UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

J. A. Krug, Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

W. E. Wrather, Director

Bulletin 954-F

MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO

BY

PARKER D. TRASK AND JOSE RODRIGUEZ CABO, JR.

Prepared in cooperation with the 

UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE MEXICO, INSTITUTO DE GEOLOGIA

SECRETARIA DE LA ECONOMIA NACIONAL

DIRECCI6N GENERAL DE MINAS Y PETR6LEO

and COM1TE DIRECTIVO PARA LA INVESTIGATION DE LOS

RECURSOS MINERALES DE MEXICO

under the auspices of

INTERDEPARTMENTAL COMMITTEE ON SCIENTIFIC AND 

CULTURAL COOPERATION, DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Geologic Investigations in the American Republics, 1946 

(Pages 209-316)

UNITED STATES

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

WASHINGTON : 1948

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C.

Price 35 ;cents

CONTENTS

	Page 

Abstract____-_---_-_----------_----------______________________ 209

Introduction._____________________________________________________ 210

Acknowledgments- ____________________________________________ 210

Field work and scope of report._________________________________ 210

Past production of manganese ore.-.------__--__-___________.____._. 212

Reserves of manganese ore_ --_-__-_--_-----_______-___-___.-_____ 215

Economic factors influencing production of manganese ore in Mexico___ 217

Types of manganese deposits--__---_----_-_--__-__-__-_--________.._ 218

Fissure deposits_______________________________________________ 218

Silicified replacement deposits.._________________________________ 222

Limestone-replacement deposits._--__-_.-________________._ ____ 223

Tuff-replacement deposits._-__-.-----_---._.__._..._____._____. 224

Miscellaneous deposits _________________________________________ 226

Descriptions of individual deposits.._------------_____---_______.____ 228

Baja California (by Ivan F. Wilson and Mario Veytia)_____________ 228

Lucifer mine (4)___--.___--_-_---._________._____________ 228

Navidad group (4a)___-_------____-__________________ 231

Palmas deposits (4b)_----_-_-_____--____-______._..__ 231

Eureka claim, Isla San Marcos (5)_________________________ 232

Azteca deposits (6)___---_-----._-.------__________________ 233

Gavildn ore deposits (7)____________________________________ 234

Guadalupe deposits (7a) _----___-_-_____-____________ 236

Santa Isabel (San Nicolds) deposit (9)________----_---______ 237

San Juanico deposit (9a)____._--- _-__----_-__-_______ 238

Chihuahua ---------..-----------------------------.-------.- 238

Borregos area (1)__-__-___-------_--__-_--_---_-___________ 238

Consolidada deposit (la)_______________________________ 239

Santa Maria deposit (lg)---_--"--_______-----___________ 239

Refugio deposit (8)----------------------------..----------. 240

Casas Grandes area (9)____--____---_________-____-_______ 240

Don Cuco deposit (9a)----------------------_-------._- 240

Orizabena deposit (9c)____---_--______-..-______________ 241

Azatl&n veins (9d)._____---_--.___. ____________________ 241

Tapatia deposit (9e).__--...--_.--.---_--_--.-.-.-.__._ 241

Magistral mine area (26)___--___---______-__---___---_-____ 241

Zacate mine (27)_.________....-.---._-..._...-....-.-.._._ 242

Chino deposits (27a)____.-__-__._.__.___-.-..___..___._ 242

Organos deposits (29)______________________________________ 243

Socorro deposit (29c)_________________________________ 244

Escondida deposit (29d) -------..-----.-.--..----._.-. 244

Talamantes manganese district (31) (by Ivan F. Wilson and

Victor S. Rocha)..-----'-----------------.--------------- 244

Matamoros deposits (32).___-___--_-_.__-_____---_____---__ 247

Nuevo Vesuvio deposit (32g)____-_.__.___---_._____._.__ 247

in
IV CONTENTS

Descriptions of individual deposits Continued rage

Coahuila._____-__----_-_--__-___-_____.____________.._________ 248

Lucero deposit (2)________________________ ________________ 248

Baluarte deposit (3)_____---_----___-_.-_-_-_--_____.-._____ 248

Candela deposits (6)_______________________________________ 249

Eureka deposits (7)_.-----_-----_________-__-__..__________ 250

Durango-_____---__-------_-----_--____-_-___-__-_____________ 251

Dinamita deposits (2)______________________________________ 251

Sarnosa deposit (2b)___________________:_______________ 251

Nena deposit (2e)._..__-----__________.__________.__._ 252

Luz deposit (2g)___-_--_-__________________..'_________ 253

Negra deposit (2m)_---___---__--___-__________________ 253

Picacho de La Candela deposits (3)__________________________ 254

Esperanza deposit (3b)_________________________________ 255

Cfa. Minera Central deposit (3c)_____'___________________ 255

Guadalupe deposit (3e)_______________________________ 255

Guanajuato.__________________________________________________ 256

Victoria mine (2):_:__________--____-___-____________.._____ 256

Protectora deposit (3)___-__--___________-_.^___._________ 257

Guanajuato deposit (3a)___----_-_-__-_-_--________-____ 257

Guerrero __________ -__-_____-____-_______-_-_____________.____ 258

Buenavista region (4)______________________________________ 258

India deposit (4g)____:___--__---_-_---_-__..___________ 258

Carmen deposit (4h)____-_---__-_--_----______-____---- 259

Uni6n deposit (4n)_____-_-_-_------_---------_-_-_-_-__ 259

Marfa deposits (4p)_________________'_________________ 269

Consuelo deposits (5)___-:--_----_---_-_-_ -__-____-._______ 260

Lucky Nina deposit (5a)_______-__-----_--____-_____-__ 260

Hidalgo._____________________^_______________________________ 261

 Jacala deposits (1)__._......__::._..-- ---..-.._.---...-._ 261

Jalisco ______________________-------_--------------__---__--__ 262

Mezcala deposits (2) _______________________________________ 262

Progreso deposit (3)______-___--._-----.-------..--.-..--._ 262

M^xico.___.__-_-_ _. 263

Guadalupana deposits (2).__-_.-.__------..----.._-__.____- 263

'JDulco N"omtore deposit C2t>) _____________________________ 2O4

Maria del Consuelo deposit (2e)_..----------------------- 264

Tiempos Futures deposits (2g)__________________________ 265

Nayarit.----------------------------------------------------- 265

os deposit (1) ______________________________________ 265

-------------------.--------------------------- 265

Poderosa deposit (1) _____________ _______-_-________________ 265

Cuajilote deposit (8)_____----------...---------------------- 266

San Lviis Potosf- _____________-_-_---__--_-_-------_-__---_--__ 267

Montana de Manganeso mine (l) (By Ivan r. Wilson and Victor

 S.-Rocha)_-_.---..._--.------.----------------------- 267

Cruz deposit (lb)._...... .. -. ------------------- 271

San Antonio deposit (3) _______---___---_--------__-_--_---- 272 " Victoria deposit (4)__...----------------------------------- 272
CONTENTS V

Descriptions of individual deposits Continued Page

Sonora_--___-_---_---__ _-_-_---_-_____-----..-_____-_-_____-__ 273

Independencia deposit (2)___________________________________ 273

Carr deposits (3).__._____--__._________-_____-_____._._._. 273

Gamer deposits (5)_________________________________________ 274

Shangrild, claim (5a)___________________________________ 274

San Antonio (5c), Victoria (5d), Spirit 1, and Spirit 2 (5e)

claims..--.-________________________________________ 275

Antillas deposit (6)___-_----..--___-_-__-_______________.___ 275

Guadalupana deposits (8)__________________________________ 276

Ojo Negro deposit (8d). -__.__..._--____._.._.__.__... 276

Zacatecas __.__--_-.____________'___________________________._. 277

Hercules deposit (1)_____-----__-_-____--__--_-___-_____-._ 277

Tinaja deposit (5)________-----_---____------_-______--_-__ 277

Manganita deposit (6)_____-----_-----_--__-_----__---__- __ 278

Abundancia mine (7) (By Ivan F. Wilson and Victor S. Rocha).. 279

San Felipe de Jesus deposit (8)_-__-____---_---_______----_-._ 282

Tenango deposit (8c)___-__----------_-_-..__--------_-_ 283

Negra deposit (9)__...___._..______._.__...__.._____._._.__ 284

Tinaja deposit (11).______:_______________-_______._-_-___. 284

Annotated bibliography of Mexican manganese deposits-_______________ 285

Sources of unpublished information._-_--_-_-_-_-___-_-___--.__---___ 289

Chart of metric equivalents.._______________________________________ 313

Index____________________________________________________________ 315

ILLUSTRATIONS

Plate 39. Index map of Mexico, showing distribution of manganese 

deposits._-__--__-__-_-_--__---___-_-___-________ Face

TABLES

214

Table 1. Manganese production in Mexico through 1945. (By Ivan F. 

Wilson)__---_-----_-__--_____-_-___-_-_-_-_____-_-____

2. Manganese production in Mexico by States, up to April 1, 1943_

3. Reserves of manganese ore in Mexico by States._____________

4. Partial chemical analyses of manganese ore from the Talamantes 

distri ct ___-----__-____---__-____-_-_---_____-_-___-____

5. Detailed chemical analyses of manganese ore from four areas in 

Mexico__ _------_-__-._-__-____________________-_-__

6. Chemical analysis of a sample of psilomelane from the Talamantes district.________----___-_____-_-___________-_-__

7. Chemical analyses of minor constituents/and impurities in the 

Lucifer ore.____-___-__--_..--_______-_-______-_________

8. Spectrographic analysis of a composite sample of Lucifer ore__

213

214

216

220

220

220

225

225
VI CONTENTS

Page 

Table 9. Chemical analyses of two samples of Milagro ore. ____________ 250

10. Production of manganese ore from the Montana de Manganese

mine, for the period 1923-33_-.__--_______-___-_.______ 268

11. Descriptions of eight workings in the Montana de Manganese

mine_______--___-___--___-----_--_--__---_-_________ 269

12. Minerals found in the Montana de Manganese ore___________ 270

13. Chemical analyses of manganese and silica in samples of Montana

de Manganeso ore.________-_-_-___-_--------_-.---_--___ 271

14. Descriptions of the shafts in the Abundancia manganese mine.- 280

15. Chemical analyses of manganese and silica in samples of Abundancia ore_. _ _--__-__-__--__---------__--_-___.________ 281

16. Chemical analyses of Abundancia ore shipped in February and

April 1944___-____-_______-_-___-_--__________.________ 282

17. Location, ownership, production, reserves, and type of individual

manganese deposits in Mexico.__________________________ 291
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO

By PARKER D. TRASK and JOSE RpDRfouEz CABO, JR.

