent alumina. Unfortunately, "pure" alunite is found only in veins of 

limited extent that must be mined by high-cost underground methods, or in sedimentary rocks as thin 

nodular layers minable only by small-scale methods, 

if at all. The only alunite resource of economically 

minable size is in the 90-million- to 200-millionmetric-ton low-grade quartz-alunite replacement 

bodies in hydrothermally altered volcanic rocks. Such 

bodies rarely contain as much as 40 percent alunite, 

and even 30 percent is uncommon. Therefore, industry must develop methods of profitably mining 

and processing alunitic rock containing only 11-15 

percent A12 03 . Prior to and during World War II, 

research on treatment of low-grade alunitic rock 

was carried out in the United States, Australia, and 

Japan. More recent work was done in Mexico and 

other countries. However, only the Soviet Union has 

a commercial alumina-from-alunite operation, established in the early 1960's. Since 1973, the Alumet 

partnership comprising Earth Sciences, Inc., National Steel Company, and Southwire Company has 

devised its own process, based in part on a roasting 

technique purchased from the Russians (Thompson, 

1976). Economic success of the Alumet process will 

be proven only when the company's proposed plant,
A6 GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

which has been projected to have the capacity to 

produce 454,000 t/yr of alumina, actually is built and 

operating. If successful in Utah, this project could 

lead to more alumina-from-alunite operations in 

other Western States and in other countries having 

large resources of low-grade alunitic rock.

PROBLEMS

The treatment of low-grade mixtures of finegrained quartz, alunite, and lesser amounts of other 

minerals is much more difficult than treatment of 

pure alunite. Hardly more than a third of the bulk 

handled is alunite. Experiments on concentration, 

notably by differential flotation (Gabriel and Dasher, 

1942), have not proven any concentration method to 

be practical. Thus, low-grade run-of-mine material 

must be taken through the Alumet extraction process, and considerable energy must be expended on 

gangue. Furthermore, the fluidized-bed roasting 

must be carried out under narrow and complex restraints (Thompson, 1976, p. 683). Following evolution of some S02 , which is converted to H2S04 byproduct, the potassium sulf ate is removed in solution 

by water leach and is precipitated in separate vessels 

to make fertilizer-grade K2S04 byproduct. The filter 

residue contains about 23 percent A12 03 and consists 

mainly of fine granular quartz and aluminum trihydrate. It is treated by a modified Bayer caustic 

soda-leach process to dissolve the alumina; after filtration, undissolved fine silica sand is passed to the 

tailings. The filtrate is desilicated and then seeded 

to precipitate synthetic gibbsite A1(OH) 3 , which is 

calcined to make the final alumina product (Thompson, 1976).

The Alumet process has an advantage in that 

alumina in the filter residue dissolves at lower pressure and temperature than alumina in raw bauxite 

treated by the conventional Bayer process. Also, the 

iron oxide content of alunitic rock is much lower 

than that of most natural bauxites, and thus does 

not cause the "red-mud" problem. However, alunitic 

rock, because it contains much less alumina than 

bauxite, must be as free as possible from phyllosilicate minerals, like kaolinite or sericite, or relatively 

soluble forms of silica such as cristobalite; otherwise, too much alumina and soda are lost during the 

desilication process that precedes precipitation of the 

pure (or nearly pure) alumina as synthetic gibbsite. 

Microcrystalline quartz is not reactive under the 

relatively mild conditions of the modified Bayer process used in the treatment of alunitic rock; thus, it 

is a "benign" gangue constituent, in contrast to clay, 

mica, and opaline cristobalite.

Finding alunitic rock that is free of soluble forms 

of silica is difficult because of the nature of the deposits themselves. Hydrothermally altered rock 

bodies tend to be nonuniform; samples taken a few 

meters apart can differ in mineral composition, even 

if they appear identical. The ideal "ore" is alunite 

mixed with microquartz, which does not dissolve 

readily in the caustic leach. This kind of rock is 

typical of the central, mostly intensely altered zone, 

but avoiding contaminants such as kaolinite and 

sericite is not always easy because the rock may not 

be altered uniformly over a great distance. This nonuniform alteration may be due to variations in spacing of fractures or channels through which the 

fluids passed, rate of flow and chemical activity of 

the fluids, permeability, temperature, grain size, and 

other factors. The alunite-rich zones of the southern 

Wah Wah Mountains are reported to be unusually 

homogeneous, but heterogeneity is more characteristic than homogeneity of most hydrothermally altered areas, irrespective of the broad-scale zoning 

that may be evident. This clearly is a limitation on 

the utilization of alunitic rock as an ore of aluminum. 

Nevertheless, continuing the effort to overcome 

problems inherent in the economic extraction of 

alumina from alunite is worthwhile, because large 

resources of alunitic rock are available within our 

national boundaries; utilization of these resources 

could alleviate growing dependence on imported 

alumina and bauxite. Alunitic rock is unlikely, however, to become a major substitute for bauxite in 

the foreseeable future, even in bauxite-deficient 

countries that have large alunite resources.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Much helpful information was given by personnel 

of Earth Sciences, Inc., Golden, Colo.; in particular, 

the advice and cooperation of William W. Walker 

of that company is especially appreciated. Personnel 

of the U.S. Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.) assisted 

both in compilation and in interpretation of data. 

J. A. Crowley, U.S.G.S., kindly supplied data on 

alunite deposits that he examined in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Useful consultation was provided by State survey officials, especially Keith G. 

Papke, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, and 

George S. Austin, New Mexico Bureau of Mines and 

Mineral Resources. Unpublished alunite-resource information from Louis S. Gardner, formerly of 

U.S.G.S., now in Pleasant Grove, Utah, was very 

useful, as were the published reports of Eugene Callaghan, Salt Lake City, Utah.

DOMESTIC RESOURCES

The locations of alunite reserves and resources in 

the conterminous United States are shown in figure 

1, and the index to the localities appears in table 1.
'30°

REPLACEMENT DEPOSITS—Shown in tons 

of alunite-bearing rock

| | >300X10"t

Q 100-299X10«t

Q 10-99X106 t

Q 1-9X10"t

D <1X10*t or unknown

VEIN DEPOSITS—Shown in tons of alunite-bearing rock 

V >1X10't 

v <1X106 t

SEDIMENTARY SEAMS OR NODULES 

S Widespread 

s Local occurrence (not a resource) 

o HYDROTHERMAL OCCURRENCE—Not a resource

19 LOCATION NUMBER—See text and table 1 for discussion of 

these deposits

FIGURE 1.—Locations of alunite reserves and resources in the conterminous United States. Numbered deposits are inde

table 1 and discussed in the text.
A8 GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

TABLE 1.—Index to numbered alunite localities in the conterminous United States (see fig. 1 for map)

[Hydrothermal alunite occurrences and very local sedimentary alunite occurrences having negligible resource potential are located on the map 

but are not numbered; they are discussed briefly in the text. V, veins; R, replacement deposits; S, sedimentary deposits. Question mark 

(?) after a number indicates a very high degree of uncertainty. Dash leaders (——) indicate insufficient data. All reserve and resource 

figures are subject to revision as further data become available]

District or 

Loc. deposit

l___Marysvale

2 _ -Southern 

Wan Wah 

Mtns.

:j .Sheep Rock

4_ Big Pinto

Spring.

6_ Beauty Knoll

8 —— Boyd

9 __ Railroad 

Pass.

10 __ Goldfleld

Deposit 

State, County type Remarks

Utah, 

Piute, 

Sevier.

Utah, Beaver, 

Iron.

Utah, Beaver

Utah, Beaver

Utah, Iron

Utah, Washington.

Nev., Lincoln 

Nev., Lincoln

Nev., Clark 

Nev., Esmeralda

V Veins on Alunite Ridge exploited 

and during both World Wars. LowR grade replacement deposits are 

larger resource than the veins.

R Alumet consortium developing "NQ" 

lease area. District also includes 

SX and PV deposits south of 

Beaver County-Iron County line 

and west end of White Mtn. area. 

Most promising domestic alunite 

resource recognized so far.

R Alunitized Tertiary rhyolite forms 

prominent white hill 8 km northeast of Beaver.

R Siliceous sporadically alunitized volcanic rock.

R Alunitized tuff breccia

V Alunite vein in halloysite-bearing 

altered andesite.

R Parts of 18-km2 area in T. 7 S., 

R. 70 E., underlain by altered 

Tertiary volcanic rocks ; extent of 

alunitization unknown.

V Lens of alunite mined briefly in 

1920's.

R Irregular localized alunitization in 

Tertiary volcanic rocks.

R Main mined area at Goldfleld not a 

likely resource ; areas south and

Estimated Estimated 

alunite Potential alunite 

Reserves content resources content 

References (10« t) (percent) (10« t) (percent)

Butler and Gale, V-1.38 

1912 ; Callaghan, R-7.36 

1938, 1973; 

Loughlin, 1916; 

Thoenen, 1941; 

Hild, 1946.

Walker and 232 

Stevens, 1974; 

Parkinson, 1974.

Loughlin, 1916; 2 

Thoenen, 1941.

Crawford and .45? 

Buranek, 1948.

Hewett and others, .04 

1936 ; Thoenen, .29 

1941 ; L. S. 

Gardner, unpub. 

data, 1943.

Hewett and others, 1.8 

1936 ; Thoenen, 

1941; Phalen, 

1917 ; L. S. 

Gardner, unpub. 

data, 1944.

Ransome, 1907, _____ 

1909.

88 0.74 79 

43 33.26 23

33 402 28 

30 ___ ___

1 80? __ _ _____

29 _____

21 _ __ ——— _

27 4 6

__ _ Main mined 

area — 150? 10?

11__Monte Cristo 

Range.

12__Boundary 

Peak.

13__Bovard

14__Gabbs Valley 

Range.

15——Corey Peak

16__The Elbow

17__Sulphur

18——Beatty

19__Red

MountainPatagonia.

west of town are more favorable.

Nev., Esmeralda R Alunitized Tertiary volcanic rocks, 

extent unknown.

Nev., Esmeralda R Alunitized Teritiary volcanic rocks 

associated with mercury deposits.

Nev., Mineral V Thin alunite veins in altered rhyolite at old Gold Pen mine.

Nev., Mineral R Locally alunitized Tertiary tuff and 

granite; resource may be large, 

but alunite content is low.

Nev., Mineral R White alunitized rhyolite exposed 

in shallow bulldozed trench: 

deposit high grade but small.

Nev., Mineral, R Irregularly alunitized Tertiary volLyon. canic rocks in area straddling 

Mineral County-Lyon County line 

near "The Elbow," bend in East 

Walker River; leases applied for 

by private consortium.

Alunite veins in altered Tertiary 

volcanic rocks, mined briefly in 

1917.

CTR leases—

100 ? 22 ? 

MTZ lease—

60 ? 20 ?

Bailey and 

Phoenix, 1944.

Schrader, 1913; 

Thoenen, 1941.

Archbold, 1966

.007 50

.9 

40?

40 

20?

Nev., Humboldt V

Nev., Nye R Area of strongly bleached, locally 

alunitized Tertiary volcanic rocks, 

11 km east of Beatty. Cristobalite 

also abundant locally.

Ariz., Santa R "Red Mountain" volcanic complex 

Cruz. pervasively alunitized; kaolinite, 

sericite, pyrophyllite also present; 

porphyry-type copper mineralization beneath alunitized upper part 

of the mountain.

Clark, 1918; 

Vanderburg, 

1938; Thoenen, 

1941; L. 8. 

Gardner, unpub. 

data, 1944.

Schrader, 1913, 

1915 ; Simons, 

1974 ; Corn, 

1975.

.026

.186

75

70

200 25?
WORLD NONBAUXITE ALUMINUM RESOURCES—ALUNITE

TABLE 1.—Index to numbered alunite localities in the conterminous United States— Continued

A9

District or 

Loc. deposit

20 Sugarloaf

Peak.

River.

22 __ Red 

MountainLake City.

23___Marble 

Mountain.

24 __ Rosita Hills

25 __ Calico Peak

9.R A In in Proplr

Deposit 

State, County type Remarks

sericitized dacite of uncertain age, 

8 km west of town of Quartzsite.

rhyolite in 130-hectare area, 16 

km south of Wickenburg, along 

margins of Hassayampa River 

Valley.

Colo., Hinsdale R Alunitized silicifled quartz latite of 

Miocene age on summit area of 

Red Mountain, 5 km south of Lake 

City.

Colo., Rio R Alunitized Tertiary andesitic volGrande. canic rocks on ridge 5 km north 

of old Jasper mining camp.

Colo., Custer R Mount Robinson and Democrat Hill 

volcanic vents, rhyolite tuff locally 

alunitized. Minor diaspore at 

Mount Robinson.

Colo., Dolores R Strong siliciflcation, local alunitization in hydrothermally altered 

Tertiary latite volcanic plug. 

Muscovite, kaolinite, minor pyrophyllite also present.

Polo . r.oneios R Local alunitization in Tertiarv volReferences

Heineman, 1935;

Thoenen, 1941.

Royse, 1970.

Larsen, 1913; 

Steven and 

others, 1974.

L. S. Gardner, 

unpub. data, 

1943.

Cross, 1891, 

1896 ; Thoenen, 

1941 ; L. S. 

Gardner, unpub. 

data, 1943.

Cross and Spencer, 

1900 ; Thoenen, 

1941 ; SernaIsaza, 1971; 

L. S. Gardner, 

unpub. data, 

1943.

Calkin. 1967

Estimated Estimated 

alunite Potential alunite 

Reserves content resources content 

(10« t) (percent) (10« t) (percent)

0.232 55 __ ___

___ __ —— 250 30

5.2 37 9 30

___ ___ 2.7 15

___ 2 17

9 15

27__Alum 

Mountain.

28__Saddleback 

Mountain.

29___Juan Peak

30__Rattlesnake 

Canyon.

31___Enumclaw

32__Quaking Asp 

(Aspen) 

Mountain.

-Wilson 

County.

34_.-Northcentral 

Texas.

35___ Medley

-Cuyuna 

North 

Range.

N. Mex., Grant R

N. Mex., Grant R

canic vent complexes above Alum 

Creek, immediately south of Rio 

Grande County boundary.

Pervasively alunitized and kaolinized 

Tertiary latitic tuff-breccia on 

Alum Mountain and both sides of 

Alum Canyon. Local supergenic 

alum encrustations.

Strongly silicifled, locally alunitized 

Tertiary volcanic rocks at extreme 

northwest end of Steeple Rock 

mining district.

N. Mex., Sierra R Strongly silicifled alunitized Tertiary 

rhyolitic tuffs and breccias 10 km 

northwest of Monticello.

N. Mex., Luna R Silicifled alunitized Tertiary volcanic 

rocks in low hilly terrain near 

mouth of Rattlesnake Canyon, 14 

km northwest of Florida rail 

siding.

Wash., King, R Locally alunitized Tertiary andesitic 

Pierce. volcanic rocks; clay minerals 

accompany the alunite in much of 

the rock.

Wyo., Sweet- R Alunitized tuffaceous siltstone exWater, posed in bottom of trench excavated in Tertiary terrestrial 

sediments 20 km southeast of 

Rock Springs.

Tex., Wilson R ? Alunite in "decomposed trachyte" in 

8-hectare area 48 km southeast of 

San Antonio.

Tex., Fannin, S White natroalunite nodules along 

Grayson, unconformity between Cretaceous 

Denton, Woodbine Formation and overlying 

Tarrant, Eagle Ford Group, exposed interJohnson, mittently in roadcuts and outcrops 

over a 5-County area, ranging 215 

km from northeast to southwest. 

However, nodular layer is discontinuous and only 15-30 cm 

thick.

Hayes, 1907 90

60

20

30

Thoenen, 1941; 

Huntting, 1966; 

Livingston, 1971.

Love and 

Blackmon, 1962.

Braun, 1921

Stephenson, 

1946; Ross and 

others, 1968.

1.1 48?

Tex., Jeff Davis R

Minn., Crow 

Wing.

Alunite dispersed in hydrothermally 

altered Tertiary rhyolite-trachyte 

flows 27 km west of Ft. Davis. 

Cristobalite, kaolinite, iron oxide 

also present.

Alunitized black argillite in Rabbit 

Lake Formation of Precambrian X 

age in localities 16 km apart in 

Cuyuna North Range iron-ore 

district.

Shurtz, 1951

Schmidt, 1963

Total 252.521 ___ 1,413.6
A10 GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

UTAH 

MARYSVALE DISTRICT (PIUTE AND SEVIER COUNTIES)

"The Marys vale alunite region embraces parts of 

the Tushar Mountains, the Antelope Range, the 

Sevier River Valley, and the Sevier Plateau in the 

High Plateaus of southwest-central Utah" (Callaghan, 1938, p. 91). Alunite was first recognized in the 

Marysvale area (fig. 1, loc. 1) in 1910, and attempts 

to develop it as a commercial resource were described 

briefly by Butler and Gale (1912), Loughlin (1916), 

Phalen (1917, p. 110-113), and Callaghan (1938). 

High-grade veins on Alunite Ridge were worked 

first as a source of potassium sulfate, and the first 

shipments of this product were made in September 

1915. The impure aluminous residue was recognized 

as a potential source of aluminum, but no market 

or process to treat it economically was available. 

Operations were suspended in 1920 following World 

War I, except for desultory small-scale mining of 

vein alunite for direct-application potash fertilizer. 

At about this time, replacement bodies of alunite 

were recognized north and east of Marysvale in 

Piute County and adjoining Sevier County. Although 

lower grade than the veins on Alunite Ridge, the replacement bodies contained a much larger reserve, 

and their potential use as an ore of aluminum yielding a potassium sulfate byproduct called for their 

reassessment (Callaghan, 1938). Immediately prior 

to the entry of the United States into World War 

II, the U.S. Bureau of Mines (Thoenen, 1941) published a comprehensive summary of all domestic 

alunite resources that emphasized those at Marysvale. By then the interest in alunite was as a possible alternative to imported bauxite that would 

yield potassium sulfate as a valuable byproduct. The 

deposits at Marysvale were considered to be the most 

promising of all alunite resources in the United 

States known in 1941. Attempts at development of 

the Marysvale alunite deposits during World War II 

did riot achieve an economic breakthrough, although 

significant technological advances were, made (Fleischer, 1944). Callaghan (1973) incorporated information obtained during and since World War II in 

his excellent summary of information on the. Marysvale alunite resources.

Estimates of reserves and potential resources in 

vein deposits and in replacement deposits in the 

Marysvale district are given in tables 2 and 3, respectively.

Although more information has been published 

about the Marysvale district than about any other 

alunite district in the United States, the resource

TABLE 2.—Reserves and resources of alunite in vein deposits, 

Marysvale district, Utah

Reserves 2 

Deposit name (metric tons)

Mineral ProductsBradburn * _ 1,168,000

L & N __ __ _ _ 145,000

Sunshine-ChristmasAetna (Edna) Peak1 69,000

Total - — _ 1,382,000

Weight 

percent 

alunite 2

89.4

75

87

88

Potential 

resources 3 

(metric tons)

647,000

73,000

22,000

742,000

Weight 

percent 

alunite 3

80

70

80

79

1 Properties described as a unit by Callaghan (1973, p. 67, 75.)

2 Estimate from Thoenen (1941, p. 25). Callaghan (1973, p. 81) gave 

different tonnages (alunite content unspecified), but total is of the 

same order of magnitude as Thoenen's.