ABSTRACT

Manganese has been reported from 335 deposits in 20 of the 30 States and 

Territories of Mexico. The production of manganese ore prior to 1942, according 

to published figures, amounted to about 54,000 tons. For the year 1942 production rose to 35,000 tons, for 1943 to 70,503 tons, and for 1944 to 80,671 tons; 

but for 1945 it dropped to a little less than 52,000 tons, and during 1946 it continued to drop. Up to the end of 1941 Chihuahua had produced about half the 

manganese ore from Mexico; San Luis Potosf produced about 17 percent, and 

Baja California and Zacatecas each about 10 percent. In 1942 Baja California 

became the chief producer; Durango, Chihuahua, and Zacatecas each yielded 

somewhat less. During that year the ore came from 76 deposits, of which only 

30 yielded more than 500 tons each.

Reserves approximate 1,500,000 tons of inferred ore, of which about half 

contains more than 42 percent of manganese and the rest approximately 30 percent. This ore is distributed as follows: Baja California, 700,000 tons; Chihuahua, 285,000 tons; Zacatecas, 230,000 tons; Durango, 70,000 tons; San 

Luis Potosf, 65,000 tons; Sonora, 28,000 tons; Coahuila, 27,000 tons; and lesser 

amounts in 13 other States.

The deposits are of four main types: (1) fissure deposits, which consist of manganese oxides and calcite in fissures in volcanic rocks (found principally in Chihuahua and Sonora) and (la) also of thin stringers of manganese oxides widely 

distributed through a fractured basalt flow (found in the Gavildn deposit on 

Punta Concepci6n, Baja California); (2) silicified replacement deposits, consisting 

of concentrations of manganese oxides and silicates in siliceous replacement 

zones in fractured tuffaceous and volcanic rocks (found mainly in Zacatedas,. 

San Luis Potosf, and the southern part of the State of Mexico); (3) limestone 

replacement deposits, composed of manganese silicates and oxides in limestone 

adjacent or close to granitic stocks (found in eastern Durango, eastern Coahuila, 

and northern Guerrero); and (4) tuff replacement deposits, formed of manganese 

oxides in bedded tuffs (found principally in one deposit, the Lucifer, near Santa 

Rosalfa, Baja California).

The ore of type 1 averages from 25 to 35 percent of manganese and has to be 

sorted, mostly by hand, to bring the grade up to 40 percent of manganese. That 

of type la contains from 2 to 10 percent of manganese and must be concentrated 

mechanically. Type 2 ore is high in silica and must be sorted carefully to keep 

the silica content below 15 percent. Type 3 ore is low in silica, but it contains 

either somewhat less than 40 percent of manganese or too much lead and zinc to 

be marked, so it must be specially treated. Type 4 ore is marketed as mined, as 

it contains 45 percent of manganese and only 5 or 6 percent of silica. The ore of 

types 3 and 4 tends to contain more than 20 percent of material finer than 20 meshj 

which increases the difficulty in marketing it.

209
210 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

Most of the manganese ore is found in a few large ore deposits, notably the 

Lucifer (type 4) and Gavilan (type la) deposits in Baja California and the 

TaJamantes (type 1) deposit in southern Chihuahua, each with reserves of more 

than 125,000 tons. Each of several deposits of type 2 in central Zacatecas has 

reserves of 10,000 to 50,000 tons of ore containing about 40 percent of manganese 

and from 10 to 20 percent of silica. The Sarnosa and Luz deposits, near Torre6n, 

Coahuila, and the Milagro deposit (type 3) in eastern Coahuila have 10,000 to 

25,000 tons of ore each, containing 38 or 40 percent of manganese and about 5 

percent of silica. Most of the other deposits have reserves of only a few thousand 

tons of ore or less.

INTRODUCTION

This report is the result of an investigation of the manganese deposits 

of Mexico made by the Geological Survey, of the United States 

Department of the Interior, in cooperation with the Direcci6n General 

de Minas y Petr61eo, the Institute de Geologia, and the Comite 

Directive para la Investigacidn de los E-ecursos Minerales de Mexico, 

agencies of the Mexican Government. Parker D. Trask undertook 

the study for the Geological Survey, and Jos6 Rodriguez Cabo, Jr., 

for the Mexican Government. The work was done as part of the 

program for cooperation with the American Republics sponsored by 

the Interdepartmental Committee for Scientific and Cultural Cooperation of the United States Department of State, and was greatly facilitated by the support given it by the Hon. George S. Messersmith, 

Ambassador of the United States to Mexico.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Special acknowledgment is due to Mr. Floyd D. Ransom, Special 

Representative of the Foreign Economic Administration of the United

States Government, and to his associates Messrs, James F. McGee

and William B. Kane, for their cordial cooperation during the investigation. Grateful appreciation is expressed to Ing. German Garcla 

Lozano, Chief of the Direccidn General de Minas y Petr6leo, for his 

active interest and Support of the work, and to Ing. Teodoro Flores, 

Acting Director of the Institute de Geologia, for his many COUrtesieS, 

especially in providing laboratory and office facilities needed for the 

successful completion of the project. Valuable assistance was also

rendered by D. F, BfeWtt, W, F. Foshag, j. v N. Dorr 2d w.D

Johnston, Jr., and Ivan F. Wilson, of the Geological bUTVfiy, Ili» 

authors are particularly grateful to Carl Fries, Jr., of the Geological 

Survey, for his assistance in editing the manuscript for publication.

FIELD WORK AND SCOPE OP REPORT

The purpose of the investigation was to obtain quickly a general 

idea of the possibility of increasing the production of manganese ore 

in Mexico, because of the urgent need for this metal in the United
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 211

States in 1943. Field work was carried on by the writers for 5 months, 

between February and June 1943. Obviously, it was impossible to 

visit all the ore bodies on record within the time available, but an 

attempt was made to examine the more actively mined deposits and 

to obtain as much information as possible about those that could not 

be examined. Records were assembled of some'335 deposits in 20 

States of the Republic. All the information is presented that could 

be obtained or was available up to July 1, 1943, on these Mexican 

manganese deposits. In addition, results are given of detailed studies 

of the larger Lucifer, Gavildn, Talamantes, Montana de Manganeso, 

and Abundancia ore deposits. These studies were made in 1944 by 

I. F. Wilson in cooperation with Mario Veytia and V. S. Rocha, 

subsequent to the authors' visit to those particular deposits.

Manganese is most widely distributed in the State of Chihuahua, 

which has 90 deposits; Zacatecas is next with 33 deposits, then in 

order are Sonora with 29, Durango with 29, and Baja California with 

22. (See pi. 39.) Of these deposits, about 150 were visited by the 

writers and 10 others were examined by I. F. Wilson and D. E. White, 

of the United States Geological Survey, in cooperation with Mexican 

geologists. The ore from 40 other deposits was seen either in hand 

specimens or in stock piles. Information on many other deposits 

was obtained through personal discussions with competent observers, 

who are listed on pages 289-290. Other sources of information were 

files of the Metals Reserve Co. (10) in Mexico, a report made in 1938 

by the American Consular staff in Mexico (2), and a map of the manganese deposits of Mexico prepared by the Institute de Geologia and 

published in 1941 by the Direction General de Minas y Petroleo (8).

Previously published descriptions of manganese deposits in Mexico 

are relatively few. The bibliography in this report gives the known 

references to Mexican manganese deposits. Throughout the text of 

the present report, the date in parentheses after an author's name 

refers to the particular item in the bibliography (p. 285). Thus 

"Wallace (19lie)" refers to the third paper published in 1911 by 

Wallace, which is listed as "Wallace, H. V., Manganese in Lower 

California; Min. and Sci. Press, vol..4,03, pp. 201-202, 1911."

Further information on the deposits has been obtained from unpublished sources. A numbered list of these is given on page 289. 

In the text and in table 17 these sources are referred to by name or 

number.

The location, ownership, production, reserves, and type of each 

manganese deposit known in Mexico are given in table 17, and the 

geographical distribution of the deposits is shown in plate 39. In 

this plate the deposits are arranged numerically by States, the numbers running consecutively from north to south, and throughout the

789981 48 2
212 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

present report a numerical code based on the State name and number 

is used to identify the deposits. In many areas where several deposits 

occur within a few kilometers of one another, it has not been practicable to assign to each deposit a separate number on the map, and consequently a single number is used to represent all the deposits in a given 

area, each being identified by an alphabetical suffix. Thus "Dorrango 

2b" refers to deposit b in area 2 in the State of Durango. Area 2 

is the Dinamita district in eastern Durango, and deposit b is the 

Sarnosa mine in that area (see table 17 and pi. 39). In the section 

below describing the individual deposits of the different States, the 

State name is omitted in referring to the deposit number. (See p. 228.)

PAST PRODUCTION OF MANGANESE ORE

Mexico has never produced large quantities of manganese ore. 

The total tonnage produced up to the end of 1945, according to 

statistics published by the Mexican Government, was about 215,000 

metric tons. (See table 1.) These statistics are not complete for all 

years, nor, for some years, do they indicate clearly whether they are 

for all ore produced or for only that exported. The last column in 

table 1 gives the maximum tonnage reported for each year, compiled 

from all available sources. The total tonnage of ore produced 

amounts to some 292,000 tons, whose average grade is estimated to 

have been 35 or 40 percent of manganese. The published data for 

the production from the individual mines are presented in table 17, 

and for the individual States in table 2.

The Ore produced prior tO 1942, as indicated in table 2, came from 

seven States. Some 56,650 metric tons were reported for Chihuahua, 

17,500 tons from San Luis Potosl, 10,000 tons for Zacatecas, 9,800 

tons for Baja California, 5,500 tons for Sonora, 2,000 tons for Coahuila, 

and 1,500 tons for Durango. The largest producing mines or districts 

up to that year were the Talamantes district (Chihuahua 31) in southern Chihuahua, with 45,000 tons; the Montana de Manganeso mine 

(San Luis Potosi 1) in north-central San LuiS PotOSl, With 12,500 tOUS,'

the Zacate-Chino area (Chihuahua 27 and 27a) in central Chihuahua,

with 12,000 tons; the Negra deposit (Zacatecas 9) near Fresnillo in 

northern Zacatecas, Witn 10,ooo WUQ-, ^o a^u^ Wrxo (Baia California 7) on Punta Concepci6n in Baja California, on the west side

of the Gulf of California, with an estimated 9,500 tons; the Borregos 

deposits (Chihuahua 1) in northern Chihuahua, with 3,500 tons; and 

the Antillas (Sonora 6) and Carr (Sonora 3) deposits in northern

Sonora, each with about 2,500 tons. The Talamantes district had

produced steadily for more than 20 years before 1942, and nearly all 

its ore had gone to the steel plant in Monterrey, State of NueYO Le6n,
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 213

TABLE 1. Manganese production in Mexico through 1945, in metric tons

[By Ivan F. Wilson]

Year

1897....................

1898 

1904.......... ...........

1905 

1916.... ..

1917.. 

1918. ,.

1919.. .................. .

1920 

1921. ................... .

1922... ..

1923 

1924 

1925 

1926.-. .

1927.... ...... .......... .

1928 .

1929.....................

1930... .. ....... ..

1931 ..

1932... ...........

1933..... ...........

1934....... .

1935.. 

1936... ...........

1937 ..

1938... 

1939. ......... 

1940 

1941... 

1942 

1943... 

1944........... ..........

1945 

Total 

Official Mexican Government 

statistics 1

Manganese ore 4

20 

150

73 

2,878

2,794

1,137

559 

700 

2,246 

1,800 

3,333 

3,299 

« 1, 000

661 

650 

732 

731 

306 

573

3,377 

3,121 

1,902 

1,241

2,156

is 56, 285 

71, 235 

"51,949

214, 908

Metal 

content s

"*"

338 10306 

10573 

859 

1,363

1,337 

1,480 

816 

547 

1,696 

979 

11, 493 

22, 946 

29, 070 

18, 503

92, 306

Exports, 

metal 

content «

17 

117 

27 

307 

979

1,447

Mineral 

Eesources 

oftheU.S.2

Foreign 

Economic 

Administrations

Maximum 

reported for 

each year

Manganese ore

57 

58

396 

350 

5,335 

6,396 

' 2, 972

8508 

2,246 

1,800 

3,333 

3,299 

861 

661 

650 

732 

731 

700± 

573 

664 

3, 217 

3,337

1317

12117 

1227 

12307 

H979

40, 323

35, 000± 

70, 503 

80, 671

186, 174

57 

58 

20 

150 

396 

350 

5,335 

6,396 

2,972 

559 

700 

2,246 

1,800 

3,333 

3,299 

1,000 

661 

650 

732 

731 

700 

573 

11 2, 045 

3,217 

3,337 

3,121 

1,902 

1,241 

11 4, 038 

2,156 

35, 000 

70,503 

80, 671 

51, 949

291, 938

1 Data for 1904-05 and 1917-44 are from an unpublished table, Estadlstica sobre la production minero 

metalurgica en M6xico desde el ano 1521 a mayo de 1944, M6xico, Secrctarfa de la Economla National, 

Direction General de Minas y Petroleo, Oficina de Investigation, 11 August 1944. The data in this table 

are inconsistent, in that they are evidently based on tonnages of manganese ore to 1933, except for 1931, and 

on metal content from 1934 to 1944.

2 Mineral Resources of the U.S., and Minerals Yearbook. Data for 1916-22 are for Mexican exports to the 

United States. Data for 1923-36 are for total production, based on Mexican Government figures. Data for 

1937-41, though labeled "production," are the same as Mexican figures for exports only; moreover, they are 

based on metal content rather than on tonnage of ore and thus are not comparable to figures for previous 

years.

3 Unpublished data collected by representatives of the U. S. Foreign Economic Administration in Mexico.

4 Data for 1917-33 are from published tables in Anuario de Estadfstica Mincra, M6xico, Departamento de 

Minas. Data for 1936-39 are from Villafana, Andrfis, Estadfsticas mineras mexicanas, 1931-41, p. 67, Mexico, 

Secretarfa de la Economfa Nacional, Direction General de Minas y Petroleo, 1943. Data for 1941-45 are from 

Boletin de Minas y Petroleo, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 7-18, 1946.

 Data for 1931-41 are from Villafana, Andrgs, op. cit., p. 15. Data for 1941-44 are from unpublished table 

cited in footnote 1; also from published tables by Keignley, J. R., M6xico, in Minerals Review of Latin 

America, 1939-44; U. S. Bur. Mines, Foreign Minerals Survey, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 79, 82, October 1944. Data 

for 1945 are from unpublished figures of Oficina de Estadfstica Economica, Sccretaria de la Economla 

Nacional, Mexico.

6 Published in Boletin de Minas y Petroleo (see bibliography, p. 77 for numbers and pages); also in Villaana, Andr6s, op. cit., p. 43, where the figures are said to refer to exports.

' Based on published figure of 2,925 gross tons.

8 Based on published figure of 500 gross tons.

9 Anuario de Estadfstica Minera gives 861 tons.

'° These figures are evidently in error for metal content, since they are the same as those given for ore in 

the Anuario de Estadfstica Minera.

11 Approximate; calculated from figures for metal content, by assuming an average grade of 42 percent of 

manganese.

12 These figures are evidently in error for tonnages of ore, since they are the same as the Mexican Government figures for metal content.

" Of this amount, 608 tons consisted of manganese-ore concentrates. 

14 Of this amount, 415 tons consisted of manganese-ore concentrates.
214 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946 

TABLE 2. Manganese production-in Mexico by States, to Apr. 1, 1943 1

State

Tnlicpn

Mexico

Michoac&n

Puebla. ...........................

Total.......................

Production, in metric tons

Before 

1942

9,800 

56, 650 

2,000 

1,500

17, 500

5,500 

10,000

102, 950

1942

9,200 

6,400 

490 

8,225 

200 

300 

40 

100 

800

100

600

2,000 

50 

1,200 

6,300

36, 005

JanuaryMarch 

1943

3,500 

1,665 100' 

3,950 

300 

100

280

«

400

500 

100 

500 

5,320

16, 715

Total to 

April 1, 

1943

22, 500 

64, 715 

2,590 

13, 675 

500 

400 

40 

100 

1,080

100

1,000

20, 000 

150 

7,200 

21, 620

155, 670

Deposits that have produced manganese ore

Number

6 

23 

3 

9 

2 

7 

1 

1 

2

1

1

2 

1 

8 

9

76

Number 

that have 

produced 

more than 

500 metric 

tons

2 

11 

1 

3

1

1

2

3 

6

30

i These production figures are based largely on data supplied verbally by owners. At best they are 

approximations. Figures for Durango include about 1,000 tons produced in April and May 1943, from the 

Nena (Durango 2e) and Luz (Durango 2g) mines.

Most of the rest of the ore from Mexico WRS produced during World 

War I.

With the advent of World War II, the production of manganese 

ore increased sharply, and the tonnage produced in 1942, as compiled 

by Wilson from the files of the Foreign Economic Administration and 

presented in table 1, was approximately 35,000 metric tons, with an 

average manganese content of about 40 percent. Official records of 

the Mexican Government for the same year gave a production of only 

11,493 tons of metallic manganese, which for an average grade of 40

percent of manganese would correspond to about 23,700 metric tons

of ore.

Production during 1943, as compiled by the Foreign Economic 

Administration, was 70,503 metric tons. This ore averaged somewhat more than 40 percent of manganese. The maximum production 

in Mexico was reached in 1944, when, according to the Foreign Economic Administration, 80,671 metric tons were produced. This figure 

refers only to ore exported by Mexico to the United States and does 

not include ore that was sold to the steel company in Monterrey;

nor is it certain whether it includes all the ore shipped to the United

States from the Lucifer ore deposit in Lower California.

Ore produced during the early part of World War II, during 1942,
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

Prepared in cooperotion with the 

COMITE DIRECTIVO PARA LA INVESTIGACtON 

DE LOS RECURSOS MINERALES DE MEXICO BULLETIN 954 PLATE 39

Note: Numbers refer to deposits described

in toble 17 

Nota-. Los numeros se refieraa a las yacimientos

descritos en lo tot/la 17

Based on map of Mexico prepared 

by American Geographical Society

5OO Mites

500 Kilometres

INDEX MAP OF MEXICO, SHOWING DISTRIBUTION OF MANGANESE DEPOSITS 

MAPA INDICE DE MEXICO, OUE MUESTRA LA DISTRlBUCION DE LOS YACIMIENTOS DE MANGANESO 789981 O - 48 (Face page 214)
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 215

as shown in table 2, came from 15 States: Baja California, with 9,200 

tons; Durango, with 8,225 tons; Chihuahua and Zacatecas, each with 

more than 6,000 tons; San Luis Potosi, with 2,000 tons; Sonora, with 

1,200 tons; and Mexico, with nearly 1,000 tons. Minor amounts 

came from Coahuila, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, Nuevo 

Le6n, Puebla, and Sinaloa.