3 Estimate by author, arbitrary but conservative. None of the vein 

systems have been completely delimited by exploration. If alunitized 

wallrock were included, estimates of resources would be appreciably 

larger, but estimates of alunite content would be much lower.

TABLE 3.—Reserves and resources of alunite in replacement 

deposits, Marysvale district, Utah 1

Deposit (

Marysvale Peak ———— 

Aluminum Bar _ __ __ —

White Hills 2 _ _____

Pittsburgh ___________

White Horse - ________

Manning Creek 2 _ _____ 

Big Star __ _ ______

J and L 2 __ __ ____

Sunny Slope 2 — _______

Total _ ____ _

Reserves 

10« metric 

tons)

0.038

.38

2.88

1.985

1.0

.009

.76

.24

.04

.03

7.362

Weight 

percent 

alunite

59

52

40

42

54

50

33

43

45

50

4.^

Potential 

resources 

(10« metric 

tons)

7.2

9 

4.4

2.9

1.9 

5.7

.7 

1.3

.05

.1

.01

oo Oft

Weight 

percent 

alunite

27

20 

30

24

16 

15

40 

20

25

40

15

OQ

1 Distinction between "reserves" and "resources" is somewhat arbitrary. Estimates are from Thoenen (1941) except where otherwise 

indicated. Ore containing 30 percent alunite or less is classed here as 

a potential resource, although it was listed as a reserve by Thoenen 

(1941) or by Callaghan (1973). Some small bodies estimated to contain more than 30 percent alunite are placed in the potential-resources 

column because the ore is highly sodic or Is believed to contain a high 

percentage of clay or other deleterious matter.

2 Estimate from Callaghan (1973).

base here appears to be inadequate to support a 

major aluminum industry. More recently discovered 

deposits in Beaver County, 139 km west of Marysvale, show greater promise for commercial development.

SOUTHERN WAH WAH MOUNTAINS 

(BEAVER AND IRON COUNTIES)

The discovery in 1970 of very large replacement 

deposits in altered volcanic rocks of the southern 

Wah Wah Mountains (fig. 1, loc. 2) in Beaver Coun-
WORLD NONBAUXITE ALUMINUM RESOURCES—ALUNITE All

ty, Utah, 87 km northwest of Cedar City and 54 km 

southwest of Milf ord, dramatically enhanced the possibility of eventually developing alunite as a domestic 

source of alumina and aluminum. This discovery is 

credited to Earth Sciences, Inc., of Golden, Colo. 

Since 1971, a consortium partnership (Alumet) comprising Earth Sciences, Inc., National Steel Company, 

Pittsburgh, Pa., and South wire Company, Carrollton, Ga., has explored the deposits by extensive drilling and sampling and has operated a pilot plant,in 

Golden, Colo., to develop an economically feasible 

process for treating the alunitic rock (Walker and 

Stevens, 1974; Parkinson, 1974; Thompson, 1976).

Table 4 summarizes the resources estimated to 

exist within areas for which applications for lease 

have been submitted to the U.S. Bureau of Land 

Management by the Alumet partnership. Some areas 

in Iron County to the south also are included. The 

figures are largely inferred by the author, influenced 

by data published by Earth Sciences, Inc. (Walker 

and Stevens, 1974; Parkinson, 1974; Earth Sciences, 

Inc., 1976), and supplemented by X-ray and chemical analyses of samples taken by the author.

TABLE 4.—Reserves and resources of alunite in replacement 

deposits in southern Wah Wah Mountains district, Utah a

[NG, SX, and PV areas are shown as loc. 2 on figure 1]

Deposit

Reserves Weight

(106 metric percent

tons) alunite

Potential

resources

(106 metric

tons)

Weight 

percent 

alunite

NG, Subarea C

NG, Subarea A _ .

NG, Subarea B

NG, Subarea D _ _.

SX 2 _ ___ .

PV 2 __ ____ .

. _ 118

. __ 27

23

18

. _ 14

32

35

32

32

31

30

28

45

45

122

122

14

54

30

29

29

29

27

24

Total ______ 232 33 402 28

1 Earth Sciences, Inc. (1976, p. 5), published reserves as follows: 

136 million metric tons proven plus probable, containing 38 percent 

alunite, in area NG, Subarea C, and an additional 500 million metric 

tons of "similar" grade in the combined measured-indicated-inferred 

categories for the other properties listed above. The numbers in table 

3 are the author's estimates made by conservatively transferring 

parts of the company's published reserves into the potential-resources 

column, owing to a lack of confirming data available to the author. 

Reserve estimates are conservative; estimates of alunite content are 

more uncertain than estimates of tonnages.

2 Part of the SX area and all of the PV area are in Iron County; 

also, PV may properly be considered as an outlier of the Needle Range 

rather than of the Wah Wah Mountains.

Specific data on sample analyses, tonnage calculations, and average grade are proprietary and not 

available for publication here. Accordingly, the figures in table 4 are preliminary, subject to revision 

as more information becomes available. The figures 

in table 4 suggest that total alunite resources in the 

southern Wah Wah Mountains are at least 13 times

greater than those in the Marysvale district. The consortium hopes eventually to erect a full-scale commercial plant in Beaver County, near the deposits; 

the plant is projected to have the capacity to produce 454,000 t/yr of cell-grade alumina, 227,000 

t/yr of potassium sulfate fertilizer, and 408,000 

t/yr of sulfuric acid. The acid may be used to 

acidulate phosphate rock transported by rail from 

southeast Idaho to make phosphate fertilizers 

(Walker and Stevens, 1974; Parkinson, 1974; Earth 

Sciences, Inc., 1976; Thompson, 1976). If the average content of alunite in the resources of the 

southern Wah Wah Mountains is 35 percent (Walker 

and Stevens, 1974), production at the above rates 

would require annual throughput of 3,901,000 t of 

raw ore, or monthly mine production of 326,000 t. 

The deposits can support this rate of production for 

at least 27 years.

DEPOSITS IN OTHER AREAS

Deposits of alunitic rock having small commercial 

potential have been reported to be elsewhere in Utah. 

Stringham (1963) described alunitized zones in altered volcanic rock near White Mountain in Beaver 

County. Small patches of alunitized rock also are 

present in the southern San Francisco Mountains, 22 

km west of Milford, Beaver County (Stringham, 

1964, 1967). Sheep Rock (fig. 1, loc. 3), located 8 

km north of Beaver, comprises about 2X106 t of 

rock having an alunite content of 30 percent; the 

deposit is too small to be exploitable (Loughlin, 

1916; Thoenen, 1941, p. 27). Highly siliceous sporadically alunitized volcanic rock is present along the 

crest of an east-trending ridge, summit altitude 

2,654 m (8,708 ft), at Big Pinto Spring (fig. 1, loc. 4) 

in the Indian Peak Range, about 25 km west-southwest of the Earth Sciences, Inc., "NG" lease area. 

Although a lease application was submitted for this 

deposit (W. W. Walker, oral commun., 1977), which 

is in Beaver County adjoining the Iron County line, 

the author's samples indicate considerable kaolinite 

with sporadic relatively low-grade alunitization. A 

hill having a summit altitude of 1,861 m (6,107 ft), 

2 km northwest of Modena, Iron County (fig. 1, loc. 

5), is composed of silicified and alunitized tuff 

breccia; part of the breccia contains as much as 30 

percent alunite, but the total resource here does not 

appear to be large enough to merit development. An 

alunite vein 8 m wide and 460 m long, associated 

with halloysite in hydrothermally altered andesitic 

flowrock, has been reported at Beauty Knoll (fig. 1, 

loc. 6) in Washington County; the reserve is estimated at 454,000 t of rock containing 80 percent
A12 GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

alunite (Crawford and Buranek, 1948), but this could 

not be confirmed by the author. Levering and others 

(1949) described alunite as a local product of acid 

sulfate alteration associated with quartz, kaolinite, 

sericite, and other hypogene alteration minerals at 

the East Tintic mining district, Juab County. The 

alunite here is interesting as it relates to the zoning 

of alteration around ore deposits, but it has no 

commercial potential.

NEVADA

LINCOLN COUNTY

An area of approximately 18 km2 in T. 7 S., R. 70 

E. in the Clover Mountains (fig. 1, loc. 7), Lincoln 

County, contains altered Tertiary volcanic rocks that 

are locally alunitized; the deposits have not been 

well explored, partly because of poor accessibility. 

The content of alunite may be too low for the deposits to be considered ore. A better known alunite 

deposit is near Boyd rail siding (fig. 1, loc. 8) in 

Rainbow Canyon, 22 km south of Caliente (Callaghan, in Hewett and others, 1936, p. 145-146). 

Thoenen (1941, p. 19) reported reserves in two 

lenticular bodies, one of 43,000 t averaging 29.3 percent alunite, another of 289,000 t averaging 21.5 

percent alunite. The Boyd deposit is too small and 

low grade to merit development.

CLARK COUNTY

The Railroad Pass alunite deposit (fig. 1, loc. 9) 

is 6.4 km west-northwest of Boulder City, Clark 

County, on the northeast side of U.S. Highway 93. 

Alunite-bearing altered volcanic rock here was investigated as a possible source of potassium sulfate 

in World War I (Phalen, 1917; Hewett and others, 

1936) and of alumina in World War II (L. S. Gardner, unpub. data, 1944), but the reserve is too small 

and grade is too low to merit development as is 

shown in table 1.

ESMERALDA COUNTY

F. L. Ransome (1907, 1909) first recognized alunite associated with gold-bearing veins at Goldfield, 

Esmeralda County, but did not consider it to be a 

minable resource. Roger Ashley (written commun., 

1974) has tentatively estimated a potential resource 

of 153 X106 t of rock containing as much as 10 percent of alunite in the principal mined altered area 

east of the town of Goldfield (fig. 1, loc. 10; the symbol indicates the entire Goldfield district, which here 

includes not only the main mined area, but also the

"CTR" and "MTZ" lease applications of Earth 

Sciences, Inc., and its partners; see table 1 and description below). Although small local masses containing 20 percent alunite may be present within the 

main mined area at Goldfield, large uniform bodies 

of alunitized rock minable by open pit are not 

present.

Other areas 16 km south of Goldfield near the old 

Cuprite camp may be a little more promising, including the "CTR" lease applications (fig. 1, loc. 10). 

There are two areas of alunitized volcanic rock, one 

area about 1.5 km west of U.S. Highway 95, the 

second and larger area a like distance east of the 

highway. Patches of rock in the west area contain 

30 percent alunite, but strong silicification and local 

zones containing dispersed native sulfur dilute the 

alunitized body. The east area is about 3 km northsouth by 1.5 km east-west, more than twice as large 

as the west area, but, except for small local patches, 

the rock contains appreciably less alunite than the 

west area. Much of the rock has been completely 

silicified to what Russian geologists call "secondary 

quartzite." Microcrystalline quartz is the principal 

component; in many specimens it constitutes 90 percent of the whole rock. Opaline cristobalite is a common constituent in some places, and the alteration 

pattern may be more complex than shown by Abrams 

and others (1977, fig. 1A). Localized alunite-bearing 

zones are irregularly distributed within this area of 

intensively hydrothermally altered and silicified 

pyroclastics of Miocene age (Abrams and others, 

1977; J. A. Crowley, written commun., 1977). Although the total resource of alunitized rock may be 

considerable, much of it is low grade, intermixed 

with microquartz and opaline cristobalite; the latter 

is an undesirable constituent. The author infers a 

potential resource of 100 XlO6 t of rock containing 

22 percent alunite in the combined east and west 

"CTR" areas, but more data are needed.

A similar area of hydrothermally altered partially 

alunitized volcanic rocks is 6.4 km west of Goldfield on the east flank of the Montezuma Range (fig. 

1, loc. 10, "MTZ" lease application). Sampling by J. 

A. Crowley of the U.S.G.S. (written commun., 1977) 

indicates that average, alunite content is well below 

30 percent. Alunite distribution is spotty, and deleterious constituents such as clay, mica, and cristobalite are. present in much of the rock. A potential 

resource of 60 X106 1 having an average alunite content of 20 percent is inferred by the author for the 

"MTZ" area, but this estimate, like that for the 

"CTR" area, is vexy tentative.

Alunitic rock has been reported to be in a poorly
WORLD NONBAUXITE ALUMINUM RESOURCES—ALUNITE A13

accessible part of the Monte Cristo Range (fig. 1, 

loc. 11) in northern Esmeralda County (W. W. 

Walker, oral commun., 1974). Information on resource potential is not available.

The old Fish Lake Valley mercury-mining district 

in the extreme western corner of Esmeralda County, 

near Boundary Peak (fig. 1, loc. 12), contains "opalite" rock having a fairly high content of alunite in 

some places (Bailey and Phoenix, 1944, p. 66-75; 

J. A. Crowley, written commun., 1977). Opalite at 

the old B and B mine (fig. 1, loc. 12) is a very fine 

grained porcelaneous "opalitized" and alunitized 

welded rhyolite tuff, glaring white where exposed, 

although hand specimens may show a faint reddish 

or purplish mottling from iron oxide. Tiny flecks of 

red cinnabar are very sparse, and the average content of mercury must have been low because miningretorting operations evidently were not very profitable (Bailey and Phoenix, 1944, p. 67). The highest 

Hg content of any specimen collected by the author 

was 28 parts per million. The vitric volcanic dust 

matrix has been replaced by very fine grained milky 

opaline cristobalite and alunite. Some tiny ash particles and crystal fragments have been partially replaced by very fine grained mosaics of alunite; 

kaolinite is an abundant constituent in some of the 

rock. Alunite is a major constituent locally, but the 

abundant opaline cristobalite would be detrimental 

to any caustic leach process used in the extraction of 

alumina. No estimate of alunite resources has been 

made.

MINERAL COUNTY

Thin veins of alunite are found at the old Gold 

Pen mine in the Bovard district, Mineral County 

(fig. 1, loc. 13), 53 km northeast of Hawthorne 

(Schrader, 1913) but are too small to constitute a 

resource, as are similar alunite deposits in the old 

Rawhide district (Thoenen, 1941, p. 19; Archbold, 

1966, p. 30). Alunitized tuff and granite are reported 

to be in the Gabbs Valley Range (fig. 1, loc. 14), 16 

km northwest of Luning (Miles Silberman, written 

commun., 1974; F. M. Byers, Jr., oral commun., 

1976). Resources here could be large, but the alunite 

content appears to be less than 30 percent (J. A. 

Crowley, written commun., 1977).

Alunitized rhyolite tuff of Tertiary age is present 

on a southwest-facing slope about 4.4 km southsouthwest of Corey Peak (fig. 1, loc. 15) and 16 km 

southwest of Hawthorne (Archbold, 1966, p. 30). The 

white powdery material exposed in an 18-m-long 

trench contains 60 percent alunite, but the altered

zone appears to be local and shallow, too small to 

justify development.

Locally alunitized Tertiary volcanic rock has been 

found in an 800-hectare tract in western Mineral 

County, about 0.4 km south of the Lyon County line 

and 3.2 km northeast of the California-Nevada State 

line (fig. 1, loc. 16; this location also includes adjoining alunitized ground in Lyon County, described 

below). Several samples taken in the area by the 

author and by J. A. Crowley (written commun., 

1977) suggest that the rock contains too little alunite 

to be considered as a potential source of aluminum.

LYON COUNTY

Immediately north of the above-mentioned Mineral County tract is an adjoining hilly area of similar 

altered volcanic rocks in Lyon County, between the 

county line and the East Walker River, south and 

east of a sharp bend in the river called The Elbow 

(fig. 1, loc. 16). Alunitization is sporadic and generally low grade; thus, the resource potential cannot 

be considered great, although several samples containing 40 percent or more of alunite have been reported (J. A. Crowley, written commun., 1977). 

Some of the more strongly alunitized rock in this 

district forms a ridge at an altitude of 1,830 m 

(6,000 ft), in the north half of sec. 29, T. 7 N., R. 27 

E. about 1.5 km northeast of the Flying M (or 

Ravenal) ranch. Parts of this body contain 30 percent or more of alunite and natroalunite, but natrojarosite and cristobalite also are common constituents, vitiating its resource potential. The author 

tentatively infers a potential resource in this district 

of 40 x 106 1 of rock having an average alunite content of 20 percent.

HUMBOLDT COUNTY

Alunite veins in altered Tertiary volcanic rocks 

are found near Sulphur, Humboldt County (fig. 1, 

loc. 17), 91 km west of Winnemucca (Clark, 1918; 

L. S. Gardner, unpub. data, 1944). Although native 

sulfur had been mined intermittently since 1875, 

alunite was mined only briefly in 1917 when 450 t 

of vein alunite was shipped to California, presumably 

for direct-application potash fertilizer (Vanderburg, 

1938, p. 44). Total reserve of alunite in veins is estimated by L. S. Gardner (unpub. data, 1944) to be 

212,000 t. The wallrock is too weakly alunitized to 

constitute a significant resource.

Alunite also is an alteration mineral at the 

Cordero-McDermitt mercury district near the Oregon-Nevada State line but does not constitute a resource (E. E. Foord, oral commun., 1977).
A14 GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

DEPOSITS IN OTHER AREAS

Alunite is found at various other localities in 

Nevada: in Washoe County, it is an incidental alteration mineral at Steamboat Springs (Schoen, White, 

and Hemley, 1974) and is present in altered 

Tertiary rhyolite in the Pah Rah Range near the 

south end of Pyramid Lake (Charles Bauer, oral 

commun., 1974) ; in Storey County, alunite is in 

hydrothermally altered andesitic tuff and breccia at 

the Virginia City district (Whitebread, 1976, p. 14- 

20) ; in Nye County, it is at Chicken Hawk Hill, 35 

km east of Goldfield (Thoenen, 1941, p. 16), and in 

bleached rhyolitic tuff 11 km east of Beatty (fig. 1, 

loc. 18). Alunitization east of Beatty may be extensive, but the alunite content probably is not more 

than 17 percent, and cristobalite also is abundant, 

at least locally. Knopf (1916, p. 68) mentioned 

"complete silicification and alunitization in belts 

hundreds of yards long and as much as 200 feet 

[60 m] wide." The presence of sporadic low-grade 

mercury mineralization in these intensely altered 

Tertiary rhyolitic tuffs and flows (Knopf, 1916; 

Bailey and Phoenix, 1944, p. 143) is reminiscent of 

the Fish Lake Valley district in western Esmeralda 

County.

Alunite deposits in Nevada are numerous and 

varied, but none appear to equal those in the 

southern Wah Wah Mountains of Beaver County, 

Utah. Nevertheless, southern Nevada may be considered second only to southwest Utah in aluniteresource potential.

ARIZONA

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY

The most promising deposit of alunite in Arizona 

is within a 970-hectare area covering the greater 

part of Red Mountain (fig. 1, loc. 19), 5 km southsoutheast of Patagonia in Santa Cruz County. The 

summit (1,942 m) and upper slopes have been 

explored by means of shallow percussion drillholes 

to depths of 45 to 60 m (W. W. Walker, oral commun., 1975). Red Mountain also has been explored 

by means of much deeper diamond drillholes for 

porphyry-type copper mineralization which underlies the alunitized summit (Corn, 1975). The mountain is a complex assemblage of flows, tuffs, tuffbreccias, and intrusive porphyries of rhyoliticlatitic to andesitic composition and of early Tertiary 

(Paleocene?) age. The assemblage has been strongly 

hydrothermally altered in a zoned pattern (Corn,

1975). Alunitization is pervasive, and alunite content is claimed to be 30 percent in the explored 

upper part of the mountain mass (W. W. Walker, 

oral commun., 1976). However, random spot sampling by the author suggests that overall alunite content may be closer to 25 percent. Moreover, appreciable amounts of sericite, kaolinite, and pyrophyllite 

are present in much of the alunite-bearing rock; 

these phyllosilicates are undesirable in the alumina 

extraction process. Surficial sampling of the Red 

Mountain area by Crowley also did not confirm the 

30-percent-alunite figure; he estimated about 20 

percent alunite for the west slope, and a lower alunite 

content (10 percent?) in other parts of the mountain 

(J. A. Crowley, U.S.G.S, written commun., 1977). 

Corn said "alunite content seldom amounts to more 

than 10 to 15 percent of the altered rock" (Corn, 

1975, p. 1442). Although there is uncertainty about 

the average alunite content, the tonnage of available 

alunite rock may be estimated conservatively at 

200 XlO6 t.

Alunitized rock adjacent to sulfide veins was reported long ago at the old 3-R copper mine and elsewhere in the Patagonia mining district south of 

Red Mountain (Schrader, 1913, 1915). An elongate 

zone of alunitic alteration about 5 km long and 1 

km wide has been mapped by Simons (1974) in the 

Patagonia Mountains, but the zone contains much 

less alunite and the alteration is more heterogeneous 

than at Red Mountain.

An extensive area about 4 km northeast of Red 

Mountain on the northeast side of Harshaw Creek, 

encompassing Kunde Mountain, North Saddle Mountain, and Saddle Mountain, also contains zones of 

alunitic rock (W. W. Walker, oral commun., 1975). 

J. A. Crowley (written commun., 1977) considered 

Kunde Mountain to hold a prospective alunite orebody, but further exploration would be required to 

confirm this.

YUMA COUNTY

Alunite (or natroalunite) veins 1-25 cm wide 

are present as irregular stockworks in sheared altered dacite at Sugarloaf Peak (fig. 1, loc. 20) in 

Yuma County, 8 km west-southwest of Quartzsite 

(Heineman, 1935; Thoenen, 1941, p. 11; L. S. Gardner, unpub. data, 1942). The reserve in veins is 

estimated at 232,000 t averaging 55 percent alunite 

(Thoenen, 1941, p. 11). The veins alone are not 

minable, and the wallrock is sericitized rather than 

alunitized; therefore, the Sugarloaf Peak deposit is 

an unlikely alunite resource.
WORLD NONBAUXITE ALUMINUM RESOURCES—ALUNITE A15

DEPOSITS IN OTHER AREAS

Tertiary rhyolite has been partially alunitized 

and kaolinized in a ISO-hectare area, 16 km south of 

Wickenburg along the margins of the Hassayampa 

River Valley in Maricopa County (fig. 1, loc. 21); 

however, only a little kaolinite has been mined 

(Sheridan and Royse, 1970). This deposit evidently 

has little commercial potential.

Alunite is a minor accessory alteration mineral in 

porphyry copper deposits in Pima, Final, Greenlee, 

and Graham Counties, Ariz. At least part of the 

alunite in these deposits may be supergene. Although not itself an economic resource in this association, alunite may be significant as a "guide" 

mineral in porphyry-copper districts as well as in 

other metalliferous districts.

COLORADO

HINSDALE COUNTY

The most promising deposit of alunite so far 

recognized in Colorado is at Red Mountain (fig. 1, 

loc. 22) in Hinsdale County, 5 km south-southwest 

of Lake City. Red Mountain is a volcanic neck or 

vent composed of quartz latite of Miocene age 

(Steven and others, 1974); it has been strongly 

hydrothermally altered and alunitized above an altitude of 3,700 m (summit is at 3,909 m). Average 

alunite content is estimated by the author to be at 

least 30 percent, and a resource estimate of 250 

million metric tons is conservative. A representative 

of Earth Sciences, Inc., has been quoted as stating 

that the Red Mountain deposit may hold two billion 

tons containing 35-40 percent alunite (Lyle, 1977); 

however, without confirming data, the author prefers to list his own more, conservative figures in 

table 1. If alunite ever is mined commercially in 

Colorado, Red Mountain appears to be a likely site 

for development.

Quartz-alunite rock is reported as part of the 

alteration assemblage at the old Carson mining 

camp, 13 km south of Red Mountain, and in altered 

andesite at Slumgullion Gulch, 8 km east of Red 

Mountain (Larsen, 1913, p. 181); however, the rock 

at these localities has been more strongly kaolinized 

and sericitized than alunitized, except very locally. 

Similar deposits of alunite in quartz-rich alteration 

zones are reported at the head of the Middle Fork 

of the Piedra River near the Mineral County 

boundary (Larsen, 1913), but accessibility is poor 

in this rugged terrain, and little is known of the 

deposits here.

RIO GRANDE COUNTY

The Marble Mountain alunite deposit (fig. 1, 

loc. 23) in Rio Grande County occupies a broad 

ridge at an altitude of 3,600 m, 5 km north of the 

old Jasper mining camp. The deposit is a finegrained mixture of quartz (63 percent) and alunite 

(37 percent) that has metasomatically replaced 

andesitic tuff and breccia of Tertiary (Oligocene?) 

age. The surface, of the ridge is covered by coarse 

talus slabs of alunitized rock. Minor amounts of 

cristobalite and kaolinite also are present locally, 

and iron oxide imparts a light purplish tint to some 

of the. rock. L. S. Gardner (unpub. data, 1943) estimated a total reserve of 5.2 million metric tons containing about 37 percent alunite. The grade at 

Marble, Mountain is satisfactory, but the reserve 

is small.

Alunite occurs sporadically in local alteration 

zones associated with metalliferous veins in the 

Summitville district, southwestern Rio Grande 

County, 12 km west-southwest of Marble Mountain, 

but individual alunite bodies are small and scattered 

(Steven and Ratte, 1960, pi. 3).

CUSTER COUNTY

Alunite in the Rosita Hills (fig. 1, loc. 24), 10 

km east-southeast of the twin towns of WestcliffeSilver Cliff, was reported first by Whitman Cross 

(1891, 1896). The deposits are at Mount Robinson 

and Democrat Hill, volcanic vents about 2 km apart, 

through which rhyolitic tuff and ignimbrite were 

erupted, followed by hydrothermal fluids and solfataric gases that alunitized rock in and around the 

vents (Cross, 1896, p. 302, 314-319). L. S. Gardner 

(unpub. data, 1943) estimated that the two deposits 

together contained 2.7 XlO6 1 having an average alunite content of 15 percent, too small and low grade 

to be considered for development.

DOLORES COUNTY

Alunite at Calico Peak (fig. 1, loc. 25) in Dolores 

County, 5 km west-northwest of Rico, was reported 

first by Cross and Spencer (1900). The summit 

(altitude 3,666 m) and upper part of the mountain 

are covered with coarse talus blocks pigmented by 

iron oxide to variegated hues of yellow and red that 

give the peak its name. The peak is a volcanic plug 

composed of Tertiary latite porphyry (Pratt, McKnight, and DeHon, 1969; Serna-Isaza, 1971) that 

has been hydrothermally altered to a fine-grained 

aggregate of quartz, muscovite, kaolinite, and alunite, and sporadic minor pyrophyllite. Alunite-rich
A16 GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

parts of the mountain are small and localized. 

Thoenen (1941, p. 15) estimated a reserve of 5.4 X 

106 t containing 17 percent alunite; L. S. Gardner 

(unpub. data, 1943) estimated a total reserve of 

about 2 X106 1 containing 17 percent alunite; in addition to Gardner's estimate, the author estimates a 

further "potential" resource of 9X106 t containing 

15 percent alunite. The author's estimate and Gardner's reserve estimate are both shown in table 1 (loc. 

25) under potential resources because Gardner's 

"reserve" is too low grade to be classed as a true 

reserve. Thoenen's estimate is not listed in table 1.

DEPOSITS IN OTHER AREAS

Alunite occurs sporadically in solfatarically and 

hydrothermally altered rhyolite around volcanic 

vents above Alum Creek (fig. 1, loc. 26), adjacent to 

the Rio Grande County boundary, 5 km northwest 

of Platoro in northern Conejos County (Calkin, 

1967). A minable alunite body has not been proven, 

although the Alum Creek area has been investigated 

by several mining companies as a porphyry copper 

prospect.

Altered Tertiary volcanic rocks of the Red Mountains (Nos. 1, 2, and 3), 10 km north of Silverton, 

locally contain appreciable amounts of alunite (Cross, 

Howe, and Irving, 1907; Burbank and Luedke, 1964; 

Leedy, 1971). Most of the altered area is in southern 

Ouray County, but some of the area overlaps into 

adjoining northern San Juan County. Finely crystalline sodic alunite in local pockets and seams was reported at the old National Belle mine near the west 

base of Red Mountain No. 3 (Hurlburt, 1894). However, none of these deposits appear to represent a 

minable resource.

Alunite also is reported to be in several localities 

in Saguache County (Burbank, 1932; Eckel, 1961, 

p. 41-42; Ratte, 1964) and to be a minor accessory 

vein or wallrock alteration mineral at Cripple Creek 

in Teller County and at Red Cliff in Eagle County 

(Ratte, 1964, p. 157; Eckel, 1961, p. 41-42).

Although deposits of alunite-bearing rock are in 

Colorado, only the deposit at Red Mountain, 5 km 

south of Lake City in Hinsdale County, is known to 

have commercial potential. However, calderas of the 

San Juan Mountains are likely sites for additional 

exploration.

NEW MEXICO

GRANT COUNTY

Local secondary crusts of alunogen and halotrichite are present on "alum rock" in a 260-hectare

area encompassing the north slope of Alum Mountain 

and both sides of Alum Canyon (fig. 1, loc. 27) in 

Grant County, N. Mex., 56 km north of Silver City 

via New Mexico State Road 15 (Hayes, 1907). The 

alums are of mineralogical interest only, but the 

"alum rock" described by Hayes forms a large body, 

probably at least 90 million metric tons, consisting 

mainly of microquartz, sodic alunite, kaolinite, and 

minor iron oxide. Local zones contain 30 percent 

alunite and have quartz as the other major constituent, but elsewhere the rock composition is 

variable, and the kaolinite content is equal to or 

greater than the alunite content. Commercial potential of the deposit has not been evaluated.

Alunitized rhyodacitic flows, tuff, and breccia of 

probable Late Cretaceous age cover an area of roughly 200 hectares on Saddleback Mountain (fig. 1, loc. 

28) at the northwest end of the old Steeple Rock 

mining district in western Grant County, adjacent 

to the Arizona boundary. Duncan, Ariz., the nearest 

population center, is 20 km south-southwest of the 

alunitized area. Commercial potential of this deposit 

also is undetermined, but alunite is a major constituent, 30 percent or more in much of the rock, and 

a potential resource of 60X106 is a conservative 

estimate. Saddleback Mountain may be the most 

promising among all the alunite deposits recognized 

to date in New Mexico.

SIERRA COUNTY

Alunitized Tertiary volcanic rock is reported in a 

several square-kilometer area at Juan Peak (fig. 1, 

loc. 29) in Sierra County, N. Mex., 10 km northwest 

of the small settlement of Monticello and 43 km 

northwest of Truth or Consequences (W. W. Walker, 

oral commun., 1977). Spot samples taken by the 

author at the summit and on the southern and 

eastern slopes of Juan Peak show that alunite-rich 

rock is restricted to the summit area. Alunite content ranges from about 10 to a little more than 30 

percent; kaolinite (dickite?) and jarosite are locally 

abundant associates of the alunite. Accordingly, the 

Juan Peak deposit is not considered to be a favorable 

prospect, but data are insufficient for an adequate 

evaluation.

Alunite also is found in the Black Range Wilderness, northwestern Sierra County, as a minor alteration mineral in bleached Tertiary rhyolite that has 

been hydrothermally altered to a fine-grained mixture consisting mainly of kaolinite and cristobalite. 

The deposit, which is on the Continental Divide, is 

accessible by New Mexico State Road 59 and is 

approximately 95 km west-northwest of Truth or
WORLD NONBAUXITE ALUMINUM RESOURCES—ALUNITE A17

Consequences. The material has been test-marketed 

as paper-filler clay and also as animal-litter clay, but 

no permanent operation ensued. Alunite content is 

generally low, averaging perhaps no more than 8 

percent, but the deposit is significant as evidence of 

alunitization in this part of the State (G. S. Austin, 

New Mexico Bur. Mines and Min. Resources, oral 

commun., 1975). One sample from the main clay 

pit, now idle, contained an estimated 35 percent of 

alunite, about 37 percent of cristobalite, and 28 percent of kaolinite. Even if the greater part of the 

deposit contained this amount of alunite, it would not 

be a satisfactory aluminum ore because of the high 

content of cristobalite and kaolinite.

LUNA COUNTY

Alunitized volcanic rock of Tertiary age is in a 

15-hectare area of low rounded hills near the mouth 

of Rattlesnake Canyon (fig. 1, loc. 30) on the east 

flank of the Cooke Range, about 14 km northwest of 

Florida rail siding (W. W. Walker, oral commun., 

1975). Sampling by the author indicated that the 

rock, which is a hydrothermally altered lithic tuff, 

is. more kaolinized than alunitized; the deposit, therefore, cannot be considered as a promising commercial 

prospect. Judging by X-ray diffraction patterns, the 

kaolin mineral probably is dickite; very well ordered 

kaolinite or a mixture of kaolinite and dickite are 

alternative possibilities. A small amount of jarosite 

accompanies the alunite locally.

DEPOSITS IN OTHER AREAS

Abundant alunite associated with halloysite is reported as being in lower Tertiary volcanic wallrock 

adjacent to gold-bearing veins in the Cochiti-Bland 

district near the southeast margin of the Jemez 

Mountains in eastern Sandoval County (Bundy, 1958, 

p. 39). Alunite, cristobalite, and lesser kaolinite and 

quartz were identified by the author in an X-ray 

powder diffraction pattern of a sample of altered 

rhyolite of Quaternary (Pleistocene?) age, 200 m 

south of Sulphur Hot Springs near the western 

margin of Valles caldera, Jemez Mountains, northeastern Sandoval County. The Jemez Mountains 

volcanic complex may contain several alunitic zones 

having dubious commercial potential.

Alunite veinlets are in altered granodiorite porphyry at the Santa Rita open-pit copper mine, Grant 

County (Kerr and others, 1950). Similar veins of 

alunite are reported in altered quartz monzonite 

porphyry at the Tyrone open-pit copper mine, southwest of Silver City (Kolessar, 1970, p. 131). Although not a resource, the alunite in the porphyry 

copper deposits of Grant County may be significant 

as a "guide" mineral in porphyry-copper type mineralization, as previously mentioned for Arizona. The 

Red Mountain deposit near Patagonia in Santa 

Cruz, Ariz. (fig. 1, loc. 19), is a good example of this 

relationship. Also, it is interesting to note that the 

Morenci open-pit copper mine in Greenlee County, 

Ariz., can readily be seen from the alunite deposit on 

the summit of Saddleback Mountain (fig. 1, loc. 28) 

in Grant County, N. Mex., 30 km southeast of the 

Morenci mine.

WASHINGTON

Alunite is found in altered andesitic flows, tuff, 

and breccia of Tertiary age, 13 km east of Enumclaw, 

Wash. (fig. 1, loc. 31). The deposits are along the 

valley of the White River, which forms the boundary 

between King and Pierce Counties, and were explored during World War II by pitting, trenching, 

and drilling. Four discrete bodies were recognized, 

the largest estimated to contain 5.4X105 t; the 

total reserve is estimated at about l.lxlO6 t 

(Thoenen, 1941, p. 35; Huntting, 1966; Livingston, 

1971, p. 36). Thoenen (1941, p. 35) reported alunite 

contents ranging from 35 to 77 percent; however, 

Kelly, Strandberg, and Mueller (1956, p. 32) reported 

alunite contents ranging from 21.4 to 30 percent. 

Much clay and silica are said to accompany the 

alunite in the altered andesitic volcanic rocks. The 

Enumclaw deposits are not a likely resource.

CALIFORNIA

Known deposits of alunite in California are mainly of mineralogical or scientific interest and have 

small commercial potential. The deposits include 

alunite: (1) associated with pyrophyllite on a silicacapped hill at Tres Cerritos, 42 km southwest of 

Mariposa in Mariposa County (Turner, 1898); (2) 

as a minor accessory with andalusite in f elsic metavolcanic rocks of probable Permian or Mesozoic age, 

White Mountain, Mono County (Kerr, 1932; Crowder 

and Sheridan, 1972) ; (3) as an incidental accessory 

in kaolinite formed by hydrothermal alteration of 

Pliocene and Pleistocene volcanic rocks in Little 

Antelope Valley, Mono County (Cleveland, 1962); 

and (4) in altered volcanic rocks near the old goldmining camp of Masonic, also in Mono County 

(J. A. Crowley, written commun., 1977). This locality 

is near the Nevada State line, about 6 km southsouthwest of the Lyon-Mineral County deposits 

(fig. 1, loc. 16), described previously for Nevada.
A18 GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

Other deposits include alunite (5) in altered volcanic 

rocks at Trinity Peak near Glen Ellen, Sonoma 

County; (6) as thin white veins associated with an 

assortment of hypogene alteration minerals at the 

Geysers, Sonoma County (Vonsen, 1947) ; (7) at 

Sulphur Creek, Colusa County (California Div. 

Mines, 1950, p. 237) ; and (8) in veins in altered 

rock around the old Winkler mine at Middle Butte 

near Mojave, Kern County. Sampling by J. A. 

Crowley of U.S.G.S. (written commun., 1977) 

demonstrates that alunite is fairly widespread in 

the Middle Butte area; natroalunite is abundant in 

at least one locality. Some of Crowley's samples, 

presumably of vein matter, contain 98 percent alunite 

(J. A. Crowley, written commun., 1977). Alunite 

is also present (9) as a local minor constituent in 

altered rhyolitic volcanic rocks at Soledad Mountain, 

also in Kern County, 8 km east of Middle Butte 

(J. A. Crowley, written commun., 1977); (10) associated with cinnabar, opal, and other hypogene alteration minerals in the Coso geothermal area, southern 

Inyo County (Austin and Pringle, 1970) ; and (11) 

as an "almost ubiquitous" minor alteration mineral 

in volcanic rocks at Lassen Volcanic National Park, 

Shasta County (Anderson, 1935, p. 242). Probably 

other alunite deposits are in California. For the 

present, alunite resources in California can be classified only as speculative.