The loci of production changed, therefore, with the increased 

activity brought on by the war. Several of the-large producers of 

earlier years, such as the Montana de Manganese (San Luis Potosi 1) ; 

Negra (Zacatecas 9), and Antillas (Sonora 6) ore deposits, were 

largely depleted of visible high-grade ore, and in 1943 were producing 

at a relatively low rate. A few, such as the Carr (Sonora 3) and 

Gavilan (Baja California 7) ore deposits, were good producers in 

1942. Most of the war-inspired increase of production came, however, from deposits that previously had yielded little or no ore. The 

principal one of these was the Lucifer (Baja California 4) near Santa 

Rosalia in Baja California, on the west side of the Gulf of California. 

This deposit is said to have yielded 9,000 tons of ore in 1942 and has 

produced at the rate of 1,500 to 2,500 tons a month since then, yielding a total of 87,031 tons up to January 1,1946. Another good deposit 

is the Abundancia or Colorado (Zacatecas 7) in north-central Zacatecas, which in the spring of 1943 was producing at the rate of about 

1,000 tons a month, and which to May 1944 had produced 12,000 

tons of ore.

Total production of manganese ore in Mexico to the end of 1945 

was about 292,000 metric tons, which came from some 75 deposits 

in 15 States, but up to April 1, 1943, only 30 deposits had produced 

more than 500 tons of ore each.

RESERVES OF MANGANESE ORE

The known reserves of manganese ore in Mexico approximate 

1,450,000 metric tons, averaging about 35 percent of manganese and 

15 percent of silica. The distribution of these reserves by States is 

presented in table 3. The figures given in this table are based on the 

estimates made for the reserves in each of the individual deposits 

listed in table 18, in which the data presented indicate, at best, only 

the general size of the deposits, as the ore bodies have been imperfectly explored. These individual estimates were computed from the 

dimensions of the ore bodies exposed in the existing workings, and 

from inferences as to the probable continuation of the ore with depth.

The reserves are confined largely to seven States: Baja California, 

705,000 tons; Chihuahua, 285,000 tons; Zacatecas, 230,000 tons; 

Durango, 70,000 tons; San Luis Potosi, 65,000 tons; Sonora, 28,000
216 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946 

TABLE 3. Reserves of manganese ore in Mexico, by Stales

State

Pucbla ...... -.-.-

Sinaloa... ________ - __ .. ... .

Total".... _.__ ................

Reserves in metric tons '

Deposits visited

40 percent of 

Mn

s 650, 000

25, 000 

10, 000

2,000

10, 000

50, 000

10, 000 

140, 000

900, 000

15-40 percent of 

Mn

50, 000 

270, 000 

1,000 

50, 000 

5,000 

8,000 

1,000 

2,000 

1,000

5,000

5,000 

1,000

15,000 

75,000

490, 000±

Deposits 

not 

visited

30 percent of 

Mn

5,000 

15, 000 

1,000 

10,000 

1,000 

2,000 

2,000

500 

100 

500 

500 

500 

1,000

100 

10,000

3,000 

15, 000

67, 000±

Total

30-35 percent of 

Mn

705, 000 

285,000 

27, 000 

70, 000 

6,000 

12,000 

3,000 

2,000 

11, 000 

500 

100 

500 

500 

500 

6,000 

100 

65,000 

1,000 

28, 000 

230, 000

1, 450, 000±

Number of deposits

Total on 

record

22 

90 

18 

39 

9 

28 

2 

14 

10 

3 

1 

2 

4 

4 

12 

1

10 

4 

29 

33

335

Deposits 

visited during this 

investigation

9 

52 

13 

20 

4 

11 

1 

1 

5

3

5

13 

16

153

1 Figures indicate general order of magnitude, as most deposits are not developed sufficiently to indicate 

reliably the amount of ore present.

^ InClUCl6S rCServeS for the Oavilan deposit (Baja California 7), in terms of concentrate containing 40 percent of manganese.

1 Total reserves are given in round numbers.

tons; and Coahuila, about 27,000 tons. The rest of the manganese ore

is distributed in minor amounts among is States. The deposits

examined by the writers are divided into two groups: those in which the 

average manganese content is greater than 40 percent and those in 

which the manganese content ranges from 15 to 40 percent. The

high-grade ore is distributed anxong the seven States mentioned above, 

those with the richest Ore being Baja California, with 650,000 tons, 

and Zacatecas with 110,000 tons.

Most of the ore is found in a few large deposits, of which the Lucifer

(Baja California 4) near Santa Rosalia, Baja California, is the largest. 

Others are the Gavil&n (Baja California 7) and Talamantes (Chihuahua 31), each Of Which offers the possibility of yielding more than

125,000 tons of ore or concentrate. The Borregos (Chihuahua i>,

Casas Grandes (Chihuahua 9), Zacate-Chuio (Chihuahua 27 and 27a),

Organos (Chihuahua 29), Candela (Coahuila 6), Montana de Manganeso

(San LUIS FotOSl i; ? ana in za.oa.fe.,0.,. *,KO TiTvajo., Ma.rigranita, Abundant, garx Feiipe, Tenango, and Negra (LMln 5,0,7, 8, 8c, and

9, respectively) ore deposits may haV6 reserves as large ae 25,000 tons

each, but the rest of the deposits are much
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 217

ECONOMIC FACTORS INFLUENCING PRODUCTION 

OF MANGANESE ORE IN MEXICO

The main economic factors influencing the production of manganese 

ore in Mexico are supply and cost of labor, price of product, specifications for marketable ore, cost of transportation, and water supply. 

The supply of labor is generally not a limiting factor, as sufficient 

workmen seem available for operating most of the deposits on the 

scale on which they are being worked. The cost of labor, however, 

is the most important single factor in mining manganese ore in Mexico, 

because the ore from practically every deposit must be hand-sorted to 

bring it up to the desired specifications. Consequently, if the wage 

scale rose, many mines would not be able to operate profitably unless 

some cheaper method of mining and sorting could be devised.

The specifications for marketable ore are also an important factor. 

The ore from practically every deposit has some undesirable impurity 

or quality that leads to difficulty in its marketing. Even that from 

the best mine in Mexico, the Lucifer (Baja California 4), contains 

more than 25 percent of material finer than 20 mesh, which once 

caused the ore to be rejected by some purchasers, although this difficulty was later overcome by installation of a sintering plant. The 

Dinamita ore deposits (Durango 2) are mined without sorting and, 

like the Lucifer, yield a large proportion of fine-grained ore. Moreover, much of the ore from the Dinamita area contains only 38 percent 

of manganese.

The ore from most of the deposits in Chihuahua and Sonora 

contains from 25 to 35 percent of manganese, and careful sorting 

is needed to bring the grade up to 40 percent. In the absence of 

water, the sorting is done by hand, and if the grade of the ore is 

particularly low, or if the deposit is far from a railroad, making 

transportation costly, difficulty is encountered in mining at a profit. 

During 1942 and the first part of 1943, shortly after the Metals 

Reserve Co. began purchasing ore, many of these marginal mines 

were being worked in Chihuahua and Sonora, in the hope that the 

ore would become better with depth. As these deposits are mainly 

of the fissure type in volcanic rocks, however, the grade is likely to 

be best near the surface and to become poorer with depth, owing 

to the leaching out of the associated calcite. Moreover, as the 

depth of the workings increases, the cost of lifting the ore to the 

surface becomes greater. Consequently, even as early as the spring 

of 1943, scarcely a year after the introduction of the new, higher 

prices, several mines had ceased to operate.

In central Zacatecas and in the adjoining area in San Luis Potosi, 

the deposits, though rich in manganese, are high in silica, and much 

difficulty is encountered in keeping the silica content of the ore below
218 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

15 percent. The operators search for pockets of oxide ore to mix 

with material high in silica. One operator mixed such high-silica 

ore with low-silica ore from the Dinamita region (Durango 2), with 

the result that the ore from both places could be marketed at a profit.

Zinc or lead present in ore from a few deposits is a detrimental 

factor. The ore in the Candela deposits (Coahuila 6) contains more 

than 40 percent of manganese and can be mined directly without 

sorting, but the content of lead and zinc combined is more than 2 

percent, and in some parts of the deposits as much as 4 percent. 

Similarly, some of the ore in the Picacho de La Candela deposits 

(Durango 3) contains a high percentage of lead. The ore in the 

Protectora deposit (Guanajuato 3) is said to be high in phosphorus, 

which prevents it from being marketed.

The scarcity of water is also a problem, especially in Sonora and 

Chihuahua, where the ore is usually found as oxides in fissures. In 

the deposits in those areas, much country rock is mixed with the 

oxides, and the ore must be concentrated in order to bring its grade 

up to 40 percent of manganese. Where water is available, a fair 

concentration can be effected with jigs. Most of the country is 

barren of water, however, and the ore has to be sorted by hand. 

Sea water is expected to be used for concentrating the low-grade ore 

in the Gavilan deposit (Baja California 7).

Transportation is a serious problem, too. The distances from

many mines to the nearest railroads are great, and as many roads

are unimproved, the wear and tear on trucks and tires is extremely

costly, The Guadalupana mine (Mexico 2), for example, is more than

150 kilometers from the railroad. 

Tke Metals Heser^e Co. ceased buying manganese ore in Mexico

on June 30, 1945. With the close of hostilities in Europe in May 

1945, the way was opened for increased exports to the United States 

of high-grade ore from countries other than Mexico. These factors, 

together with the complexities of mining manganese ore in Mexico, 

are likely to result in a materially lower annual production in the 

coming years as compared with the period 1942-45, except possibly

for ore from ttie Lucifer deposit 111 Dftja Calif Or.D.Ui,

TYPES OF MAJSTGAJSTESE I>EI»OSITS

FISSURE DEPOSITS

Hie mOSt Common type of manganese deposit found in Mexico 

consists of fissure fillings. In this type of deposit the ore is mixed

v^Jtk TMOro oz- less oounfc^ rookj in fr<WtUJ;0 891108 OllOUg fiSSUTGS Mfl

faults. The manganese occurs in the form of black oxides, which

are commonly so intimately associated with calcite as to cause this

mineral to appear black; from this the name "black calcite" deposit
: ' .' MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 219

has been used to identify this type of deposit. Calcite is not invariably present, however, and in several areas, as for example in the 

Gavilan (Baja California 7) and Zacate (Chihuahua 27) deposits, 

little or none is found. Moreover, the calcite is commonly leached 

out near the surface of the ground. This causes the ore in the outcrops to be soft and powdery, although in some deposits the upper 2 

or 3 meters have been enriched with secondary silica, which makes the 

outcrops hard and dense. . ,

The ore bodies in the fissure deposits are variable in form and size. 

They are usually found as lenses or shoots along fracture zones. 

Some of the mineralized zones can be traced for several hundred 

meters, although they commonly .extend for less, than 50 meters. 

Their width ranges from a fraction of a centimeter to 3 meters, though 

generally averaging less than 1 meter. Mineralization is commonly 

more intense at the intersection of fissures, as in the Casas Grande.s 

(Chihuahua 9) deposit, where the ore body is 10 meters wide at the 

junction of two fissures. One boundary of the fracture zone is generally sharp and fairly tsrnpoth, .whereas the other is gradational and 

irregular.

The depth to which the oxide ore extends varies from place to 

place. In some fissures the ore disappears within 3 meters of the 

surface, and in others it persists to a depth of 100 meters or more. 

Consequently, in prospecting for additional ore,-or in attempting to 

estimate reserves, one should recognize the possibility that the manganese ore may not extend far beyond the existing workings. In 

developing an ore body, therefore, operators should be encouraged 

either to drift along the vein or to sink on it. As a general policy, 

tunnelling at right angles to a fissure in order to cut the ore at depth 

is unwise, unless a shaft has first been sunk on the ore body to ascertain whether or not it extends to the level at which the tunnel is to 

be driven.

Although the ore is variable in grade, it generally contains from 25 

to 35 percent of manganese. Kicher ore is found, however, particularly 

where the host rock has been replaced, but few deposits contain much 

ore that is richer than 40 percent in manganese. Hence the rock has 

to be sorted to obtain a product with 40 percent of manganese. In 

some areas the ore breaks cleanly from the country rock, which makes 

possible its enrichment by jigging, although the shortage of water 

generally makes this process impracticable, The ore is usually sorted 

by hand, commonly to a ratio of two or three parts of mine-run ore to 

'one part of shipping ore.

' Chemical analyses of typical ores are given in tables 4 and 5. Table 

4 summarizes the general nature of the ore in the Talamantes area 

(Chihuahua 31), and item 4 in table 5 gives a detailed analysis of the

789981 48 3
ore from the dumps of the San Antonio mine in the same area.. Table 

6 presents a detailed analysis of a sample of psilomelane from a small 

vein 150 meters east of the C.uatro Vientos shaft on the San Antonio

vein.

TABLE 4. Partial chemical analyses of manganese ore from the Talamantes distric

(Chihuahua 31}

Sample

Percent Mn

Range

16.0-44-1 

6.3-38.2

Average

29.9 

24.5 

32.0

41.2

16.1

Percent WOa -

Range

0.05-1.52 

.05-1.27

Average

1.00 

.55 

1.29

1.96

.60

Percent BaO

Range

8. 7-9. 7 

5. 1-10. 5

Average

9.2 

8.0

Per? cent' 

ViOi

0.13

Percent insoluble

8.23

i Based on 32 samples collected by P. D. Trask and C. E. Pouliot; analyzed by Michael Fleischer and 

J. F. Fyfe. . .

 Samples collected by I. F. Wilson and V. S. Rocha; analyzed by Michael Fleischer. (See Wilson and 

Rocha, 1945. .

TABLE 5. Partial chemical analyses of manganese ore from four areas in Mexico

[James F. Fyfe, analyst]

Sample 1

Sarnosa mine (Duranga

Lucky Nina mine (GueMilagro mine (Coahuiia 

8b). ...... 

San Antonio mine dumps, 

Talamantes area (ChiMetals Reserve Company 

sample 

No.

116

117

118

119

Percent of principal components

WO3

1.05

.23

.09

1.28

Mn

44.1

35.4

50.4

26.6

Fe

1.0 

56 

Tr.

3.8

SiOa

1.8

16.7 

5.3

36.9

AlsOa

0.06

.06 

.05

.is

Zn

Tr.z 

Tr.

1.8 

Tr.

Pb

Tr.

Tr.

0 

0

Cu

0.04 

.04

.08 

.13

P

0.02 

.02

.04

.03

S

Tr.

Tr. 

o

0

Percent 

of ore 

finer 

than 

20 

mesh

27.6 

1.2

.8

48.2

1 All are Composite grab samples; Nos. 116-118 were taken from stock piles, No. 119 from mine dumps.

»Tr. signifies a trace.

TABLE 6. Chemical analysis of a sample of psilomelane from the Talamantes 1

district (Chihuahua 31)

[Michael Fleischer, analyst]

Constituent

Mn02 l__l_. ........

MnO'......

BaO._................

H2 O-f- ...

m...~--~-

ZnO. ....... ........

Percent

67.91

13.68

5.00

. BO

2.92

.14

Constituent

CuO................

CoO. ........... .....

PbO___,

AsjOs-... .--.-- -......

FesOs-. riOs- ----- ---- -.-.:_

KiO................

Percent

0.11

.07

.01

.30

.20

.43

Constituent

MgO_. ... ___

flaO..............

Na2 0. .............. .

SiO2 ... ».

Percent

0

.07

None

.14

NOTE. Sp. Or. (pycnometer) 4.43..

i Active 0,12.54 and 12.46 percent; total MnO, 62.82 and 63.24 percent.
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO- 221

The ore minerals consist of both hard and soft oxides of manganese,- 

which contain variable quantities of barium and usually a small percentage of tungsten (table 4). The tungsten content seems to vary 

roughly with the percentage of manganese, which suggests that tungsten may form part of one of the manganese minerals. X-ray studies 

by J.-M-. Axelrod, of the Geological Survey, have shown that cryptomelane, hollandite, and ramsdellite are present. According to, 

Tleischer and Richmond, 1 these minerals have the following com-; 

positions: Psilomelane, BaR9Oi8 .2H20(?), where R is chiefly Mnlv and 

to some extent Mn11 and Co; cryptomelane, KR8Oi6 (?), where R is 

chiefly MnIV and to some extent Mn11 , Zn, and Co; hollandite, 

BaR8O16 (?), where R is chiefly MnIV and also Fem, Mn11 , and Co; and 

ramsdellite, Mn02 . X-ray patterns not characteristic of any known 

manganese minerals were also found in the Talamantes ore.

Fissure deposits of manganese ore are found principally in northwestern Mexico, and all the many deposits that were visited in the. 

State of Chihuahua, and most of those in Sonora, belong to this type. 

They are also found, however, in Baja California, northern Sinaloa 

and Durango, northeastern Jalisco, and central Guerrero. The largest 

deposits of this type-are the Talamantes (Chihuahua 31) near Parral, 

which are reported to have produced 50,000 tons; those in the Chino 

and Zacate area (Chihuahua 27 and 27a) southwest of the city -of. 

Chihuahua, which have yielded 12,000 tons; and the Borregos (Chihuahua 1) and Casas Grandes (Chihuahua 9) deposits southwest of 

El Paso, Tex., which yielded 6,500 tons up to the end of 1942, and 

substantial quantities since then.

A special type of fissure deposit is found in the Gavilan area (Baja 

California 7) on Punta Concepcion on the Gulf of California. In this 

area an olivine basalt flow some 23 meters thick has been brecciated 

and filled with innumerable veinlets of hard black oxides, which are 

reported to be high urMnO2 and,suitable for battery use. The grade 

of the ore is low, however, and is estimated to range only from 2 to 

10 percent of manganese. - The whole basalt flow over an area of 

some hundreds of meters in diameter is fairly uniformly impregnated 

with these stringers of oxides. The basalt when crushed breaks rather 

cleanly from the manganese minerals, which permits concentration by, 

jigging. The deposits are said to have produced some 10,000 tons of 

ore in the past, much of which is reported to have been of battery 

grade. In 1945, a plant was being constructed for exploiting the 

deposits on a large scale.

Reserves of inferred ore in most of the individual fissure deposits

1 Fleischer, Michael, and Richmond, W. E., The manganese oxide minerals; a preliminary report: Ecou. 

Geology, vol. 38, pp. 272-279, 1943.
range from 200 to 5,000 tons containing 25 to 35 percent of manganese, 

but some deposits, such as the Casas Grandes (Chihuahua 9) and 

Borregos (Chihuahua 1) deposits, those in the Chino and Zacate area 

(Chihuahua 27 and 27a), and the Organos (Chihuahua 29) and 

Talamantes (Chihuahua 31) deposits, have reserves of more than 

25,000 tons each. The Talamantes area, including the dumps, has 

reserves of more than 125,000 tons. Much larger reserves exist in 

the Gavilan area (Baja California 7), but the grade of this ore is low.

SILICIFIED REPLACEMENT DEPOSITS

A second common type of manganese deposit in Mexico consists of 

the replacement of rhyolitic and trachitic tuffs and agglomerates by 

manganese and silica, in fracture zones along faults and fissures. In 

some areas this silicification has been so intense that the rocks for

distances of several hundred meters have been converted into chert

and fine-grained quartzitelike materail. As exposed in outcrops, the 

silicified zones are commonly elongated, with their long axes two or 

three times as great as their short axes. Owing to the resistant 

nature of the silicified rocks, such zones rise from 15 to 100 meters 

above the surrounding plains. Manganese has been introduced in an

irregular way. Most commonly the ore bodies are in the form oi

chimneys, but in places the mineralization has branched out laterally 

from the fissures, more or less parallel to the bedding. In many areas

iron, also, lias been introduced with the manganese.