WYOMING

A curious 1-m-thick bed or lens of alunitic "claystone" is exposed along the bottom of a 9-m-deep 

bulldozed trench cut in a sequence, 100 m or more 

thick, of Tertiary terrestrial sediments (fig. 1, loc. 

32), 20 km south-southeast of Rock Springs, Sweetwater County, Wyo. (Love and Blackmon, 1962). 

The thin white alunite-bearing layer or lens was discovered while holes were being drilled for natural 

gas near the base of Quaking Asp (Aspen) Mountain (E. R. Keller, oral commun., 1974). Origin of 

the alunite is enigmatic. The lens evidently has no 

great lateral extent and so appears to have negligible 

commercial potential (Clair Adams, oral commun., 

1974). No other deposit of alunite has been reported in the State except minor solfatara and hotspring deposits in Yellowstone National Park (Alien 

and Day, 1935; Raymahashay, 1968).

TEXAS

Several alunite deposits have been reported to be 

in Texas, but none are known to have commercial potential. Alunite is said to be present in "decomposed

trachyte" (Braun, 1921) in Wilson County (fig. 1, 

loc. 33), 48 km southeast of San Antonio. One sample 

supposedly typical of an 8-hectare area was reported to contain 93 percent alunite and 2.7 percent 

silica (Braun, 1921).

White natroalunite nodules are in a limonitic 

sandy matrix along the disconformable contact between the Woodbine Formation and overlying Eagle 

Ford Group, both of Late Cretaceous age. The 

nodules have been observed in outcrops and roadcuts 

in north-central Texas (fig. 1, loc. 34) from Fannin 

and Grayson Counties south of the Red River, 

through Tarrant and Denton Counties, to Johnson 

County southwest of Dallas, a total distance of 215 

km (Stephenson, 1946, p. 1764; Ross and others, 

1968, p. 1156). Although widespread geographically, 

the nodule layer is less than 30 cm thick through 

most of its extent and so does not represent an 

economically exploitable resource. The origin of the 

natroalunite nodules is uncertain but probably they 

are supergenic; they may have formed through the 

action of sulfuric acid derived from the oxidation 

of pyrite disseminated in clay or shale, in general 

accordance with the model suggested by Keller, 

Gentile, and Reesman (1967) to explain sodic alunite nodules in shale in Bates County, Mo.

Alunite is dispersed with opaline cristobalite, 

kaolinite, quartz, and iron oxide in hydrothermally 

altered Tertiary rhyolite-trachyte flows (fig. 1, loc. 

35) at Medley, 27 km west of Ft. Davis, Jeff Davis 

County (Shurtz, 1951). Alunite content ranges from 

0 to 30 percent (Shurtz, 1951, p. 62) ; the average 

alunite content is too low for the flows to be of commercial interest. Similar altered volcanic rocks in 

west Texas might be more promising.

DEPOSITS IN OTHER STATES

MINNESOTA

Alunite is reported to be in the Cuyuna North 

Range (fig. 1, loc. 36) in Crow Wing County, Minn., 

as a local constituent in black argillite of the Rabbit Lake Formation of Precambrian X age, in 

localities as far apart as 16 km (Schmidt, 1963, p. 

27; oral commun., 1976). Information on the alunite 

content is inconclusive, and no estimate has been 

made of the potential resource. Origin is enigmatic, 

but the alunite may have been formed by sulfuric 

acid, derived from oxidation of pyrite disseminated 

in the argillite, locally converting the argillite to 

alunite (Schmidt, 1963, p. 27). It is unclear whether 

the oxidation of pyrite and resulting partial alunitization of argillite took place during or after the Pre-
WORLD NONBAUXITE ALUMINUM RESOURCES—ALUNITE A19

cambrian Era. Alunite in the Cuyuna North Range 

presently is classified as a highly speculative resource, possibly deserving a closer look if alunitic 

rock becomes a proven economic source of aluminum 

in the United States.

ARKANSAS

Nodules, first thought to be a newly discovered 

variety of kaolin (Brackett and Williams, 1891) and 

later shown to be a mixture of halloysite and alunite 

(Foshag, 1926; Ross and Kerr, 1934, p. 138-139), 

are imbedded in clayey shale of Mississippian(?) 

age in Sneed's Creek, Newton County, Ark. Evidently the nodules are only of mineralogical interest.

•

KANSAS

Oblate spheroidal nodules of white alunite are in 

Graneros Shale (Lower and Upper Cretaceous) at 

two localities in Ellsworth County, and at one locality in Lincoln County, central Kansas (Hattin, 

1965, p. 17). The nodules probably were formed as a 

diagenetic alteration of clay-shale beds that were 

attacked by ground water containing local concentrations of sulfuric acid produced by oxidation of finegrained iron sulfide, which is widely disseminated in 

the Graneros Shale (Hattin, 1965, p. 63-64). These 

nodules have no commercial potential, judging from 

the brief published description.

MISSOURI

Small white nodules of sodic alunite associated 

with allophane are found locally in a 1- to 2-cmthick seam parallel to bedding in Pennsylvanian-age 

shale in Bates County, Mo. (Keller, Gentile, and 

Reesman, 1967). These nodules are of no importance 

as a resource, but the mechanism postulated to 

explain their origin (Keller, Gentile, and Reesman, 

1967) may be applicable (with modification) to 

similar deposits of nodular alunite in sedimentary 

rock observed elsewhere.

INDIANA

Very minor amounts of alunite are found in 

lenses of endellite (hydrated form of halloysite— 

material from this locality also has been called 

"indianaite") along the unconformable contact between sediments of the Chesterian Series (Mississippian) and the overlying Mansfield Formation 

(Pennsylvanian), at Gardner Mine Ridge, Lawrence 

County, Ind. (Callaghan, 1948). Photomicrographs 

show that the alunite is present in two modes: (1) 

as a finely crystalline matrix in which are dispersed

shardlike particles of halloysite (Callaghan's endellite) ; (2) as tiny veinlets filling cracks in porcelainlike "indianaite" (Ross and Kerr, 1934, pi. 29). The 

endellite deposits probably were formed by ground 

water bearing sulfuric acid derived from oxidation 

of pyrite disseminated in superjacent sandstone 

(Callaghan, 1948, p. 42; Keller and others, 1966, 

p. 118-119). The alunite is an incidental accessory in 

the endellite, both minerals seemingly formed by 

the same supergenic process; alunite is not a significant resource in these deposits.

SOUTH DAKOTA

Alunite is reported as an accessory gangue mineral in low-grade gold ore in a breccia zone in 

Tertiary rhyolite-trachyte porphyry at the Rattlesnake Jack prospect, 8 km southeast of Lead in 

Lawrence County, S. Dak. Origin of the alunite is 

unclear, but its close association with unoxidized 

pyrite suggests that it is probably hypogene (Grout 

and Schwartz, 1927). The alunite here apparently 

has no commercial potential.

PENNSYLVANIA

Traces of alunite are reported in white kaolinitic 

clay in the Tomstown Formation (Cambrian) near 

Mount Holly Springs, Cumberland County, Pa. This 

is not a significant alunite resource, but the presence 

of a small amount of alunite is cited as evidence that 

hydrothermal fluids may have played a role in genesis 

of the clay, which has been used as a paper filler 

and as raw material in making light-colored bricks 

and white cement (Hosterman, 1969).

ALASKA

Akun Island, part of the Aleutian volcanic archipelago, is the site of geologically recent solfataric 

activity that has altered andesitic effusive rocks in 

a 2-hectare area to sulfur-impregnated siliceous 

material containing numerous white 1- to 4-cm-wide 

veinlets filling fissures. A sample of the hypogene 

vein matter contained 69 percent alunite, 17 percent 

dickite, 7 percent chalcedony and quartz, 5 percent 

combined pyrite and limonite, and less than 1 percent 

apatite (Byers and Earth, 1953, p. 385). Although 

not itself a significant resource, this occurrence suggests that alunitization probably is common in the 

Aleutian archipelago.

HAWAII

Natroalunite of enigmatic origin, first thought to 

be clay, was found in an area of basalt near the mid-
A20 GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

die of the desert strip of Molokai, Hawaii, 5 km from 

the ocean. One small outcrop was found, as were 

numerous pieces of white chalky natroalunite scattered over a considerable area (Laudermilk, 1935). 

Further information is lacking, but this natroalunite 

evidently is not a significant resource. One might 

suppose that the volcanic environment of Hawaii 

would favor formation of numerous deposits of 

alunite or natroalunite, but no other has been reported.

PUERTO RICO

Large deposits of quartz-alunite rock and associated kaolinite, sericite, pyrophyllite, and other 

alteration minerals are on the Cerro La Tiza highland, 25 km southwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico. 

The deposits were formed by hydrothermal alteration of basaltic andesite of Late Cretaceous or early 

Eocene age (Hildebrand and Smith, 1959; Hildebrand, 1961). Cerro La Tiza is estimated to contain 

a reserve of 1.44 X109 1 of rock having an "average" 

composition of 35 percent quartz, 20 percent sodian 

alunite, 15 percent pyrophyllite, 15 percent kaolinite 

and halloysite, and 15 percent combined sericite, 

iron oxides, and miscellaneous minor constituents 

(Hildebrand and Smith, 1959, p. 23). Composition 

of the rock seems to vary sharply within short 

distances, and the deposits do not have the zoning 

characteristic of similar hydrothermally altered 

areas observed in other parts of the world (Hildebrand and Smith, 1959, p. 23). Cerro La Tiza is a 

large but submarginal resource, not economically 

exploitable by means of present technology.

SUMMARY OF UNITED STATES RESOURCE POSITION

Although data on many known deposits outside 

of Utah are too sketchy to serve as a base for reserve estimates, a total potential resource in the 

United States of at least 2 billion metric tons of 

alunite-bearing rock probably is conservative. Average alunite content in much of this rock is not well 

established, but probably ranges between 10 and 

35 percent in most bodies. If 30 percent alunite 

(equivalent to 11 percent contained A12 03 ) is accepted 

as the minimum average grade rock that may be 

processed economically by means of present technology, a reserve of 300 million metric tons of 

alunite ore may be conservatively estimated. Table 

1 summarizes presently recognized alunite resources 

in the United States. An adequate base exists for a 

domestic alumina-from-alunite industry, providing 

that quartz-alunite rock containing at least 30 percent alunite can be used to produce alumina at a 

cost competitive with that of alumina made from 

imported bauxite. Deposits in the southern Wah 

Wah Mountains are the most promising recognized 

so far.

FOREIGN RESOURCES

NORTH AMERICA 

CANADA

Alunite-pyrophyllite deposits formed by hydrothermal alteration of dacitic tuff of Triassic to Jurassic age exist at Kyuquot Sound, northwest Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada (Clapp, 

1915). One quartz-alunite body contains an estimated 

600,000 t; a second body nearby is "much smaller" 

(Clapp, 1915, p. 76). The alunite is sodic, and alunite 

content ranges from 20 to 45 percent in the larger 

mass. One company proposed to mine the alunitic 

rock to make alum, but no operation followed. Adjacent pyrophyllitic zones were mined on a small 

scale for ceramic raw material and household cleansing powder (Clapp, 1915, p. 77-78).

A unique body of rock composed of fine granular 

quartz, specularitic hematite, and alunite in alternating thin bands is present at Hickeys Pond, southeastern Newfoundland (Howland, 1940). The specularite and alunite are presumed to have been formed 

contemporaneously along shear zones in Precambrian 

schist by a process not fully understood (Howland, 

1940, p. 41). The rock is of particular scientific but 

not economic interest.

MEXICO

Alunite has been recognized as a constituent in 

hydrothermal kaolin deposits of Mexico since the 

mid-1940's (Knizek and Fetter, 1950, p. 203). A 

nationwide investigation of alunite resources was 

undertaken in the 1950's, although a preliminary 

study in Guanajuato was begun as early as 1934 

(Yris Rovirosa, 1964). Mexican alunite deposits are 

mainly disseminated replacements containing local 

veins in hydrothermally altered Tertiary volcanic 

rocks; some are replacements in limestone adjacent 

to volcanic pipes. Deposits are in widely separated 

parts of the country so that the total resource 

probably is great, but, so far, no individual deposit 

has been demonstrated unequivocally to have commercial potential. A process to extract alumina, 

aluminum sulfate, sulfuric acid, and potassiumammonium sulfate fertilizer was developed on a 

laboratory scale at the University of Guanajuato
WORLD NONBAUXITE ALUMINUM RESOURCES—ALUNITE A21

(Parkinson, 1971; Eng. and Mining Jour., 1972, 

1975; Lopez, 1977); however, the plan to erect a 

full-scale plant at Salamanca, Guanajuato, to process 

alunitic rock from nearby deposits was suspended.

The Juventino Rosas district, 25 km northwest of 

Celaya, Guanajuato, holds a total reserve estimated 

at HOxlO6 t averaging 22.6 percent alunite (Yris 

Rovirosa, 1964, p. 52-56). Guanajuato may be the 

most promising State in Mexico for alunite resources.

Hydrothermal replacements are found in folded 

argillaceous beds of the Aurora Limestone (Lower 

Cretaceous), 58 km northwest of Torreon, Durango. 

The deposits are believed to be related to intrusions 

of rhyolite porphyry. Alunite content is 50 percent 

or more in local zones, but the estimated reserve is 

only about 7xl06 t; kaolinite, jarosite, gypsum, 

and other hypogene alteration minerals are said to 

be associated with the alunite (Yris Rovirosa, 1964, 

p. 57-62).

Additional deposits of small or unknown potential 

are reported in the States of Chihuahua, Aguascalientes, Morelos, Michoacan, Hidalgo (Yris Rovirosa, 

1964, p. 41), and Puebla (Yris Rovirosa, 1964, p. 

,65-70). Localized alunite-rich zones are in refractory 

kaolin deposits formed by volcanic pipes penetrating 

limestone in Hidalgo, Guerrero, and Zacatecas States 

(Keller and Hanson, 1968; Hanson, 1975, p. 85). 

Alunite is a minor alteration mineral accompanied 

by kaolinite, cristobalite, and traces of mercury 

near fumaroles in Sierra San Andres, 27 km north 

of Ciudad Hidalgo, Michoacan (Kesler, 1970; Hanson, 

1975, p. 85). The volcanic terranes of Mexico are a 

favorable hunting ground for alunite.

SOUTH AMERICA 

ARGENTINA

Deposits of "silicified" alunite were reported by 

Catalano and Fernandez Segura (1953) and Bertello 

(1957) as being near the small Atlantic port of 

Camarones, Chubut Province, southern Argentina. 

These authors described in detail laboratory experiments intended to demonstrate feasibility of extracting aluminum sulfate (to be used in domestic 

water-supply treatment) from the alunitic rock, but 

they gave little information about the deposits other 

than that the alunite is present in crystals 5-9 /*m 

long dispersed in an opaline silica matrix (Catalano 

and Fernandez Segura, 1953, p. 141). The reserve 

estimates range from hundreds of thousands to millions of metric tons within an area of 30,000 hectares (Bertello, 1957, p. 25). Single analyses given 

by Catalano and Fernandez Segura (1953, p. 140)

and by Bertello (1957, p. 26) are of high-grade material, but whether their samples are typical of a 

large body is not known.

According to Dr. Edmundo G. Macchiaverna of 

Aluminio Argentine (written and oral communs., 

1977), some deposits in the Camarones district contain 60 percent or more of alunite, but the available 

tonnage (20 X 106 t?) is not sufficient to support 

industrial development. The presence of kaolinite 

and cristobalite also is an unfavorable condition for 

any caustic leach process. Origin of the alunite at 

Camarones is unclear but the description of alunite 

"bochones" (boulders, nodules), ranging in length 

from 10 to 150 cm, in bentonitic tuffs of Paleocene 

age (Angelelli, Schalamuk, and Arrospide, 1976, p. 

19) suggests that they are a supergenic product of 

acid ground water.

Alunite associated with dickite, the latter having 

been mined for industrial uses, is reported at Cerro 

Bayo, Argentine Andes, near the Chilean border 

(Angelelli and others, 1976). The deposit is said to 

be zoned; a 15-m-thick layer of nearly pure porcelaneous alunite overlies the dickite-rich zone, formed 

by hydrothermal alteration of rhyolitic tuff. No firm 

information is given concerning reserves (Angelelli, 

Schalamuk, and Arrospide, 1976).

Alunite is reported as a hypogene alteration mineral at the Mi Vida copper deposit in Catamarca 

Province, northwestern Argentina (Koukharsky and 

Mirre, 1976). The alunite, accompanied by zunyite 

and quartz, is in an intensely altered Tertiary rhyolite breccia pipe above the copper orebody. The central alunite-bearing zone covers an area of about 2 

km2 , and alunite is said to be present to a depth of 

300 m below the surface (Koukharsky and Mirre, 

1976, p. 856-858); therefore, a large body of alunitized rock is indicated, but no information is given 

on alunite content. The presence of this body suggests that the Argentine Andes may contain additional alunite resources. For example, alunite is reported to be associated with pyrite, chalcedony, 

and clay minerals at El Queva mine, Cerro Queva 

district, northwest Argentina (Sillitoe, 1973, p. 

811).

BOLIVIA

Alunite is a minor accessory with sericite, quartz, 

kaolinite, pyrite, and other hypogene alteration minerals in dacite-quartz latite porphyry wallrock of 

silver-tin veins at the Potosi and Oruro mining districts, southwest Bolivia (Turneaure, 1960, p. 252- 

253; Ahlfeld and Schneider-Scherbina, 1964, p. 130).
A22 GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

CHILE

The El Salvador porphyry-copper deposit in the 

Andes of northern Chile, 110 km inland from the 

port of Chanaral, is capped by an extensive zone of 

sericitic alteration containing local alunite-rich 

zones (Gustafson and Hunt, 1975, fig. 20B). The altered cap covers nearly 2 km2 and extends to a 

depth of several hundred meters so that the total 

quantity of alunite contained within it probably is 

great. Speculative alunite resources may exist in 

the Chilean porphyry-copper belt; the association of 

alunite with native sulfur at Cerro Marquez and 

Choquelimpie in northern Chile (Sillitoe, 1973, p. 

811) lends support to this theory. Also, alunite is 

common in parts of some hydrothermal kaolin deposits in central Chile (Tabak, 1969).

PERU

Alunite exists with quartz, dickite, zunyite, pyrite, epidote, and zoisite in the intensely altered 

quartz monzonite porphyry wallrock adjacent to 

sulfide veins in the Cerro de Pasco mining district 

(Graton and Bowditch, 1936).

EUROPE 

FRANCE

The alunite deposit at Mont-Dore in the Puy-deDome region, Department of Haute Loire, 350 km 

south of Paris, France, was mined for raw materials 

to make alum during the early 19th century (Charrin, 1940, 1948). It consists of branching veins in 

altered trachyte tuff. The wallrock apparently is 

alunitized also (Charrin, 1940, p. 2), but presumably 

only the vein alunite was used to make alum at a 

plant in Clermont-Ferrand, 66 km by road northeast 

of Mont-Dore.

The deposit at Madriat, also in the Puy-de-D6me 

region, is of a different character than that at MontDore. According to Lacroix (1962, p. 141), ellipsoidal masses of alunite 2-3 m long and 1.5 m wide, 

having long axes vertical, are in a red-clay bed. The 

alunite, is "relatively homogeneous and pure" (Lacroix, 1962, p. 141), but mode of origin is not well 

understood. The material was used for alum manufacture for a time after 1876, but operations were 

abandoned in 1896 (Gautier, 1940). No reserve estimate is available, but at least some material in the 

Puy-de-D6me region is high grade.

Other occurrences, presumably of mineralogical 

interest only, are reported at Chizeuil, Department 

of Saone-et-Loire in east-central France, at Saint

Jacut, Department of Morbihan, Brittany Peninsula, 

and near Realmont, Department of Tarn, southern 

France (Caillere and Maratos, 1958; Lacroix, 1962, 

p. 141-142).

SPAIN

An alunite deposit near Riazza in Segovia Province, 

Spain, recently was investigated to determine its potential for commercial development (Kiihnel, Koster, and Roorda, 1975; R. A. Kiihnel, written communs., 1975, 1976). The alunite and associated halloysite and kaolinite apparently are products of supergene attack on pyrite-bearing Silurian shale by 

acidic ground water resulting from oxidation of the 

pyrite (Kiihnel and others, 1975). Information on 

size or alunite content of the reserve has not been 

released.

A deposit of a mineral called "galafatite" (but 

which apparently is either alunite or natroalunite) 

was reported near Benahadux, 10 km north of Almeria (Preus, 1911). Few details were given; the 

white compact mineral is said to be in veins 5-6 m 

wide. It is not clear whether Preus' "galafatite" is 

the same mineral as the "almeriite" studied by 

Hoyos de Castro and Alias (1963), which was proved 

to be identical with natroalunite. Alunitic clay and 

nodules of alunite are associated with deposits of 

native sulfur in dolomitic limestone of Triassic age 

in the Sierra de Gador district, a few kilometers west 

of Benahadux (Williams, 1936). According to Williams (1936, p. 17), alunite is "widespread" in the 

district and has been mined to make potassium 

sulfate and alum.

Alunite is a gangue mineral in gold-bearing veins 

and also in the hydrothermally altered Tertiary volcanic wallrock at Rodalquilar, near the Mediterranean coast, 40 km east-northeast of Almeria (Friedrich, 1960; Lodder, 1966). These occurrences are an 

unlikely alunite resource.

Alunite accompanied by kaolinite is near the summit of Teide Peak in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary 

Islands (Hoyos de Castro and Mata, 1958). Some of 

the material is high grade, but no estimate of the 

available reserve is available.

ITALY

The famous Tolfa district in Italy, 14 km northeast of Civitavecchia and 55 km northwest of Rome 

is, perhaps, the longest known of the world's alunite 

districts (De Launay, 1907, p. 679-686). Commencing in 1460 and for five centuries thereafter, the 

Tolfa alunite veins were a source of raw material 

for making aluminum sulfate and potash alum. The
WORLD NONBAUXITE ALUMINUM RESOURCES—ALUNITE A23

enclosing volcanic rocks, which include ignimbrites 

and rhyolitic and quartz latitic lava domes of late 

Pliocene to early Pleistocene age, have been pervasively altered (Negretti, Lombardi, and Morbidelli, 

1966; Lombardi, 1967; Lombardi and Sheppard, 

1977); however, in general, the altered volcanic 

rocks are more strongly kaolinized than alunitized. 

De Launay (1907, p. 685) mentioned "quarries of 

kaolin in the midst of quarries of alunite." The 

"Providenza" alunite vein, which supplied virtually 

all the alunite used for making alum after 1874, is 

said to have been 10 m wide in places, but it was 

not mined where less than 80 cm wide (De Launay, 

1907, p. 682). According to Lombardi, Mattias, and 

Uras (1977, p. 18), "Alunite was exploited in the 

area until very recent times. From 1462 to 1798 

some 800 workers digged [sic], processed and 

transported to Civitavecchia the alum produced 

from alunite, and this industry has been one of the 

most important revenues of the Papal State for 

many centuries. A total of over 18 million tons of 

alunite has been extracted from this area. Only a 

few hundred thousand tons of probable ore is left." 

The alunite at Tolfa is of supergene origin, according to Lombardi and his coworkers (Field and 

Lombardi, 1972; Lombardi and Sheppard, 1977), 

who base their conclusion on the similarity of sulfurisotope ratios in the alunite to the ratios in hypogene pyrite in the same area. Oxidation of primary 

pyrite is believed by them to have generated sulfuric-acid-charged water which reacted with the 

argillized host volcanic rocks to form alunite. Curiously, oxygen- and hydrogen-isotope analyses by 

Lombardi and Sheppard (1977) suggest that kaolinite and dickite, which also are alteration minerals 

in and around the alunite-bearing zones of Tolfa 

and Allumiere, were "formed in a meteoric-hydrothermal [sic] environment of acid hot spring type 

at about 80° C" (Lombardi and Sheppard, 1977, p. 

147). The sulfur-isotope ratios as interpreted by 

Field and Lombardi (1972) are thought by them 

to support De Launay's (1907) original hypothesis 

of a supergene origin for the alunite. This is in contrast to the more generally accepted hypogene 

origin for most of the alunite in very similar altered 

volcanic terranes elsewhere in the world. Even in 

other parts of Italy, alunite and associated argillic 

alteration seem to have been produced by the action 

of hydrothermal fluids and therefore are hypogene 

according to the customary definition of that term. 

For example, halloysite and minor alunite at Gradoli and Piano del Pazzo, some 54 km north of Tolfa, 

and near Civitacastellana, 55 km northeast of Tolfa,

are said to be products of hydrothermal alteration 

(Lombardi, Mattias, and Uras, 1977, p. 32-42).

Alunite associated with kaolin clays, cristobalite, 

and other alteration minerals in Pleistocene and 

possibly Holocene pyroclastic rocks is reported to 

be (1) in the Phlaegrean Fields volcanic complex 

between Naples and Pozzuoli, (2) on the island of 

Ischia 30 km southwest of Naples, and (3) on the 

west side of the island of Lipari, 35 km north of the 

Sicilian coast. Some of these materials have been 

used in past centuries for the manufacture of alum 

(Gianni Lombardi, written commun., 1977). Kaolinization rather than alunitization seems to have 

been the dominant alteration process in parts of 

Tuscany, 75-150 km northwest of the Tolfa deposits, 

but alunite is a locally abundant constituent near 

Volterra, Campiglia Marittima, Montioni Vecchio, 

and Torniella, and on Monte Argentario peninsula 

and the island of Giglio, 20 km west of Monte Argentario. Some of these deposits formerly were a minor 

source of raw material for making alum, but modern 

exploitation, apparently sporadic, has been for kaolin, not alunite (Gianni Lombardi, written commun., 

1977). Alunite is a minor alteration mineral in kaolin deposits on the island of Sardinia (Moretti and 

Pieruccini, 1969, p. 205; Lombardi, Mattias, and 

Uras, 1977, p. 3-10).

According to Gianni Lombardi (written commun., 1976), preliminary research has been undertaken to determine the feasibility of using Italian 

alunite deposits as a source of alumina and fertilizer 

products; however, commercial development seems 

unlikely at any time in the foreseeable future.

GREECE

Alunite deposits on the island of Milos, Greece, 

are reported to be under investigation for possible 

future commercial development, but details are unavailable (U.S. State Dept., unpub. data, 1976).

Alunite nodules 10-20 cm across are present along 

the unconformable contact between altered Permian 

phyllite and overlying Mesozoic limestone and dolomite, near Khania on the island of Crete (Caillere 

and Maratos, 1958). The nodules are of supergenic 

origin and of mineralogical interest only.

Alunite is a minor accessory in gray boehmitic 

pisolitic bauxite formed on Lower Cretaceous limestone in the Kiona Mountains of central Greece 

(Bardossy and Mack, 1967, p. 342). Oxidation of 

diagenetic pyrite in local parts of the bauxite generated the sulfuric acid which reacted with aluminous minerals to form the alunite (Bardossy and
A24 GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

Mack, 1967, p. 347). This alunite also is of mineralogical but not commercial interest.

CZECHOSLOVAKIA

Solfataric alteration of andesitic effusive rocks 

near Viglasska Huta in western Slovakia, Czechoslovakia, has formed zones containing alunite, opal, 

kaolinite, anhydrite, and pyrite (Kuthan, 1956). 

Alunite in what are called "hydroquartzites," formed 

by solfataric alteration of volcanic rocks near Dekys, 

central Slovakia, is reported by Forgac" (1972). Information on resources is not given by either author.

HUNGARY

Nodules of alunite, or more commonly natroalunite, are found in bauxites of the Bakony-Vertes 

belt, Hungary, north of Lake Balaton (Vadasz, 

1943; Gedeon, 1947; Bardossy, 1959). Apparently 

the nodules are supergenic, formed by downwardpercolating sulfuric-acid-charged ground water reacting with near-surface bauxite or clay (Bardossy, 

1959, p. 42-43). The acid was derived from oxidation of pyrite disseminated in superjacent rock. The 

nodules do not constitute a minable resource.

RUMANIA

Radulescu and Dimitrescu (1966, p. 21) listed four 

deposits of alunite in Rumania but gave no information on resource potential or other details.

BULGARIA

Quartz-alunite zones are in hydrothermally altered andesitic volcanic rocks of the Panagjurishte 

district, Bulgaria, 73 km east-southeast of Sofia, 

and also in the Breznik district, 35 km west-northwest of Sofia (Radonova and Velinov, 1970). Alunite 

content is said to range from 5 to 80 percent at 

depths ranging from 10 to 200 m, but no estimate of 

resources is given.

UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS

Probably the U.S.S.R. has greater alunite resources than any other country in the world because 

it is so vast and because it contains extensive regions of ancient volcanism where hydrothermal and 

solfataric processes have altered feldspathic rocks 

of diverse types and ages to form alunite and associated minerals. The comprehensive treatise on alunite by M. A. Kashkai (1970), besides being an 

excellent general reference, also contains the best 

available summary of Russian alunite resources.

(Unfortunately this work is not available in English 

translation.)

AZERBAIJAN

The only alunite deposit in the world presently 

mined as a commercial source of alumina is at Zaglik, a few kilometers northwest of Dashkesan, 

Azerbaijan. A plant to extract alumina, potassium 

sulfate, and sulfuric acid from the alunite ore is at 

Kirovabad, 30 km northeast of Dashkesan. A reduction plant making metallic aluminum from the 

Kirovabad alumina is at Sumgait on the west shore 

of the Caspian Sea near the great Baku petroleum 

center, 300 km east of Kirovabad.

Altered tuffaceous rocks of Late Jurassic age 

locally contain as much as 50 percent of alunite, although the average alunite content of feed to the 

Kirovabad plant probably is lower than that. Microquartz is the main gangue mineral; varying amounts 

of iron and titanium oxides, and minor clay, mica, 

and other alteration minerals are also present. According to Sokoloff (1964, p. 769), 6.6 t of ore yield 

1 t of A12 03 , 0.5 t K2S04 , and 1.15 t of H2S04 (gravity unspecified). These figures suggest an alunite 

content of at least 40 percent; however, it is not 

known whether ore mined since Sokoloff s report is 

of the same grade. Kashkai (1970, v. 1, p. 364-365) 

gave analyses of 22 samples from Zaglik; 19 contained 40 percent or more of alunite. The average 

K:Na ratio is about 2.6:1, and the average Fe2O3 

content is about 4.4 percent, calculated from Kashkai's data. Anderson (1936, p. 340) reported the 

Zaglik reserve to be 100 million metric tons containing 50 percent alunite, but this estimate probably 

has been revised since commencement of large-scale 

mining in 1966.

KAZAKHSTAN

Alunite exists in significant amount in nine districts of Kazakhstan (Kashkai, 1970, v. 1, p. 306- 

311; v. 2, p. 12-29). One area 150 km southeast of 

Karkaralinsk, east-central Kazakhstan, contains a 

reserve estimated at 150 to 200 million metric tons 

of rock containing at least 30 percent alunite (Markov, 1939). Volcanic rock, mostly of Paleozoic age, 

has been hydrothermally altered to quartz-alunite 

mixture associated with a characteristic suite of alteration minerals including kaolinite, dickite, sericite, pyrophyllite, diaspore, pyrite, hematite, and 

rutile. Tourmaline, andalusite, corundum, topaz, and 

zunyite are local minor accessories in some deposits 

(Kashkai, 1970, v. 1, p. 306-311). Microcrystalline 

quartz is such a dominant constituent in metasoma-
WORLD NONBAUXITE ALUMINUM RESOURCES—ALUNITE A25

tically altered rocks like those in Kazakhstan that 

Russian geologists call them "secondary quartzites" 

(see for example, Naboko, 1958, 1963; Kirova, 1959; 

Kerimov, 1959; Kashkai, 1961, 1970, v. 1; Rusinov, 

1966). Few American geologists apply the term 

"quartzite" to rocks other than orthoquartzites, 

ancient sandstones subsequently cemented with 

silica. The "secondary" quartzites are deuterogenic, 

formed from alkalic volcanic rocks by the attack of 

strongly acidic hydrothermal fluids.

UKRAINE

Alunite deposits in the Ukraine apparently have 

small commercial potential but are of special geologic interest. Flows and tuffs of late Tertiary (Neogene) age in the Beregovo-Bergansk district near 

the Hungary boundary have been metasomatically 

altered to quartz-alunite rocks containing opal, clay 

minerals, sericite, pyrite, and minor base-metal sulfides (Kashkai, 1970, v. 1, p. 304-305, 387-392). Of 

presumed supergenic origin are alunite-jarosite veinlets in Oligocene claystone on the southern flank of 

the Ukraine massif; alunite in Paleozoic sedimentary 

rocks near Krivoi Rog in south-central Ukraine; 

alunite in bauxitic clay in the Donbas basin (Kashkai, 1970, v. 1, p. 304-305, 392-396). Similarly, supergenic alunite veinlets are in bauxite formed on 

schist of Archean age near Nikopol, southern 

Ukraine (Kashkai, 1970, v. 1, p. 306-307, 396). 

Those veinlets are examples of alunite formed by 

weathering rather than by hydrothermal processes, 

and they are not a promising resource.

ARMENIA

Near Martuni, on the south shore of Lake Sevan, 

volcanic rocks of Oligocene age are altered zonally 

and have quartz-alunite cores grading outward into 

quartz-sericite rock. The Aragatz volcano in northwest Armenia near the Turkish frontier has local 

alunitized zones in altered dacite-liparite flows 

(Kashkai, 1970, v. 1, p. 302-305, 378-381). No assessment of potential resources is available.

GEORGIA

Near Madneulsk, southern Georgia, alunite is 

associated with quartz, opal, chalcedony, kaolinite, 

and sericite in altered andesite porphyry and albitophyre of Late Cretaceous age. Similar deposits are 

reported near Adzhariya (Kashkai, 1970, v. 1, p. 

304-305, 381-386). Resource data are unavailable.

URAL MOUNTAINS REGION

The central Ural region from Krasnovishersk

southward to Chusovoy and Perm, and southeasterly 

to Sverdlovsk, contains alunite deposits of diverse 

origins in widely differing types and ages of host 

rock. Judging from the descriptions given by Kashkai (1970, v. 1, p. 306-307, v. 2, p. 7-12), few of 

these deposits are likely to be commercially promising.

ALTAI

Postmagmatic-postvolcanic alteration of Devonian-age porphyry and associated volcanic rocks has 

formed alunitic rock near Zmeingorsk and Ust 

Kamengorsk in southern Altai, adjoining northeast 

Kazakhstan (Kashkai, 1970, v. 1, p. 312-313, v. 2, 

p. 29-32; Kirova, 1959). Whether these deposits 

have economic potential is unclear.

UZBEK

The mountainous volcanic region of southeastern 

Uzbek contains alunite deposits of hydrothermal 

origin formed in volcanic rocks of Paleozoic age. 

One of the deposits shows a well-defined zoning, 

but their resource potential was not discussed by 

Kashkai (1970, v. 2, p. 41-42).

KURIL ISLANDS - KAMCHATKA

The Kamchatka peninsula and Kuril archipelago 

contain numerous deposits of alunite in Quaternary 

and upper Tertiary basaltic and andesitic volcanic 

rocks. Solfataras and hydrothermal alteration processes are still active in many localities. Even if 

some alunitized bodies were proven large and rich 

enough to be potentially minable, their development 

in this remote ocean-bounded region seems unlikely. 

Summary descriptions of some deposits were given 

by Naboko (1963), Rusinov (1966), Zotov (1967), 

and Kashkai (1970).

DEPOSITS IN OTHER REGIONS

Alunitized rocks are found in other regions of the 

U.S.S.R., including Turkmen, Tadzhik, and Kirgiz 

north of Afghanistan, the Sikhote Alin cordillera 

north of Vladivostok, and the Amur and Khabarovsk regions adjoining Manchuria (Kashkai, 1970). 

Most of these alunitized rocks are volcanogenic, but 

information on resource potential is not available.

ASIA 

PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Deposits of alunite in the Pinyang-Fanshan district near the coast in the southeast corner of Che-
A26 GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

kiang Province, Peoples Republic of China, 450 km 

south-southwest of Shanghai, have yielded a "great 

quantity" of alum during a period of more than 200 

years (Yih, 1931). The alunitic rock was produced 

by hydrothermal and solfataric alteration of a thick 

sequence of rhyolite tuffs and flows of probable 

Cretaceous age that were intruded by a hypabyssal 

quartz-monzonite stock (Yih, 1931, p. 3). Original 

rock textures are preserved in spite of the strong 

alteration, and the rock consists mainly of microquartz intergrown with fine shreddy alunite. A 

reserve of 2 billion metric tons containing an average of 50 percent alunite is inferred for the Fanshan 

district (Yih, 1931, p. 30). The Fanshan deposit 

may be one of the largest in the world.

Alunitic rock ("alumstone") also is present in 

Fukien Province, southwest of Fanshan, and in 

Anwhei Province, northwest of Fanshan, but details 

are unavailable. Mainland China may have the 

largest resources of alunite in the Far East (Yih, 

1931, p. 31). Ikonnikov (1975, p. 357) cited alunite 

resource estimates as follows: Chekiang Province, 

1,021,000,000 t; Fukien, 750,000,000 t; Anwhei, 

13,000,000 t. Alunite content and other characteristics of the deposits are not given. Alunite is said to 

be found in 18 provinces (Ikonnikov, 1975, p. 366); 

however, the resource potential of most of these 

deposits is not known. Li and Hsieh (1946) and 

Kleinhans (1948, p. 3) presented reserve estimates 

of about 200 million metric tons for Chekiang 

Province, considerably more modest than the estimates given by Yih (1931) and Ikonnikov (1975). 

So far as known to this author, the Chinese deposits 

have been used solely as a source of alum (Yih, 

1931, p. 29-30).