The grade of the ore in the replacement deposits varies with the 

type of mineralization. In the better ore bodies, a large tonnage of

rock containing more than 40 percent of manganese is present, but the 

main disadvantage is its high silica content. For example, in the 

AbllfldanCia mine (Zacatecas 7) 7 run-of-mine ore, as indicated by 10

samples described by Wilson later in this report contains irom 35.6 10 

52.0 percent of manganese and 4.4 to 23.2 percent of silica. Other 

undesirable impurities, such as Al 2Oa, Cu, Pb, Zn, and P, are low.

Tungsten is present in minor quantities, at most to the extent of only

a few kundredths of one percent. Similarly, samples of run-of-mine

016 frOni the Montana de IManganeso mine (San Luis i>otosi i>,

described in detail by Wilson later in this report SnOW a TOge Of 35.1

to 50.1 percent of manganese and 11.6 to 37.0 percent of silica.

The ore minerals, as identified by X-ray determinations made

by'J. M. Axelrod, of the Geological Survey, consist of braunite

3(Mn,Fe) 2O3.MnSiO3 , and several manganese oxide minerals, which 

are mainly pyrolusite MnO2 , cryptomelane KMn8016 (?), manganite 

MnO(OH), and pyrochroit.e Mn^OH)^, Several other manganese 

compounds not identified with any known minerals are also present. 

In these deposits, silica is so intimately mixed with the manganese
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 223

minerals that the resultant mixtures cannot be distinguished from 

braunite, and as even the braunite is mixed with silica, field identifica- 

 tion of the minerals is a problem. Generally, the rocks rich in silica 

are distinguished from those lean in silica by then1 splintery fracture, 

greater hardness, and sharp edges when broken. In some places, 

bodies rich in oxides and lean in silica are found, which is particularly 

true in the Abundancia (Zacatecas 7) mine. The ratio of soft oxide 

ore to siliceous ore ranges, as a rule, from one part in two to one part 

in ten.

Some 20 replacement deposits of this type are known in northcentral Zacatecas and northwestern San Luis Potosl. Others are found 

near Picacho de La Candela (Durango 3) in northern Durango, and 

.near Arcelia, Guerrero, in the southwestern tip of the State of Mexico 

(Mexico 2). In the spring of 1943, approximately 25 percent of the 

production in Mexico came from deposits of this type. The amount 

of ore in each deposit varies, but in general the reserves approximate 

a few tens of thousands of tons each.

LIMESTONE-EEPLACEMENT DEPOSITS

A third type of deposit consists of the replacement of limestone 

adjacent to intrusive bodies of granite. Deposits of this kind occur 

near Dinamita (Durango 2) in northeastern Durango; Buenavista 

(Guerrero 4) near Taxco, Guerrero; Guadalcazar (San Luis Potosi 4) 

in eastern San Luis Potosl; and Candela (Coahuila 6) in northeastern 

Coahuila. The ore is found in both recrystallized and unmetamorphosed limestone. Manganese has been introduced into brecciated 

zones, where it filled cavities and replaced the limestone. The ore 

minerals are generally manganese oxides, either with or without interstitial calcite.

The manganese content of the ore varies greatly in these deposits. 

In most of them it represents less than 25 percent of the rock, and 

as a result the ore has to be sorted carefully to bring the grade up 

to 40 percent. In others, especially those near Dinamita (Durango 2), 

the ore contains from 30 to 45 percent of manganese, and less sorting 

is required. The principal impurity is calcite, and the silica content 

is usually less than 5 percent. Analyses of typical ores are given in 

table 5, items 1 and 3.

Most of the deposits of this type are relatively small, the inferred 

ore amounting in general to less than 2,000 tons. Only three deposits, 

the Sarnosa (Durango 2h), Luz (Durango 2g), and Milagro (Coahuila 

6b), have reserves of 10,000 tons or more each. The Sarnosa deposit 

contains ppckets of ore as much as 12 meters in length. The ore in 

such places seems to be in part of secondary origin, for some of the 

pockets occupy preexisting solution cavities. A large part of this ore
224 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN-REPUBLICS, 1946

is in the form of a fine powder, and in the Sarnosa deposit more than 

25 percent of the ore passes through a 20-mesh screen. This ore 

contains also about 1 percent of tungstie oxide. Several similar 

deposits are found in limestone near the same granite body, but thus 

far none have been found that contain pockets as large as those in the 

Sarnosa and Luz deposits.

' In the Milagro deposit (Coahuila 6b) in northeastern Coahuila, 

the ore is found along the lower contact of nearly horizontal sills of 

granite porphyry intruded into limestone. It forms flat beds from 

0.3 to 2 meters thick that contain from 40 to 45 percent of manganese. 

Assays of the ore show consistently 2 percent of zinc and as much as 

2 percent of lead. In one place the manganese oxides grade into a 

zone containing 20 percent or more of galena and alabandite, the manganese sulfide. This deposit has no appreciable content of tungsten.

Some deposits of a similar character, but in brecciated zones in 

limestone far from any known body of granite, should perhaps also 

be included with this type of deposit. Three of these one near 

Muzquiz (Coahuila 2) in northern Coahuila, a second near Hip61ito 

(Coahuila 7) in south-central Coahuila, and a third near San Pedro 

Ocampo (Zacatecas 1) in northeastern Zacatecas contain braunite(?) 

besides manganese oxides.

The ore mined from these replacement deposits in limestone constituted about 10 percent of all the manganese ore produced in Mexico 

in the spring of 1943. Production at this rate could be maintained 

only by a continued discovery of new pockets in existing mines in 

.this type of deposit.

TUFF-REPLACEMENT DEPOSITS

The largest manganese deposit in Mexico, the Lucifer (Baja California 4), is a siliceous and manganiferous replacement of tuff, and 

except for a few minor deposits nearby, it is the only one of its kind

in Mexico. The deposit has been described in detail by "Wilson and

Veytia (1947). The ore is found in well-stratified tuffs that rest on

Volcanic agglomerate; the thickness of the ore body ranges from 1 to

e ««-beM, a.^ra.eixxe 3 meters. The deposit has been well explored by

kn elftbOratfi S6fi6S Of dltft/8 W$ crosscuts m an emp^-i «,*-««. 4GO motor. 

long and 50 to 130 meters wide.

The ore is confined essentially to the tuffs, and in places it contains tinreplaced lenses of tuff from 2 to 10 oentA.^** t^id* ^a saverai

meters in diameter. In a few places the tuff KaS tsen slllClfied, fOHHine zones locally called "huesos," but in general the ore is yery iow in SillCfl. Til6 inanganoDo WE^<?^ «»* <*«»« ^«Ay r^ges ^om 37 to

'57 percent; the average of all samples collected by Wilson WaS 4s 

percent. The principal ore minerals are cryptomelane KMn8Oi6 (?)
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 225

and pyrolusite MnOg. The percentages of the minor constituents 

and impurities in the ore, as reported by Wilson and Veytia, are 

given in tables 7 and 8. The deposits are described in detail in another 

section of this report.

TABLE 7. Chemical analyses of minor constituents and impurities in the Lucifer

(Baja California 4) ore

[Analyses of 0, SiOa, NaCl, Fe, BaO, Pb, Gu, and V2 0j were made by the Geological Survey; remaining 

data were supplied by Sres. Mahieux and Garcia Quintanilla]

Constituent

0. .........................................................

HjO...... .................. ......... I......... .............

SiOa....... ....... ..-.. ... ... 

AljOs .

NaCl..... . . _ .. . Cao...... ... . 

Fe.. ..........................

BaO. ......................................................

MgO...... ....... .......................................... Pb.............:....... .................................

Cu........................... ..............................

VaOj......................... ...........................

Zn..... ...... . . 

s:.._.___ ._ _. .......

p................................. ....... ..................

COj..... .........-...-.-. -.. .-..- -_. ........._. Co...................-.... ...'..................:........

Mo....... ........ ' .... ... ......... .

Sb....... ........ ............. ............ ...... ........... Ni.. ..:..... . . .:.... .......

As . ............... ........ .......... Ag _ ...;

Percent

Range

Low 

12.93 

.16 

.27 

.13 

Trace 

.25 

.75 

.06 

.18 

.01 

.11 

.08 

.01 

.02 

.02 

.( 

None 

.0 

None .0 " 

Trace 

' Tr

High 

14.82 

13. 60 

'31.3 

4.21 

4.85 

2.10 

2.12 

1.62 

1.50 

1.74 

.71 

.22 

.19 

.20 

.11 5 ' 

.098 81 ' 

24 

.003 

.01 

ice '

Average

14.02 

8.21 

i 4.47 

1.73 

1.22 

1.10 

1.10 

.86 

.83 

.59 

.28 

.14 

.11 

.11 

.05

Number of 

analyses

8 

30 

15 

23 

15 

9 

8 

7 

5 

15 

15 

7 

44 

25 

49 

1 

3 

1 

1 

3 

2 

1

1 If the sample of "hueso" (31.3 percent) were excluded, the average SiOj content would be 2.57 percent.

TABLE 8. Spectrographic analysis of a composite sample of Lucifer (Baja California

4) ore

[Spectrographic examination by K. J. Murata, of a composite sample of manganese ore made up of eight 

samples collected by I. F. Wilson from various parts of the mine]

Relative order 

of percentage

1 percent or more _ . 

O.X percent.... .....

O.OOX percent or less.

Elements 

Mn, Si, K, Na, Fe, and Ba. 

Pb, Cu, Ca, Al, and Mg.

V, Mo, Co, and Sr.

Tl, Ti, Cr, and Li. .

Relative order 

of percentage

Looked for but not 

found.

Elements

As, Sb, Bi, Zn, Cd, Rb, Cs, 

Ni, Ga, In, Sn, Go, An, Pt,

Pd, W, Ag, Re, Th, Cb,

and Ta.

The Lucifer ore deposit was first mined in 1942. The rate of 

production has depended to a large extent on shipping facilities and 

market conditions, and at times has exceeded 2,500 tons a month. 

Production up to January 1946 amounted to some 87,000 tons. The 

operators have developed the mine by means of a series of intersecting 

drifts and crosscuts, leaving pillars of ore that contain larger quantities 

than those mined. In 1945, the limits of the deposit had not yet been 

reached.. The ore body extends under a lava-capped mesa, where it 

was found to be thicker as exploration progressed. The Lucifer is
226 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

probably the best manganese mine in North America. The only 

draw-back is the high proportion of fine material contained in the ore, 

but a sintering plant has been built to overcome this defect.

MISCELLANEOUS DEPOSITS

The four types of deposits described above yielded more than 95 

percent of the manganese ore produced in Mexico during the years 

1942-45. The remaining 5 percent came from several different kinds 

of deposits, in most of which the reserves are very small.

The most productive of these miscellaneous deposits was that of the 

Carfos Co\ (Sonora 3), located some 20 kilometers southwest of 

Douglas, Ariz. This deposit is found in a circular down-warped or 

down-faulted block some 150 meters in diameter. The ore occurs in 

sedimentary rocks, in three zones within a stratigraphic interval of 

30 meters. Some of the beds are replaced by manganese and others 

are not. In each zone an aggregate of from 30 to 100 centimeters, out 

of a total thickness of 2 meters, consists of siliceous manganese ore 

containing from 40 to 42 percent of manganese and from 8 to 13 

percent of silica. The manganese mineral looks like braunite. Some 

3,300 tons had been produced from this deposit up to March 1943, of 

which 2,120 tons was extracted during World War I.

Another type of ore deposit is found in Guanajuato (Guanajuato 2 

and 3), where lenses of manganese oxides occur in slaty shale. Near 

the surface these bodies are altered to oxides, but in one deposit, the 

Protectora (Guanajuato 3), the oxide ore gives way with depth to 

moderately fine grained rhodonite; and the others presumably do 

likewise. The Protectora deposit is said to contain 4 percent of 

phosphorus. The ore bodies in these deposits are lenses, none of 

Which IS over 30 meters long and 1 meter thick. Reserves in the

individual lenses are therefore not very large. The Protectora

deposit is located within 100 meters of a mass of granite; the others are 

cut by quartz veins, but no granite was seen near them. 

Still another type of ore deposit (Puebla 8) is found Dear the town of

Acatlan, in southeastern Puebla. This deposit consists of three 

lentlCUlar t)0(lieS Of manganese Oxides and braunite, found at intervals 

of about 100 meters along a single stratigraphic zone in schist. The

ore is intersected by numerous veinlets of quartz and has to be sorted

Carefully tO bring tlie manganese ooTifcoia/b up to 4O percent. TKe

length of the longest ore body is 30 meters, and the thickness of the

largest is 6 meters. The average thickness of all the bodies is only 2

mODOIQl £k IkUgV V??^°-g° <=>£ l^ig^-grado 0.^0 is tKererfore, not to be

expected.

A deposit (Sonora 5) of coarsely crystalline pink rhodochrosite 

(MnC03 ) is located near Magdalena, Sonora. Most oi the pink
' * MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 227

crystals of rhodochrosite range from 1 to 3 centimeters in diameter. 

The ore is said to be nearly pure arid to be suitable for chemical 

purposes. If is found in veins in argillite, in places associated with 

stringers of granitic rock. The rbodochrosite is mixed with quartz, 

calcite, and a variable proportion of metallic sulfides. The best ore 

contains about 50 percent of rhodochrosite. The veins vary in width 

mainly from 15 to 50 centimeters and in length from 15 to 50" meters. 

The total production from the deposits is said to have been 500 tons 

of chemical-grade ore. Reserves of minable ore are relatively small.

An unusual type of deposit (Guerrero 5) is found 40 kilometers 

south of Chilpancingo, in southern Guerrero, where manganese is 

encountered in veins of johannsenite, a complex silicate of manganese, 

in massive limestone. These veins are nearly vertical and vary in 

width from 1 to 3 meters and in length from 3 to 50 meters. Near the 

surface the johannsenite has been partly leached out and the ore 

consists of an oxidized residue that retains the peculiar radiating 

crystal form of the primary mineral crystals.' The oxidized ore 

contains from 25 to 30 percent of water, 16 percent of silica, and about 

0.25 percent of tungstic oxide. (See table 5, item 2.) This ore 

resembles wad and, according to X-ray determinations by J. R. 

Axelrod, has no distinctive crystal pattern, although it has the 

appearance of a crystalline substance because of its relict structure. 

Difficulty is encountered in sorting the rock to obtain a product with 

40 percent of manganese, and because ot this no ore has been marketed. 

Moreover, the primary johannsenite, with its high content of silica, is 

found from 1 to 10 meters below the outcrops.

A deposit (Nayarit 1) located near Hostotipaquilla, in southeastern Nayarit, is said to consist of stringers of manganese oxides in 

schist. Owing to its remoteness, this deposit has produced little ore 

and was not visited.

Manganese has been reported from several lead mines in Mexico, 

either in gangue minerals or in chemical combination with the lead 

itself. As lead is an undesirable impurity in manganese, these mines 

are not now producing manganese ore.

An interesting deposit (Chihuahua 32g) located south of Parral, 

Chihuahua, was visited by D. E. White (38), who reports that the 

ore consists of rhodochrosite, manganese oxides, stibnite, arid chalcedonic quartz, in a vein cutting siliceous and calcareous shales. The 

manganese content is estimated to be less than 30 percent.

On San Marcos Island (Baja California 5), 25 kilometers southeast 

of Santa Rosalia, Baja California, manganese oxides occur as veinlets, 

nodules, and irregular masses penetrating a flat-lying fossiliferous 

sandstone, according to I. F. Wilson (39). As seen in the face of a 

cliff in one part of the deposit, the ore appears to extend only through

789981 48 4
228 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

the upper half meter or meter of the sandstone. A similar deposit, 

the San Juanico (Baja California 9a), is situated southwest of Punta 

Plilpito, where manganese oxides occur as veinlets and pockets in a 

nearly flat lying sandy limestone. In both these deposits the ore is of 

low grade and the reserves are small.

DESCRIPTIONS OF INDIVIDUAL DEPOSITS

The following sections present detailed descriptions of the manganese deposits examined in the field by the authors. Summary descriptions prepared by Ivan F. Wilson are given of the Baja California, 

Talamantes (Chihuahua 31), Montana de Manganeso (San Luis 

Potosi 1), and Abundancia (Zacatecas 7) deposits. After the authors' 

visit, these areas were studied in greater detail by Wilson with Mario 

Veytia and Victor S. Rocha; the findings are described in separate 

published reports. Little material is given in the text, however, for 

deposits not visited, but most of the information that could be obtained 

about them is presented in table 17. The numbers after the names of 

the persons cited in the following descriptions and in table 17 refer 

to the list on page 170 and those after the names of the mines and 

deposits refer to the map in plate 39 and to table 17.

BAJA CALIFORNIA 2

LVCrPEK MINE (4)

The Lucifer mine, 17 kilometers northwest of Santa Rosalia and 

about midway along the west coast of the Gulf of California, is the 

largest producer of manganese ore in Mexico and Seems tO Contain 

the largest deposit of high-grade manganese oxide ore known to exist 

in continental North America, The mine is located 8 kilometers

inland from the Gulf, on the north side of Anoyo dd Infierno and i so

meters above the valley floor. Ore is lowered to the ftlTOyO OJ a 

gravity tram and transported by truck and rail to Santa Rosalia, which 

serves as headquarters for Boleo copper mines. From Santa Rosalia 

the ore Ka,s been shipped to San PedrO, Calif., as well as across the

Gulf of California to Guaymas, soixo , ^d through.the Panama

Canal to Atlantic coast ports.

The deposit lies at the north end of the Boleo copper district, ftfld 

although, two tunnels were driven into the Outcrop about 30 years 

ago in search Of COpper, no manganese OI-e was mined until late in

1941, Ore was first produced in 1942 by the partnership of Mameux

y Garcia Quantanilla, S. en N. G., and in the 4 years from then until 

January 1, mo, t^« <ioposit yielded 87,031 tons of high-grade manganese oxide ore. Most of the ore first mined was ^ppod to tKe Iron 

and Steel Division of the Kaiser Co., located in Fontana, Calif.

a Description of deposits in Baja California has been written by Ivan F, Wilson and Mario Veytia.
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 229,

Later, shipments were made to other steel companies, and some ore: 

has been shipped for chemical purposes to the Tennessee Eastman Corp..

The manganese deposits, along with the Boleo copper deposits, are. 

enclosed in beds of tuff intercalated with conglomerate, which form: 

part of the Boleo formation of lower Pliocene age. This formation 

unconformably overlies tilted and faulted volcanic and pyroclastic 

rocks of the Comondu formation of Miocene age and is overlain by 

middle and upper Pliocene and Pleistocene marine sediments and, 

Pleistocene or Recent lava flows. The volcanics of the Comondii 

formation are cut by normal faults with displacements of from 50 to 

100 meters, whereas the later sediments are cut by faults that in* 

general have displacements of 10 meters or less. The main period 

of deformation was at the close of the Miocene, although minor faulting and tilting continued through the Pleistocene. The Boleo formation was deposited on a surface of strong relief, and its structure shows 

the influence of high initial dips and differential compaction around 

hills and ridges formed of the volcanic rocks of the Comondu formation.

The ore body in the Lucifer mine is a gently dipping deposit that 

lies roughly .parallel to the bedding of the enclosing tuffs. It has been 

blocked out by intersecting drifts over an area 450 meters long and 

from 50 to 130 meters wide as of May 1946 in which its thickness 

ranges from 1 to 6 meters, averaging 2.5 to 3 meters. Ore is being 

followed by means of drifts driven to the west and northwest, below 

a lava-capped mesa, in which direction its extent is not known. The 

main ore body is in a structural terrace that trends west-northwest. 