JAPAN

Several alunite deposits in Japan were described 

by Iwao (1949, 1953). A dozen or more deposits 

are scattered from Hokkaido to Shikoku, but the 

most important are on the island of Honshu. The 

Ugusu and Nishina deposits in Shizuoka Prefecture 

and the Fukuyama deposit in Hyogo Prefecture are 

three of the largest, but their total combined reserve 

is estimated to be only 43 million metric tons. Ugusu, 

the largest, is estimated to contain 30 million metric 

tons of rock having alunite contents ranging from 

20 to 40 percent (Iwao, 1949). All these deposits 

were investigated prior to and during World War 

II as a possible source of alumina and potash fertilizer, and the Ugusu and Nishina deposits on the 

Izu peninsula supplied feed for a brief time to

alumina plants at Shimizu in Shizuoka Prefecture 

and at Niihama in Ehime Prefecture, and to a small 

experimental plant at Shikama in Hyogo Prefecture. 

Between 1935 and 1945, the Shikama plant produced 

7,628 t of alumina from alunitic rock, and byproduct 

potassium and sodium sulfates. However, most of the 

alunite feed for the experimental plant came from 

southern Korea (Alien, 1947, p. 38-40, 72-75).

REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Gallagher and others2 have said:

Alunite is known to occur in a dozen deposits in the 

southern part of Korea * * *. These deposits are altered 

zones in acidic tuffaceous rocks * * *. The altered zones consist of various mixtures of alunite, kaolinite, and quartz, 

accompanied in some places by diaspore, pyrophyllite, and a 

little pyrite. The material is distinctly nonuniform * * * 

showing wide variations in composition even within a few 

centimeters, so that mining and separation of monomineralic 

products offers difficulties.

Several deposits of alunitic rock were mined prior 

to and during World War II, while Korea was under 

the control of Japan. A strong effort was made then 

to develop a satisfactory method to extract alumina 

from the alunitic rock. At least 335,000 t of alunite 

"ore" was produced from South Korean deposits 

from 1917 through 1944, the last year for which 

figures were available (Gallagher and others2 ). Presumably all this material was shipped to Japan for 

processing. The small experimental alumina-fromalunite plant at Shikama, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, 

received most of its raw material from Korea between 1935 and 1943 (Alien, 1947, p. 72-73). Probably most of the Korean alunite production was used 

for manufacture of potash alum, aluminum sulfate, 

and potassium sulfate fertilizer. The most promising deposits are in the Songsan area between Haenam on the east and Usuyong on the west, along the 

south coast of Cholla Namdo. Some of the altered 

rhyolitic volcanic rocks here contain kaolinite or 

pyrophyllite coextensive with or adjoining alunitic 

bodies.

DEMOCRATIC PEOPLES REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Alunite is reported to be in hydrothermally altered 

volcanic rocks in the Democratic Peoples Republic 

of Korea (North Korea). Locations are not given in 

the brief English abstract of the report by Kim and 

others (1971) available to the author. The alteration

a Gallagher, David, Klepper, M. R., Overstreet, W. C., and Sample, 

R. D., 1946, Mineral resources of southern Korea: Tokyo, General 

Headquarters, Supreme Command Allied Powers, Natural Resources 

Sec., unpub. mimeo. rept, pages not numbered.
WORLD NONBAUXITE ALUMINUM RESOURCES—ALUNITE A27

apparently is zoned; quartz-rich rock grades into 

quartz-alunite, then into quartz-kaolinite rock 

(Kim and others, 1971). Information is lacking on 

available resources and the possibility of industrial 

utilization.

PAKISTAN

Alunite was mentioned as an incidental constituent in solfatarically altered andesitic agglomerate 

and lava with native sulfur deposits near the Miri 

crater of the great Koh-i-Sultan composite volcano, 

37 km north of Nok Kundi, Baluchistan, northwest 

Pakistan (Ahmad, 1953). Large areas of extensively 

altered volcanic rocks and active solfataras exist 

here, but alunite resources can be classed only as 

speculative until more information is available. An 

area of hydrothermally altered alunitized volcanic 

rocks, 70 km northwest of Mashki Chah, has been 

under investigation for possible porphyry copper 

deposits (Schmidt, Clark, and Bernstein, 1975). 

Alunite is a major constituent of the altered rock 

in two localities, but the full extent of alunitization 

is not known (R. Gordon Schmidt, written commun., 

1977).

IRAN

Tentative plans have been announced to investigate and develop a "billion ton" deposit of alunite 

near Takestan, Iran, 150 km west-northwest of 

Tehran. Alunite content and other characteristics of 

the deposit were not reported (World Mining, 1977, 

p. 57).

MIDDLE EAST 

SAUDI ARABIA

Alunite of enigmatic origin was reported to be in 

laterite at two localities in the As Sarat Mountains, 

Asir region, southwest Saudi Arabia, 590 km 

southeast of Jiddah (Overstreet, and others, 1977). 

The laterite blanket covers an area of 1,000 km2 , 

but the alunite appears to be very local fracture 

fillings in clay-ball conglomerate. The alunitic material is mixed with kaolinite, quartz, and iron oxide 

so that it is not a promising resource.

TURKEY

Three alunite deposits in "decomposed effusive 

rocks" of Turkey have been mentioned as possible 

sources of potassium sulfate fertilizer (Tolun, 1974, 

p. 287). They are:

(1) §aphane, Kiitahaya Province, 7 X 10fi tons, 33 

percent alunite.

(2) §ebinkarahisar, Giresun Province, 30 X 106 

tons, 22 percent alunite.

(3) Fo§a, Izmir Province, small deposits, 36 (?)

percent alunite.

Additional deposits of alunite with kaolinite, of 

probable hydrothermal origin, are in western 

Anatolia, but their economic potential is unknown 

(Seyhan, 1969).

ISRAEL

Alunite is an incidental constituent in hydrothermally kaolinized trachyte dikes of Late Jurassic 

age along the west base of Mt. Ardon, central Negev, 

Israel, 90 km south-southwest of Beer Sheva (Bentor, 1966, p. 23-28, 84).

Minor amounts of alunite of apparent supergenic 

origin are also found in bentonitic sediments of 

Early Cretaceous age in the Makhtesh Ramon district (Bentor, 1966, p. 37, 78) and in shale of the 

Paleocene Taquiya Formation in the Zin Valley, 55 

km south of Beer Sheva (Bentor, 1966, p. 72). Thin 

seams and nodules of diagenetic sodic alunite are 

associated with flint clay beds of Jurassic age in the 

Makhtesh Ramon district (Goldbery, 1978). The 

known Israeli alunite deposits are not a significant 

resource judging from available information.

AFRICA 

EGYPT

Natroalunite, quartz, and gypsum are minor constituents in kaolin clay on the Sinai Peninsula (Gad 

and Barrett, 1949). Specific location and details of 

the geology were not given by Gad and Barrett 

(1949). This deposit is not a likely alunite resource.

MOROCCO

Alunite is a minor accessory associated with 

halloysite in altered epiclastic-pyroclastic Tertiary 

sediments at Maazza, 7 km west of Melilla, northeastern Morocco (Martin Vivaldi, 1963, p. 332-339). 

White and pink ellipsoidal nodules, 30 to 40 cm 

across, of porcelaneous natroalunite are present 

along a well-defined horizon in thinly laminated 

argillaceous schist of Late Silurian age near Tazzarine in southern Morocco, 350 kns south of Rabat 

(Destombes and Lucas, 1956). The nodules apparently were formed by a supergene weathering 

process. Neither the Maazza deposit nor the Tazzarine deposit is a likely alunite resource.
A28 GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

Alunite is a minor accessory in pyrophyllitic rock, 

which also contains quartz, kaolinite, and zunyite, in 

the High Atlas Mountains south of Azrou, central 

Morocco (Dietrich, 1965, p. 105). This association 

is typical of hydrothermally altered volcanic terranes and suggests that this region might be favorable hunting ground for alunite deposits.

TANZANIA

Alunite was mentioned by Bassett (1954) as an 

incidental associate of pickeringite, jarosite, and 

other minerals at two widely separated localities in 

Tanzania. Apparently this alunite is of mineralogical interest only.

NIGER

Nodules and cauliflowerlike masses of alunite 

exist in 1- to 2-m-thick layers and lenses in several 

localities in southwest Niger and adjoining Mali, 

and also in southeast Niger, at the unconformity 

between pre-Tertiary rocks and overlying Tertiary 

continental sediments (Faure, Greigert, and Martinet, 1959). The alunite is thought to have been 

formed during the deep weathering that produced 

lateritic and bauxitic soils in the Eocene Epoch 

(Millot, 1970, p. 152, 273). Analyses given by Faure, 

Greigert, and Martinet (1959, p. 176) are of nearly 

pure alunite; however, the resource potential of 

these deposits probably is small.

AUSTRALIA

Alunite deposits have been recognized in Australia 

since the 1890's, and some were exploited as a source 

of potash alum and aluminum sulfate during the 

pre-World War I era. During World War I, alunite 

was used in Australia as a source of potassium sulfate fertilizer, following cutoff of potash salts from 

Germany. During World War II, some Australian 

alunite deposits were mined as a supplementary 

source of potash fertilizer, but also research was 

undertaken to develop alunite as a source of alumina 

for making aluminum. Since then, very large bauxite 

deposits have been discovered in Australia, and 

they now are mined on a large scale; accordingly, 

interest in Australian alunite has subsided.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

An alunite deposit at Carrickalinga Head, a promontory in South Australia overlooking the sea 64 

km south of Adelaide, was mined on a small scale 

during World War I, and 250 t of high-grade alunite 

were shipped to England to make alum. The alunite

is present as white nodules, 15-60 cm across, in 

black argillaceous rock described as "decomposed 

slate" (Australia Advisory Council, Sci. and Industry, 1917, p. 10). The nodules are nearly pure alunite, but the available reserve evidently is too small 

to support an economic operation. Details of the 

geology and mode or origin were not discussed by 

the Australia Advisory Council of Science and Intry (1917), but most nodular alunite in argillaceous 

sediment is believed to have been formed supergenically (see Keller, Gentile, and Reesman, 1967, for a 

logical mechanism that may with modification, be 

invoked to explain the formation of alunite or natroalunite nodules in a sedimentary environment).

Another deposit of alunite is 14 km southeast of 

Warnertown and 200 km north of Adelaide. It is 

described as a 1-m-wide "lode," having undetermined lateral and vertical extent, in "reddish decomposed slate" (Australia Advisory Council Sci. 

and Industry, 1917, p. 10-11, 26-27). The deposit 

was prospected prior to 1917, and a 50-t stockpile of 

alunite was produced. Although the material is high 

grade, the reserve is small.

Alunite deposits quite different from those mentioned above are at Pidinga, near the eastern edge 

of the great Nullarbor Plain, about 600 km northwest 

of Adelaide. The alunite is a constituent in kaolinitic clay beds deposited in shallow saline-lake 

basins (now dry) during the Tertiary Period (King, 

1953). Sulfate ground water derived from oxidation 

of pyrite, disseminated both in interbedded lignite 

beds and in the granitic-gneiss upland from which 

ground water and surface water drain, is deemed to 

be the agent that diagenetically altered a part of the 

original kaolin fill to alunite. The necessary potassium is thought to have been adsorbed by the kaolin as it was formed by weathering of the feldspathic 

gneiss (King, 1953, p. 698-702). The well-alunitized 

parts of the Pidinga lagoonal fill are high grade, but 

the largest body was estimated by Armstrong 

(1950, p. 128) to contain only 211,400 t.

NEW SOUTH WALES

The alunite deposit at Bullahdelah, New South 

Wales, 95 km northeast of the port of Newcastle, 

was mined during the period 1891-1917 as raw material for potash alum and aluminum sulfate. Apparently operations were suspended at the end of 

World War I. The deposit consists of hydrothermally 

or solf atarically alunitized rhyolite flows interbedded 

in sedimentary rocks of Carboniferous and Permian 

age and occupies a 1.6-km-long reach of Alum 

Mountain, which rises 275 m above the surrounding
WORLD NONBAUXITE ALUMINUM RESOURCES—ALUNITE A29

lowland (Pittman, 1901). Although the amount of 

high-grade alunitic rock may be less than was 

formerly believed, a large resource is apparent; 

however, no estimate has been made of tonnage. 

Published analyses suggest that even the lower 

grades of rock may contain 30 percent or more alunite (Australia Advisory Council Sci. and Industry, 

1917, p. 25; Pittman, 1901).

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

During the 1920's, alunite was identified as a 

constituent in dark clay underlying Lake Campion, 

a shallow ephemeral lake near Chandler, Western 

Australia, 300 km east-northeast of Perth. The 

deposit was exploited during World War II as a 

source of potassium sulfate fertilizer (Fitzgerald, 

1945). Alunite-rich sediment fills the lake to a 

depth of 6 m and can be mined by conventional 

loaders and scrapers. According to Fitzgerald 

(1945, p. 241-242), the sediment contains 60 percent alunite, the balance being mainly detrital 

quartz, mica, and a little iron oxide; the grade remains fairly constant throughout the entire deposit. 

Reserve has been estimated conservatively at 12 

million metric tons (Fitzgerald, 1945). Origin is not 

well understood; possibly a mechanism similar to 

that postulated by King (1953) to explain the lacustrine alunite at Pidinga, South Australia, played a 

role in forming the alunitic sediment at Lake Campion. Mining was suspended following World War 

II; however, research continued for some time 

afterward in an effort to develop an economic method of extracting alumina from Lake Campion material (Bayliss, Ewers, and Miles, 1951).

Nodules and irregular "flatly inclined veins" of 

sodic alunite are in clayey sediment of unstated 

age in the Kanowna district, 25 km northeast of 

Kalgoorlie (Blatchford, 1919). Origin is unclear, 

but mode of occurrence suggests that the alunite is 

supergenic. Although widespread in this area, the 

nodules and veins are not a likely economic resource.

PACIFICA 

NEW ZEALAND

Alunite is a minor alteration mineral in several 

hot-spring and fumarole areas and in hydrothermally altered volcanic rocks, but no deposit of potentially minable size and grade has been reported to be 

in New Zealand. Steiner (1953) described alunite 

at Wairakei, 10 km north of Taupo; Hutton (1947, 

p. 360-361) mentioned alunite in altered andesitedacite near Thames, 70 km southeast of Auckland, 

and at Whangarei, 130 km northwest of Auckland.

SUMATRA

Sulfuric-acid-charged volcanic exhalations have 

locally altered rhyolitic tuffs at Lake Toba, northern 

Sumatra, to alunite-diaspore rock, which apparently 

is only of mineralogical interest (Leinz, 1933).

PHILIPPINES

Patches of alunite are reported to be in kaolin 

deposits formed by hydrothermal alteration of volcanic rocks at Batangas, southern Luzon, Philippine 

Islands (Comsti, 1969). The reserve, mainly kaolin, 

is estimated at 50 x 103 t (Comsti, 1969, p. 41); 

therefore, the quantity of alunite must be much less. 

However, hydrothermally altered volcanic terranes 

elsewhere in the Philippines also may contain alunite.

SUMMARY OF FOREIGN RESOURCE POSITION

Although alunitized volcanic rock exists in many 

countries, not all these countries are known to possess deposits of a size and grade that could support 

an alumina-from-alunite industry. Mexico has numerous deposits of alunitic rock (Yris Rovirosa, 1964), 

and methods for its utilization have been tested on a 

laboratory scale (Lopez, 1977). On the South American continent, only the deposit near Camarones, 

Chubut Province, Argentina, has been proposed for 

development (Bertello, 1957; Catalano and Fernandez Segura, 1953). However, large volumes of 

alunitized rock in the upper parts of porphyrycopper deposits in the Andes of Argentina and Chile 

(Koukharsky and Mirre, 1976; Sillitoe, 1973; Gustafson and Hunt, 1975) suggest that this part of 

the world may hold potentially exploitable alunite 

resources. Deposits in the Puy-de-D6me district of 

France, although not mined for more than a hundred 

years, have been suggested as a potential source of 

aluminum as well as of potash and alum (Charrin, 

1940). A deposit of apparent supergene origin in 

Segovia Province, Spain, is being considered for 

commercial development (R. A. Kiihnel, oral commun., 1976; W. W. Walker, oral commun., 1977), 

and deposits in Italy also are receiving renewed attention (Gianni Lombardi, written commun., 1976). 

The alum industry, once the mainstay of alunite 

miners at Tolfa, has long declined in favor of the 

sulfuric acid treatment of high-grade bauxite or 

alumina. Sketchy reports from Iran (World Mining, 

1977) and Greece (U.S. State Dept., unpub. data, 

1976) indicate that deposits in those countries are 

being investigated for industrial development; details are not available. The U.S.S.R. has an alunite 

plant that has the capacity to produce 200,000 t of
A30 GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

alumina per year, but some question exists as to 

whether or not this operation would be competitive 

in an open world economy (Shabad, 1976). Assuming that this type of operation is economic or can 

be made so in the future, the U.S.S.R. has alunite 

resources to support an industry appreciably larger 

than the present one. The Peoples Republic of China 

also has adequate resources for an alunite industry, 

if the description by Yih (1931) of the PinyangFanshan deposit in Chekiang Province is reasonably 

accurate. Deposits in Japan and the Republic of 

Korea are relatively small but were mined during 

World War II as emergency sources of aluminum 

and potash. Several nodular alunite deposits in 

argillic sediments, alunitic lacustrine sediments, and 

one hydrothermal volcanic deposit in Australia 

were worked intermittently from the late 19th century until the end of World War II; the material 

mined was used primarily for making alum and potassium sulfate fertilizer. Research on Australian 

alunite as a potential ore of aluminum was suspended after development of Australia's enormous 

bauxite deposits started in the 1950's.

Clearly world resources of alunitic rock are adequate to support industries based on this raw material; the question is not one of availability but of 

economics. Only when it is demonstrated that rock 

containing 30 percent alunite can be processed at a 

cost competitive with that of processing imported 

bauxite is it likely that alumina-from-alunite plants 

will be established. Conceivably, some bauxite-deficient countries might eventually establish such 

plants as a matter of national policy, in order to 

achieve some degree of self-sufficiency in alumina 

and aluminum supply.

REFERENCES CITED

Abrams, M. J., Ashley, R. P., Rowan, L. C., Goetz, A. F. H., 

and Kahle, A. B., 1977, Use of imaging in the 0.46- 

2.36 jtm spectral region for alteration mapping in the 

Cuprite mining district, Nevada: U.S. Geol. Survey openfile rept. 77-585, 19 p., 2 figs.

Ahlfeld, Friedrich [Federico], and Schneider-Scherbina, Alejandro, 1964, Los yacimientos minerales y de hidrocarburos de Bolivia: Bolivia Dept. Nac. de Geologia Bull. 

5, 388 p.

Ahmad, M. I., 1953, Volcanoes and sulphur of western 

Baluchistan: Pakistan Geol. Survey Recs., v. 4, pt. 3, p. 

1-16.

Alien, E. T., and Day, A. L., 1935, Hot springs of the Yellowstone National Park: Carnegie Inst. Washington Pub. 

466, 525 p.

Alien, G. L., 1947, Aluminum metallurgy in the Japanese 

empire: U.S. Bur. Mines Mineral Trade Notes, v. 25,

no. 4, Spec. Supp. 19, 76 p. 

Anderson, C. A., 1935, Alteration of the lavas surrounding

the hot springs in Lassen Volcanic National Park: Am.

Mineralogist, v. 20, no. 4, p. 240-252. 

Anderson, R. J., 1936, World resources of aluminium ore:

Mining Mag. [London], v. 55, no. 6, p. 329-341. 

Angelelli, Victorio, Schalamuk, I. B., and Arrospide, Alberto,

1976, Los yacimientos no metaliferos y rocas de aplicacion de la region Patagonia-Comahue: [Buenos Aires?],

Argentina, Secretaria de Estado de Mineria, Ministerio

de Economia, [paging unknown]. (See especially, yacimientos de alunita, p. 17-19.) 

Archbold, N. L., 1966, Industrial mineral deposits of Mineral

County, Nevada: Nevada Bur. Mines Rept. 14, 32 p. 

Armstrong, A. T., 1950, Pidinga alunite deposit: South

Australia Dept. Mines Mining Rev., no. 89 (1948), p.

126-136.

Austin, C. F., and Pringle, J. K., 1970, Geologic investigations at the Coso thermal area: U.S. Naval Weapons

Center Tech. Pub. TP 4878, 40 p. 

Australia Advisory Council of Science and Industry, 1917,

The alunite deposits of Australia and their utilization:

Australia Advisory Council Sci. and Industry Bull. 3,

38 p. 

Bailey, E. H., and Phoenix, D. A., 1944, Quicksilver deposits

in Nevada: Nevada Univ. Bull., v. 38, no. 5 (Geology

and Mining Ser. 41), 206 p. 

Bardossy, Gyb'rgy, 1959, The geochemistry of Hungarian

bauxites, parts III and IV: Acta Geologica [Budapest],

v. 6, nos. 1-2, p. 1-50. 

Bardossy, Gyorgy, and Mack, Erwin, 1967, Zur kenntnis der

bauxite des Parnass-Kiona-Gebirges: Mineralium Deposita, v. 2, no. 4, p. 334-348. 

Bassett, H., 1954, New and old minerals in Tanganyika:

Tanganyika Geol. Survey Recs., v. 1 (1951), p. 60-67. 

Bayliss, N. S., Ewers, W. E., and Miles, G. L., 1951, The

production of alumina from alunite: Australian Jour.

App. Sci., v. 2, no. 2, p. 267-275. 

Bentor, Y. K., 1966, The clays of Israel; Guidebook to the

excursions [Internat. Clay Conf., Jerusalem, 1966]:

Jerusalem, Israel Program Sci. Translations, 121 p. 

Bertello, L. F., 1957, Utilizacion de alunita nacional para la

fabricacion de sulfato de aluminio: Industria y Quimica,

v. 18, p. 25-30, 35-36. 

Blatchford, Torrington, 1919, Alunite deposits at Kanowna,

Appendix 2 of Simpson, E. S., Sources of industrial

potash in Western Australia: Western Australia Geol.

Survey Bull. 77, p. 38-44. 

Brackett, R. N., and Williams, J. F., 1891, Newtonite and

rectorite—two new minerals of the kaolinite group: Am.

Jour. Sci., 3d ser., v. 42, no. 247, p. 11-21. 

Braun, J. G., 1921, Alunite in south central Texas: Eng. and

Mining Jour., v. Ill, no. 5, p. 225. 

Bundy, W. M., 1958, Wall-rock alteration in the Cochiti

mining district, New Mexico: New Mexico Bur. Mines

and Mineral Resources Bull. 59, 71 p. 

Burbank, W. S., 1932, Geology and ore deposits of the

Bonanza mining district, Colorado: U.S. Geol. Survey

Prof. Paper 169, 166 p. 

Burbank, W. S., and Luedke, R. G., 1964, Geology of the

Ironton quadrangle, Colorado: U.S. Geol. Survey Geol.

Quad. Map GQ-291, scale 1:24,000. 

Butler, B. S., and Gale, H. S., 1912, Alunite—a newly dis-
WORLD NONBAUXITE ALUMINUM RESOURCES—ALUNITE A31

covered deposit near Marysvale, Utah: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 511, 64 p.

Byers, F. M., Jr., and Barth, T. F. W., 1953, Volcanic 

activity on Akun and Akutan Islands [Alaska]: Pacific 

Sci. Cong., 7th, New Zealand, 1949, Proc., v. 2, p. 382-397.

Caillere, Simonne, and Maratos, G., 1958, Sur la presence 

et 1'origine de 1'alunite dans les phyllades de Tile de 

Crete (Grece): Soc. Franchise Mineralogie et Cristallographie Bull., v. 81, nos. 1-3, p. 16-18.

California Division of Mines, 1950, Mineral commodities of 

California—geologic occurrence, economic development, 

and utilization of the State's mineral resources: California Div. Mines Bull. 156, 443 p.

Calkin, W. S., 1967, Geology, alteration and mineralization 

of the Alum Creek area, San Juan volcanic field, Colorado: Golden, Colo., Colorado School Mines, unpub. D.Sc. 

thesis, 177 p.

Callaghan, Eugene, 1938, Preliminary report on the alunite 

deposits of the Marysvale region, Utah: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 886-D, p. 91-134.

———— 1948, Endellite deposits in Gardner Mine Ridge, 

Lawrence County, Indiana: Indiana Div. Geology Bull. 

1, 47 p.

1973, Mineral resource potential of Piute County,

Utah and adjoining area: Utah Geol. and Mineralog.

Survey Bull. 102, 135 p. 

Catalano, Elsiades, and Fernandez Segura, Alberto, 1953,

Alunita silicificada de Camarones: Argentine Republic

Admin. Gen. Obras Sanitarias Rev., v. 17, no. 152, p.

137-151. 

Charrin, Victor, 1940, L'alunite du Puy-de-D6me: Argile,

no. 198, p. 1-5.

———— 1948, Le gisement d'alunite du Mont-Dore: Industrie

Chimique, v. 35, p. 26. 

Clapp, C. H., 1915, Alunite and pyrophyllite in Triassic and

Jurassic volcanics at Kyuquot Sound, British Columbia:

Econ. Geology, v. 10, p. 70-88. 

Clark, I. C., 1918, Recently recognized alunite deposits at

Sulphur, Humboldt County, Nevada: Eng. and Mining

Jour., v. 106, no. 4, p. 159-162. 

Cleveland, G. B., 1962, Geology of the Little Antelope Valley

clay deposits, Mono County, California: California Div.

Mines and Geology Spec. Rept. 72, 28 p. 

Comsti, F. A., 1969, Kaolin deposits of the Philippines, in

Proceedings of Symposium I, Kaolin deposits of the

world. B—Oversea countries: Internal. Geol. Cong., 23d,

Prague, 1968, Rept., v. 16, p. 39-42. 

Corn, R. M., 1975, Alteration-mineralization zoning, Red

Mountain, Arizona: Econ. Geology, v. 70, no. 8, p. 1437-

1447. 

Crawford, A. L., and Buranek, A. M., 1948, Halloysite of

agalmatolite type, Bull Valley district, Washington

County, Utah: Utah Dept. Publicity and Indus. Devel.,

Raw Materials Div. Bull. 35, 12 p. 

Cross, C. W., 1891, On alunite and diaspore from the Rosita

Hills, Colorado: Am. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., v. 41, no. 246,

p. 466-475.

———— 1896, Geology of Silver Cliff and the Rosita Hills, 

Colorado: U.S. Geol. Survey 17th Ann. Rept., pt. 2, p. 

263-403.

Cross, C. W., Howe, Ernest, and Irving, J. D., 1907, Description of the Ouray quadrangle [Colorado]: U.S. Geol. 

Survey Geol. Atlas, Folio 153, 20 p., 3 maps.

Cross, C. W., and Spencer, A. C., 1900, Geology of the Rico 

Mountains, Colorado: U.S. Geol. Survey 21st Ann. Rept., 

pt. 2, p. 7-165.

Crowder, D. F., and Sheridan, M. F., 1972, Geologic map of 

the White Mountain Peak quadrangle, Mono County, 

California: U.S. Geol. Survey Geol. Quad. Map GQ1012, scale 1:62,500.

Cunningham, C. G., Jr., and Hall, R. B., 1976, Field and 

laboratory tests for the detection of alunite and determination of atomic percent potassium: Econ. Geology, 

v. 71, no. 8, p. 1596-1598.

De Launay, L., 1907, La metallogenie de PItalie: Internat. 

Geol. Cong., 10th, Mexico, 1906, Comptes rendus, pt. 1, 

p. 679-686. (English translation of the part discussing 

alunite is given in Butler and Gale, 1912, p. 51-55.)

Destombes, Jacques, and Lucas, J., 1956, Une occurrence de 

natro-alunite dans le Gothlandien de Tazzarine (Jebel 

Sarhro-Sud): Morocco Service Geol. Notes et Mem. no. 

133, p. 117-123.

Dietrich, J. E., 1965, Zunyite d'Azrou-Melloul: Morocco 

Service Geol. Notes et Mem. no. 183, p. 105-107.

Earth Sciences, Inc., 1976, Annual Report for 1975: Golden, 

Colo., 24 p.

Eckel, E. B., 1961, Minerals of Colorado—A 100-year record: 

U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 1114, 399 p.

Engineering and Mining Journal, 1972, New alumina process: Eng. and Mining Jour., v. 173, no. 6, p. 175-176.

———— 1975, Aluminum: Eng. and Mining Jour., v. 176, no. 

6, p. 172-173.

Faure, Hugues, Greigert, Jacques, and Martinet, Berthe, 

1959, Occurrences d'alunite au Soudan et au Niger: Soc. 

Geol. France Comptes Rendus, 1959, fasc. 7, p. 175-176.

Field, C. W., and Lombardi, Gianni, 1972, Sulfur isotopic 

evidence for the supergene origin of alunite deposits, 

Tolfa district, Italy: Mineralium Deposita, v. 7, p. 

113-125.

Fitzgerald, M. L., 1945, Production of potash from alunite, 

Lake Campion, Western Australia: Chem. Eng. and 

Mining Rev., v. 37, no. 440, p. 241-248.

Fleischer, Arthur, 1944, The Kalunite process: Am. Inst. 

Mining and Metall. Engineers Trans., v. 159, p. 267-279.

Forgac, Jozef, 1972, Geneza alunitu a premenenych hornin 

od Dekyga [Genesis of alunite and metamorphic rocks 

near Dekys (Stiavnicke Pohorie Mountains)]: Geol. Prace 

Spravy, no. 58, p. 189-199. (In Slovak. English abs. in 

Chem. Abs., 1973, v. 79, no. 4, p. 185, item 21557h.)

Foshag, W. F., 1926, The identity of newtonite with alunite: 

Am. Mineralogist, v. 11, no. 2, p. 33-35.

Friedrich, Giinther, 1960, Petrographische und erzmikroskopische beobachtungen an der Goldlagerstatte Rodalquilar, Prov. Almeria/Spanien: Neues Jahrb. Mineralogie Abh., v. 94, no. 1, p. 208-227.

Gabriel, Alton, and Dasher, John, 1942, Beneficiation of 

alunite: U.S. Bur. Mines Rept. Inv. 3610, 20 p.

Gad, G. M., and Barrett, L. R., 1949, The constitution of 

some Egyptian clays: Mineralog. Mag., v. 28, p. 587- 

597.

Gautier, Paul, 1940, Note sur le gisement d'alunite de Madriat (Puy-de-D6me): Revue des Sciences Naturelles 

d'Auvergne, v. 7, p. 96-98.
A32 GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

Gedeon, T. G., 1947, Alunite ujabb elofordulasa a dunantulon 

[New alunite occurrences in Trans-Danubian part of 

Hungary]: Foldtani Kozlony, v. 75-76, p. 36-41. (English summary on p. 41.)

Goldbery, Ron, 1978, Early diagenetic nonhydrothermal Naalunite in Jurassic flint clays, Mahktesh Ramon, Israel: 

Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 89, p. 687-698.

Graton, L. C., and Bowditch, S. I., 1936, Alkaline and acid 

solutions in hypogene zoning at Cerro de Pasco: Econ. 

Geology, v. 31, no. 7, p. 651-698.

Grout, F. F., and Schwartz, G. M., 1927, An alunitic gold 

ore in the Black Hills: Econ. Geology, v. 22, no. 4, p. 

369-373.

Gustafson, L. B., and Hunt, J. P., 1975, The porphyry copper 

deposit at El Salvador, Chile: Econ. Geology, v. 70, no. 

5, p. 857-912, 28 figs.

Hanson, R. F., 1975, The geology of some clay deposits in 

the Trans-Mexican volcanic belt and on the Mexican 

Central Plateau, in International Clay Conference, 

Mexico City, Mexico, 1975, Field Trip FT-1, Hydrothermal Kaolins, July 24-30, 1975: Mexico City, Mexico 

Univ., Inst. Geologia, p. 73-121.

Hattin, D. E., 1965, Stratigraphy of the Graneros Shale 

(Upper Cretaceous) in central Kansas: Kansas Geol. 

Survey Bull. 178, 83 p.

Hayes, C. W., 1907, The Gila River alum deposits [New 

Mexico]: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 315, p. 215-224.

Heineman, R. E. S., 1935, Sugarloaf Butte alunite: Eng. 

and Mining Jour., v. 136, no. 3, p. 138-139.

Hemley, J. J., Hostetler, P. B., Gude, A. J., and Mountjoy, 

W. T., 1969, Some stability relations of alunite: Econ. 

Geology, v. 64, no. 6, p. 599-612.

Hewett, D. F., Callaghan, Eugene, Moore, B. N., Nolan, T. 

B., Rubey, W. W., and Schaller, W. T., 1936, Mineral 

resources of the region around Boulder Dam: U.S. Geol. 

Survey Bull. 871, 197 p.

Hild, J. H., 1946, Exploration of alunite deposits, Marysvale, 

Piute County, Utah: U.S. Bur. Mines Rept. Inv. 3972, 

74 p.

Hildebrand, F. A., 1961, Hydrothermally altered rocks in 

eastern Puerto Rico: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

424-B, p. B219-B221.

Hildebrand, F. A., and Smith, R. J., 1959, Occurrences of 

alunite, pyrophyllite and clays in the Cerro La Tiza 

area, Puerto Rico: U.S. Geol. Survey open-file rept., 

82 p., 6 pis.

Hosterman, J. W., 1969, White clay deposits near Mount 

Holly Springs, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania: U.S. 

Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 650-B, p. B66-B72.

Howland, A. L., 1940, Specularite-alunite mineralization at 

Hickeys Pond, Newfoundland: Am. Mineralogist, v. 25, 

no. 1, p. 34-35.

Hoyos de Castro, Angel, and Alias, L. J., 1963, The identity 

of almeriite with natroalunite: Mineralog. Mag., v. 33, 

no. 260, p. 353-357.

Hoyos de Castro, Angel, and Mata, A., 1958, Alunitas del 

Pico del Teide (Canarias) : Internat. Symposium Reactivity Solids, 3d, Madrid, 1956, Proc., v. 2, p. 443-458.

Huntting, M. T., 1966, Alunite, in U.S. Geol. Survey, Mineral 

and water resources of Washington: U.S. 89th Cong., 

2d sess., Senate Comm. Interior and Insular Affairs, 

Comm. Print, p. 167-168.

Hurlburt, E. B., 1894, On alunite, from Red Mountain, 

Ouray County, Colorado: Am. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., v. 48, 

p. 130-131.

Hutton, C. O., 1947, Contributions to the mineralogy of New 

Zealand, part 2: Royal Soc. New Zealand Trans. and 

Proc., v. 76, pt. 3, p. 358-361.

Ikonnikov, A. B., 1975, Mineral resources of China: Geol. 

Soc. America, Microform Pub. 2, 552 p. (Microform: 

6 microfiche.)

Iwao, Shuichi, 1949, The alunite deposits in Japan: Japan 

Geol. Survey Rept. 130, 100 p. (In Japanese with English resume.)

————1953, Alunite deposits in Japan: Pacific Sci. Cong., 

7th, New Zealand, 1949, Proc., v. 2, p. 229-234.

Kashkai, M. A., 1961, Alunitovyye mestorozhdeniya, ikh 

klassifikatsiya i soputstvuyushchiye protsessy [Alunite 

deposits, their classification and associated processes]: 

Akad. Nauk SSSR Ser. Geol. Izv., 1961, no. 7, p. 72-79. 

(Translated by American Geological Institute as Acad. 

Sci. USSR Geol. Ser. Bull., 1961, no. 7, p. 57-63.)

————1970, Alunity, ikh genezis i ispol'zovaniye [Alunites, 

their genesis and utilizations]: Moscow, Izd. Nedra, v. 

1, 400 p.; v. 2, 317 p. (In Russian, with English summary in v. 2, p. 231-239.)

Keller, W. D., Gentile, R. J., and Reesman, A. L., 1967, Allophane and Na-rich alunite from kaolinitic nodules in 

shale: Jour. Sed. Petrology, v. 37, no. 1, p. 215-220.

Keller, W. D., and Hanson, R. F., 1968, Hydrothermal alteration of a rhyolite flow breccia near San Luis Potosi, 

Mexico, to refractory kaolin: Clays and Clay Minerals, 

v. 16, no. 3, p. 223-229.

Keller, W. D., McGrain, Preston, Reesman, A. L., and Saum, 

N. M., 1966, Observations on the origin of endellite in 

Kentucky, and their extension to "indianaite," in Bradley, W. F., and Bailey, S. W., eds., Clays and clay minerals—Proceedings of the Thirteenth National Conference 

on Clays and Clay Minerals * * * Madison, Wisconsin, 

October 5-8, 1964: New York, Pergamon Press, p. 107- 

120.

Kelly, H. J., Strandberg, K. G., and Mueller, J. I., 1956, 

Ceramic industry development and raw-material resources of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana: 

U.S. Bur. Mines Inf. Circ. 7752, 77 p.

Kerimov, G. L, 1959 [Secondary quartzites of the Kedabek 

region]: Akad. Nauk Azerbaldzan SSR, Ser. Geol.- 

Geograf. Nauk, Izv., no. 6, p. 51-63. (In Russian. English abs. in Chem. Abs., 1960, v. 54, col. 8499, item i.)

Kerr, P. F., 1932, The occurrence of andalusite and related 

minerals at White Mountain, California: Econ. Geology, 

v. 27, no. 7, p. 614-643.

Kerr, P. F., Kulp, J. L., Patterson, C. M., and Wright, R. J., 

1950, Hydrothermal alteration at Santa Rita, New 

Mexico: Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 61, no. 4, p. 275- 

347.

Kesler, T. L., 1970, Hydrothermal kaolinization in Michoacan, 

Mexico: Clays and Clay Minerals, v. 18, no. 2, p. 121- 

124.

Kirn, G. R., Kirn, I. S., Pak, M. U., and Shin, G. T., 1971, 

[Metasomatic zonality of low-temperature hydrothermal 

secondary quartzites and argillaceous rocks with alunite] : Chijil Kwa Chiri, v. 11, no. 3, p. 21-25 (In Korean. 

English abs. in Chem. Abs., 1972, v. 76, no. 14, p. 154, 

item 74817n.)
WORLD NONBAUXITE ALUMINUM RESOURCES—ALUNITE A33

King, D., 1953, Origin of alunite deposits at Pidinga, South 

Australia: Econ. Geology, v. 48, no. 8, p. 689-703.

Kirova, T. V., 1959 [Some secondary quartzites of the orebearing part of the Altai and the chemical nature of 

their formation]: Leningrad Gornogo Inst. Zapiski, v. 

35, no. 2, p. 214-226. (In Russian. English abs. in Chem. 

Abs., 1960, v. 54, col. 8499, item h.)

Kleinhans, R. E., 1948, The light-metals industries in China: 

U.S. Bur. Mines Mineral Trade Notes, v. 26, no. 2, 

Spec. Supp. 23, 18 p.

Knizek, J. 0., and Fetter, H., 1950, The refractory properties 

of alunite: British Ceramic Soc. Trans., v. 49, p. 202- 

285.

Knopf, Adolph, 1916, Some cinnabar deposits in western 

Nevada: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 620, p. 59-68.

Kolessar, Joseph, 1970, Geology and copper deposits of the 

Tyrone district, in New Mexico Geol. Soc., Guidebook of 

the Tyrone-Big Hatchet Mountains-Florida Mountains 

region—New Mexico Geol. Soc. Field Conf., 21st, 1970: 

Socorro, New Mexigo Bur. Mines and Mineral Resources, 

p. 127-132.

Koukharsky, Magdalena, and Mirre, J. C., 1976, Mi Vida 

prospect—A porphyry copper-type deposit in northwestern Argentina: Econ. Geology, v. 71, no. 5, p. 849-863.

Kiihnel, R. A., Roster, F., and Roorda, H. J., 1975, Alunite 

and associated clay minerals from Riazza, Province 

Segovia, central Spain [abs.], in Internat. Clay Conf., 

Mexico City, 1975, Abstracts: Mexico City, Mexico 

Univ., Inst Geologia, and Assoc. Internat. fitude Argiles, 

p. 158-159.

Kuthan, Miroslav, 1956, [Post-volcanic activity in the region 

of Viglasska Huta (Kalinka)]: Geol. Prace, v. 5, p. 3- 

36. (In Slovak and German. English abs. in Chem. Abs., 

1956, v. 50, col. 11186, item f.)

Lacroix, Alfred, 1962, Mineralogie de la France et de ses 

anciens territoires d'outre mer * * *: Paris, A. Blanchard, v. 4, 923 p. (Originally published 1893-1913 

under title: Mineralogie de la France et de ses colonies * * *, 5 v.)

Larsen, E. S., 1913, Alunite in the San Cristobal quadrangle, 

Colorado: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 530, p. 179-183.

Laudermilk, J. D., 1935, Soda-alunite from Molokai, Hawaiian Islands: Am. Mineralogist, v. 20, no. 1, p. 57-58.

Leedy, W. P., 1971, Hydrothermal alteration of volcanic 

rocks in the Red Mountains district of San Juan Mountains, Colorado: Buffalo, N.Y., State Univ. New York, 

Buffalo, unpub. Ph.D. thesis, 165 p.

Leinz, Viktor, 1933, Alunit-diaspor neubildungen in liparitischen tuff en von Sumatra: Geol. Rundschau, v. 23a 

(Salomon-Calvi Festschrift), p. 18-20.

Li, C. Y., and Hsieh, C. Y., 1946, Potential sources of aluminum in southwestern China: Am. Inst. Mining and 

Metall. Engineers Tech. Pub. 1938, 6 p.

Livingston, V. E., Jr., 1971, Geology and mineral resources 

of King County, Washington: Washington Div. Mines 

and Geology Bull. 63, 200 p. (See section on alunite, 

p. 35-51.)

Lodder, Willem, 1966, Gold-alunite deposits and zonal wallrock alteration near Rodalquilar, SE Spain: Amsterdam 

Univ. Geol. Inst., Mededel. 318, 93 p.

Lombardi, Gianni, 1967, Ricerche su rocce alunitiche del

settore di Tolfa-Allumiere (Lazio): Period. Mineralogia,

v. 36, no. 2, p. 399-450. 

Lombardi, Gianni, Mattias, Pierpaolo, and Uras, Ivo, 1977,

Guidebook for the excursions in Italy: Internat. Kaolin

Symposium, 8th, Madrid-Rome, Sept. 7-16, 1977, 45 p. 

Lombardi, Gianni, and Sheppard, S. M. F., 1977, Petrographic and isotopic studies of the altered acid volcanics of the Tolfa-Cerite area, Italy; the genesis of

the clays: Clay Minerals, v. 12, no. 2, p. 147-162. 

Lopez, W. X., 1977, Three methods to produce alumina from

alunite, in Light Metals 1977: New York, Am. Inst.

Mining, Metall. and Petroleum Engineers, Metall. Soc.,

v. 2, p. 49-58. 

Loughlin, G. F., 1916, Recent alunite developments near

Marysvale and Beaver, Utah: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull.

620, p. 237-270. 

Love, J. D., and Blackmon, P. D., 1962, Alunite on Aspen

Mountain, southwestern Wyoming: U.S. Geol. Survey

Prof. Paper 450-D, p. D11-D15. 

Levering, T. S., and others, 1949, Rock alteration as a guide

to ore—East Tintic district, Utah: Econ Geology Mon.

I, 64 p. 

Lyle, Don, 1977, Alunite lode discovered in high country:

Rocky Mountain News, v. 119, no. 106 (Aug. 6, 1977),

p. 94. 

Markov, P. S., 1939, [Kazakhstan alunites, a new industrial

raw material base]: Sovetskaya Geologiya, v. 9, nos. 10-

II, p. 67-77. (In Russian.)

Martin Vivaldi, J. L., 1963, The bentonites of Cabo de Gata 

(southeast Spain) and of Guelaya volcanic province 

(north Morocco), in Bradley, W. F., ed., Clays and Clay 

Minerals—Proceedings of the Eleventh National Conference on Clays and Clay Minerals * * * Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, August 13-17, 1962: New York, The 

Macmillan Co., p. 327-357.

Millot, Georges, 1970, Geology of clays—Weathering, sedimentology, geochemistry. Translated from the French by 

W. R. Farrand and Helene Paquet: New York, SpringerVerlag, 429 p.

Moretti, Attilio, and Pieruccini, Umberto, 1969, Italian kaolin deposits, in Proceedings of Symposium I, kaolin deposits of the world, A—Europe: Internat. Geol. Gong., 

23d, Prague, 1968, Rept., v. 15, p. 201-209.

Naboko, S. I., 1958, [Changes occurring in rocks in the zones 

of active volcanism]: Akad. Nauk SSSR, Lab. Vulkanol., 

Trudy, no. 13, p. 120-136. (In Russian. English abs. in 

Chem. Abs., 1959, v. 53, cols. 16849-16850.)

————1963, Conditions of the present-day hydrothermal 

metamorphism of volcanic rocks: Internat. Geology Review, v. 5, no. 7, p. 850-858.

National Materials Advisory Board, 1970, Processes for extracting alumina from nonbauxite ores: Natl. Research 

Council, Natl. Materials Advisory Board NMAB-278, 

88 p.

Negretti, G. C., Lombardi, Gianni, and Morbidelli, Lucio, 

1966, Le manifestazioni volcaniche acide del settore 

Civitavecchiese-Tolfetano: Rome Univ. Inst. Mineralogia 

e Petrografia Pub. 69, 172 p.

Overstreet, W. C., Stoeser, D. B., Overstreet, E. F., and 

Goudarzi, G. H., 1977, Tertiary laterite of the As Sarat 

Mountains, Asir Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: 

Saudi Arabia Directorate General Mineral Resources, 

Mineral Resources Bull. 21, 30 p., 1 pi., scale 1:100,000.
A34 GEOLOGY AND RESOURCES OF ALUMINUM

Palache, Charles, Herman, Harry, and Frondel, Clifford, 1951, 

Halides, nitrates, borates, carbonates, sulfates, phosphates * * *, v. 2 of D ana's system of mineralogy, 7th 

ed., revised: New York, John Wiley and Sons, 1124 p.

Parker, R. L., 1962, Isomorphous substitution in natural and 

synthetic alunite: Am. Mineralogist, v. 47, nos. 1-2, p. 

127-136.

Parkinson, Gerald, 1971, Alunite ore, though low-grade, can 

now be treated to yield alumina and fertilizers: Eng. 

and Mining Jour., v. 172, no. 6, p. 108-109.

———— 1974, Golden pilot plant points way to 500,000-tpy

alumina-from-alunite mine and plant in Utah: Eng. and

Mining Jour., v. 175, no. 8, p. 75-78. 

Phalen, W. C., 1917, Potash salts: U.S. Geol. Survey Mineral

Resources of the United States, 1915, pt. 2, Nonmetals,

p. 95-133. 

Pittman, E. F., 1901, The mineral resources of New South

Wales: Sydney, New South Wales Geol. Survey, 487 p.

(See the chapter "Alunite or alumstone," p. 415-420.) 

Pratt, W. P., McKnight, E. T., and DeHon, R. A., 1969,

Geologic map of the Rico quadrangle, Dolores and Montezuma Counties, Colorado: U.S. Geol. Survey Geol.

Quad. Map GQ-797, scale 1:24,000. 

Preus, Nordal, 1911, A new mineral and a new source of

potassium sulphate: Eng. and Mining Jour., v. 91, p. 261. 

Radonova, T. G., and Velinov, L, 1970, The alunite facies of

the secondary quartzites in the Srednogorian zone, in

Pouba, Zdenek, and Stemprok, Miroslav, eds., Problems

of hydrothermal ore deposition—the origin, evolution

and control of ore-forming fluids: Internat. Union Geol.

Sci., ser. A, no. 2 (Symposium, Internat. Assoc. on the

Genesis of Ore Deposits, St. Andrews, Scotland, 1967),

p. 368-372. 

Radulescu, Dan, and Dimitrescu, Radu, 1966, Mineralogia

topografica a Romaniei: [Bucharest,] Editura Academiei

Republicii Socialiste Romania, 376 p. 

Ransome, F. L., 1907, The association of alunite with gold

in the Goldfield district, Nevada: Econ. Geology, v. 2,

no. 7, p. 667-692.

————1909, The geology and ore deposits of Goldfield, 

Nevada: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 66, 258 p.

Ratte, J. C., 1964, Alunite, in U.S. Geol. Survey, Mineral and 

water resources of Colorado: U.S. 88th Gong., 2d sess., 

Senate Comm. Interior and Insular Affairs, Comm. 

Prints, p. 155-157.

Raymahashay, B. C., 1968, A geochemical study of rock alteration by hot springs in the Paint Pot Hill area, Yellowstone Park: Geochim. et Cosmochim. Acta, v. 32, no. 

5, p. 499-522.

Ross, C. S., Bergquist, H. R., Monroe, W. H., Fahey, J. J., 

and Ross, Malcolm, 1968, Natroalunite in Upper Cretaceous sedimentary rocks, north-central Texas: Jour. 

Sed. Petrology, v. 38, no. 4, p. 1155-1165.

Ross, C. S., and Kerr, P. F., 1934, Halloysite and allophane: 

U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 185-G, p. 135-148.

Rusinov, V. L., 1966, [Alunitization processes in some areas of 

young volcanism], in Metasomaticheskie izmeneniya 

bokovikh porod i ikh rol v rudoobrazovanii: Moscow, 

Nedra, p. 258-269. (In Russian.)

Schmidt, R. G., 1963, Geology and ore deposits of the Cuyuna 

North Range, Minnesota: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

407, 96 p.

Schmidt, R. G., Clark, B. B., and Bernstein, R., 1975, A 

search for sulfide-bearing areas using LANDSAT-1 data 

and digital image-processing techniques, in Proceedings 

of the NASA Earth Resources Survey Symposium, 

Houston, Texas, June 1975: U.S. Natl. Aeronautics and 

Space Admin. Tech. Memo. TM X-58168, v. 1-B, p. 

1013-1027.

Schoen, Robert, White, D. E., and Hemley, J. J., 1974, Argillization by descending acid at Steamboat Springs, 

Nevada: Clays and Clay Minerals, v. 22, no. 1, p. 1-22.

Schrader, F. C., 1913, Alunite in Patagonia, Arizona, and 

Bovard, Nevada: Econ. Geology, v. 8, p. 752-767.

————1915, Mineral deposits of the Santa Rita and Patagonia Mountains, Arizona, with contributions by J. M. 

Hill: U.S. Geol. Survey Bull. 582, 373 p. (See section 

on alunite, p. 361-364.)

Serna-Isaza, M. J., 1971, Geology and geochemistry of Calico 

Peak, Dolores County, Colorado: Golden, Colo., Colorado 

School Mines, unpub. M.S. thesis, 87 p.

Seyhan, Ismail, 1969, Kaolin deposits of Turkey, in Proceedings of Symposium I, Kaolin deposits of the world. B— 

Oversea countries: Internat. Geol. Gong., 23d, Prague, 

1968, Rept., v. 16, p. 43-51.

Shabad, Theodore, 1976, Soviet experiment in aluminum 

fails: New York Times, May 8, sec. 3, p. 5.

Sheridan, M. F., and Royse, C. F., Jr., 1970, Alunite; a new 

occurrence near Wickenburg, Arizona: Am. Mineralogist, 

v. 55, nos. 11-12, p. 2016-2022.

Shurtz, R. F., 1951, A hydrothermal kaolinite deposit in 

west Texas: Jour. Geology, v. 59, no. 1, p. 60-65.

Sillitoe, R. H., 1973, The tops and bottoms of porphyry copper deposits: Econ. Geology, v. 68, no. 6, p. 799-815.

Simons, F. S., 1974, Geologic map and sections of the Nogales and Lochiel quadrangles, Santa Cruz County, Arizona: U.S. Geol. Survey Misc. Inv. Map 1-762, 9 p., 1 

pi., scale 1:48,000.

Sokoloff, V. P., 1964, The mineral industry of the U.S.S.R.: 

U.S. Bur. Mines Minerals Yearbook, 1963, v. 4, p. 749- 

778.

Steiner, A., 1953, Hydrothermal rock alteration at Wairakei, 

New Zealand: Econ. Geology, v. 48, p. 1-13.

Stephenson, L. W., 1946, Alunite at Woodbine-Eagle Ford 

contact in northeastern Texas: Am. Assoc. Petroleum 

Geologists Bull., v. 30, no. 10, p. 1764-1771.

Steven, T. A., Lipman, P. W., Hail, W. J., Jr., Barker, Fred, 

and Luedke, R. G., compilers, 1974, Geologic map of the 

Durango quadrangle, southwestern Colorado: U.S. Geol. 

Survey Misc. Inv. Map 1-764, scale 1:250,000.

Steven T. A., and Ratte, J. C., 1960, Geology and ore deposits of the Summitville district, San Juan Mountains, 

Colorado: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 343, 70 p., 9 

pis.

Stringham, Bronson, 1963, Hydrothermal alteration in the 

southeast part of the Frisco quadrangle, Beaver County, 

Utah: Utah Geol. and Mineralog. Survey Spec. Studies 

4, 21 p.

———— 1964, Alteration area south of the Horn Silver Mine, 

Beaver County, Utah: Utah Geol. and Mineralog. Survey Spec. Studies 9, 18 p.

————1967, Hydrothermal alteration near the Horn Silver 

Mine, Beaver County, Utah: Utah Geol. and Mineralog. 

Survey Spec. Studies 16, 35 p.
WORLD NONBAUXITE ALUMINUM RESOURCES—ALUNITE A35

Tabak B., Mauricio, 1969, Kaolin deposits of Chile, in Proceedings of Symposium I, Kaolin deposits of the world. 

B—Oversea countries: Internet. Geol. Gong., 23d, Prague, 

1968, Rept., v. 16, p. 89-96.

Thoenen, J. R., 1941, Alunite resources of the United States: 

U.S. Bur. Mines Rept. Inv. 3561, 48 p.

Thompson, D. L., 1976, Alumina and by-products from Utah 

alunite—the Alumet project, in Weiss, Alfred, ed., 

World mining and metals technology—Proceedings of 

the joint MMIJ— [Mining and Metall. Inst. of Japan] 

AIME meeting, Denver, Colo., U.S.A., September 1-3, 

1976: New York, Am. Inst. Mining, Metall. and Petroleum Engineers, v. 2, p. 681-684.

Tolun, Ra|it, 1974, Possibilities for the evaluation of Turkish alunites, in CENTO symposium on the mining & 

beneficiation of fertilizer minerals, held in Istanbul, 

November 19-24, 1973: Ankara, Turkey, Central Treaty 

Organization, p. 286-291.

Turneaure, F. S., 1960, A comparative study of major ore 

deposits of central Bolivia: Econ. Geology, v. 55, no. 2, 

p. 217-254, no. 3, p. 574-606.

Turner, H. W., 1898, Notes on rocks and minerals from 

California: Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., v. 5, p. 421-428.

Vadasz, Elemer, 1943, Alunit in den Ungarischen Bauxitvorkommnissen [Alunite in Hungarian bauxite]: Foldtani Kozlony, v. 73, p. 241-251.

Vanderburg, W. O., 1938, Reconnaissance of mining districts 

in Humboldt County, Nevada: U.S. Bur. Mines Inf. 

Circ. 6995, 54 p.

Vonsen, Magnus, 1947, Minerals at "The Geysers," Sonoma 

County, California: California Jour. Mines and Geology,

v. 42, no. 3, p. 287-293.

Walker, W. W., and Stevens, D. N., 1974, The Earth 

Sciences-National Southwire alunite-to-alumina project, 

in Forberg, Helge, ed., Light Metals 1974: New York, 

Am. Inst. Mining, Metall. and Petroleum Engineers, 

Metall. Soc., v. 3, p. 683-688.

Whitebread, D. H., 1976, Alteration and geochemistry of 

Tertiary volcanic rocks in part of the Virginia City 

quadrangle, Nevada: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 

936, 43 p.

Williams, David, 1936, Sulphur deposits of the Sierra de 

Gador, Province of Almeria, Spain: [London] Inst. 

Mining and Metallurgy Bull. 378, 29 p.

World Mining, 1977, Soviet Union and Iran agree to build 

large alumina from alunite plant: World Mining, v. 30, 

no. 1, p. 57.

Yih, L. F., 1931, The alunitization and pyrophyllitization of 

the rhyolite and tuff in some maritime districts of southeastern China: Academia Sinica Nat. Research Inst. of 

Geology Mem. 11, 58 p.

Yris Rovirosa, Nicolas, 1964, La alunita * * *: Mexico City, 

Nacional Financiera, S. A. Fideicomiso de Minerales No 

Metalicos, 190 p.

Zotov, A. V., 1967, Sovremennoye obrazovaniye alunita v 

kraternom ozere Kipyashcheye (vulkan Golovnina, o. Kunashir.) [Recent formation of alunite in the Kipyashcheye 

("Boiling") Crater Lake, Golovnin Volcano, Kunashir 

Island]: Akad. Nauk SSSR Doklady, v. 174, no. 3, p. 

671-674. (Translated by American Geological Institute 

as Acad. Sci. USSR, Doklady, Earth Sci. Sect., v. 174, 

p. 124-127.)

.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFF ICE: 1978 O—261-221/110