In the southwestern part of the mine, the ore turns up steeply and 

pinches out against a projecting ridge of the volcanic rocks of the 

Comondii formation. A comparison of a structure-contour map of 

the base of the ore with an isopach map showing the thickness of the 

ore reveals that the axis of greatest thickness follows fairly closely 

the trend of the structural terrace. The ore is thickest in synclines 

developed in the terrace and thins out over a hump. A gently dipping 

fault, which may be premineral, overlies the ore, from which it is 

separated in many places by a thin wedge of tuff, although in some 

places a thin zone of ore occurs above the fault. The ore is offset by 

a few steeply dipping normal faults, the largest of which has a displacement of about 8 meters; two others have displacements of 4 

meters and 6 meters.

The ore consists mostly of incoherent fine-grained black manganese 

oxides, which on mining break up into small particles, resulting in a 

product that contains an average of 30 percent of material finer than 

20 mesh. The only troublesome feature of the ore for metallurgical 

use is the high content of fines, but this defe'ct was remedied by a 

sintering plant that was installed in 1945. The manganese minerals
230. GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

are cryptomelane and pyrolusite. Within the soft fine-grained ore 

are lenses of a hard siliceous ore, called "hueso," and a few lenses of 

hematitic and limonitic jasper. The soft ore contains 45 to 50 percent 

of manganese and less than 5 percent of silica. Certain portions of it 

that contain a large percentage of pyrolusite are suitable for chemical 

use, and some ore has been mined selectively for that purpose. The 

lead content, about 0.6 percent, and copper content, about 0.3 percent, 

are too high to permit using the ore in batteries but are within the 

limits permitted for metallurgical and chemical purposes. The ore 

contains an average of 1.2 percent of sodium chloride.

Other manganese deposits are scattered over an area extending 

4 kilometers north and 4.5 kilometers southeast of the Lucifer mine, 

but without exception they are small, thin, of lower grade, and apparently of little commercial value. They occur at two, or perhaps three 

tuff horizons in the Boleo formation. Some of them have been worked 

by "gambusino" operators. The total production from all the deposits to the end of 1943 was 1,100 tons, which is included in the 

production figure given for the Lucifer deposit; very little ore has been

produced since then. These deposits are covered by 36 claims owned 

by Mahieux y Garcia Quintanilla, S. en N. C. The deposits are 

divided into' two groups the Lucifer and Navidad. The Palmas 

deposits, at the north end of the Lucifer deposits, and the Navidad 

deposits are described briefly in later sections in this report.

The manganese deposits are believed to have been formed by 

hydrothermal solutions, which rose along faults in the volcanics of the 

Comondu formation and spread out along the beds of tuff in the 

Boleo formation. The ore was probably deposited fairly near the 

surface. Evidence in favor of this theory of origin includes (1) the

presence of veinlets and veiias of menjgtuaese oxides a-lorrg w^itti coj>j>er

minerals, iron oxides, and jasper in the underlying volcanic rocks

of the Comondu formation; (2) the accompaniment of tK© or© by

jasper, which has replaced various types of rocks; (3) the crosscutting

relatdonanips of trie veins to tine becl cling; (-4) cne irregular distriDution

and localization of the deposits in the district; and (5) the indication of 

structural control of deposition in the main Lucifer ore deposit and

ian. so-j^r-xc; of l>i».cs s=*u.:»_»,l!«:«:- tlt»~K>o>&i. ts . T7ti.<j arjctiu t?x-«a,liz;ti.ti«piiT -p»n.-<^t> Efct^l^y o^.<^xn-jrt5<i

near the end of early Pliocene time, perhaps during a late phase of the 

same volcanism that gave rise to the tuft's of the Boleo formation,

Tlxe Boleo <-^oj>ji>eT- deposits a.ro believed to ho/ve been formed a.t about

the same time and in the same manner as the manganese deposits,

althcmgh they occur mostly in an area south of the Lucifer district. 

Aside from the ore in the blocked-out area, of which about 30 or

10 percent) had ton rdmvroa Uy May 191G> tno future, pooDMuto

of the mine seem to depend on how far the ore body extends to the
; . . : .MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF .MEXICO . . . ,231

west-northwest, beneath-the lava-capped mesa. The geologic conditions seem favorable for a continuation in that direction, and drilling

 from the mesa would provide the answer at a relatively low cost. 

. The future of the Lucifer mine will depend mainly on the cost of 

transportation and the market for manganese ore. The. most disr-

 advantageous condition is the location of the mine away from, any of 

the main shipping routes to the Atlantic coast ports, a condition that 

applies, of course, to all the manganese mines in Mexico. Considering 

only geologic factors, the present production rate could probably be 

maintained for at least 5 years and perhaps 10 years or more, but more 

definite figures should await the results of further underground exploration or drilling from the mesa west of the mine.

Navidad group of deposits (4a). The Navidad group of claims includes several small deposits in Arroyo del Boleo and Canada de La 

Gloria, south of Arroyo del Infierno. Most of the deposits are found 

within an area of about 1.5 square kilometers, extending 4.5 kilometers 

southeast of the Lucifer mine. Production, which amounts to a few 

hundred tons, has been included with that of the Lucifer mine. 

Open-cuts, short drifts, and room-and-pillar stopes have been made 

at various places by "gambusinos."

All the Navidad deposits are smaller, thinner, and for the most part 

lower in grade than is the Lucifer. In most of them the ore body is 

less than 1 meter thick and wedges out within a distance of 20 meters. 

In many places the ore consists of patches, veinlets, and irregular 

masses of manganese oxides that penetrate the tuffs,' as in the Palmas 

ore deposits below. It occurs at least at two horizons in the tuffs, and 

in places it is closely associated with beds that con tarn co pper ore. In 

other places a fossiliferous tuffaceous limestone member of the Boleo 

formation is impregnated with manganese oxides, and molds and casts 

of pelecypods and gastropods are replaced by these oxides.

The economic possibilities of the Navidad deposits lie solely in 

supplementing the ore produced from the Lucifer mine. Work on 

this group had been abandoned in 1945 and 1946.

Palmas deposits (4b). The Talmas deposits are located on both 

sides of Arroyo de Las Palmas, 4 kilometers north of the Lucifer mine. 

They are included within the Lucifer group of claims owned by 

Mahieux y Garcia Quintanilla, S. en N. C., although they were formerly owned for a time by a Sr. Echevarria.

 The deposits occur at scattered localities at two horizons in the

 tuffs of the Boleo formation. "Gambusinos" have opened a few cuts 

and short drifts, and in places have stoped out small quantities of ore

 by a room-and-pillar system, as in the Lucifer mine. The ore bodies 

are thinner, more irregular and lower in grade than those in the Lucifer
232 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

mine. Most of them are less than 1 meter thick and contain many 

lenses of tuff.

Some of the deposits consist merely of pockets, veinlets, or irregular masses of manganese oxides that penetrate tuff and tuffaceous conglomerate. Crosscutting relationships to the bedding are clearly 

shown. On the south side of Arroyo de Las Palmas, a 1-meter layer 

of manganese ore extends for a distance of several meters from the 

tuff into an underlying gypsum bed.

The production from the Palmas deposits is included with that from 

the Lucifer mine, and although not known exactly, has rot amounted 

to more than a few hundred tons. Some of the deposits, including one 

on the north side of Arroyo de Las Palmas, had been completely 

worked out by August 1944, and all the deposits were abandoned during 1945 and 1946. Much of ths ore in these deposits contains gypsum, which probably increased the sulfur content of the Lucifer ore 

when mixed with it. The Palmas deposits are not promising and 

might be expected only to supplement the production from the Lucifer 

mine with a small amount of ore.

EUREKA CLAIM, ISLA 8AN MARCOS (5)

A small manganese deposit has been found in the Eureka claim on 

Isla San Marcos in the Gulf of California, 25 kilometers southeast of 

Santa Rosalia. Extensive gypsum deposits on the south end of the 

island have been mined for several years by the Cfa Occidental 

Mexicana, S. A.; a wharf and village are situated on the southwest side 

of the island.

The manganese deposit is in the east-central part of the island, on a 

small mesa called Mesa de Las Chivas. This is a short distancs 

southeast of the highest point on the island, which has an altltUQfi 01 

272 meters. The manganese deposit was operated for a short time 

by Mr. M. F. de Lara of San Francisco; it is reported that, in 1942, 

two carloads of ore were shipped that did .not meet 'the specifications 

established by the Metals Reserve Co. The ore was carried on burros

to the east short of the island, about 3 kilometers distant, and from

there by boat tO Guaymas, Sonora. Only a few small shallow cuts 

were dug, a.nd the property was idle in 1943 and 1944.

The HOrthWeSt half of Isla San Maroooe is oompoSod Of tilted 

volcanic and pyroclastic rocks of the Miocene CoiHOHdu fOFHiatiOn. 

These rocks are OVerlain UnCOnformablY by tuff, conglomerate, and 

int^roala.toA gyPSUDa beds, similar to the lower Pliocene BoleO formation of the Lucifer district. ThflSfi DfiflS flip W flw DV*** *, i~ «. 

broad plunging anticline. The small mesa on which is the manganese deposit is formed of nearly flat lying beds of fossiliferous calcareous 

sandstone and conglomerate, which overlie unconformably the tuff
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 233

and conglomerate correlated with the Boleo formation. The age of 

.the sandstone may be middle or upper Pliocene. Small lava caps, 

probably equivalent in age to the Tres Virgenes volcanics (Plies tocene or Recent) of the Lucifer district, are found in the eastern part 

of the island.

Manganese oxides occur as veinlets, nodules, and irregular masses 

penetrating the fossiliferous sandstone. They include both soft 

crystalline pyrolusite and hard botryoidal material of the psilomelene 

type. In places, molds and casts of fossils, mainly pectens, have been 

replaced by manganese oxides. The veinlets and masses of manganese 

oxides are concentrated along joints and fissures that have a northerly 

trend. The occurrences are scattered over an area about 400 meters 

long in a northerly direction and are from 25 to 100 meters wide. 

Individual areas where veinlets and masses of manganese oxides are 

concentrated, however, rarely have a length of more than 10 meters 

or a width of more than 1 meter. The sandstone bed has a thickness 

of 2 to 6 meters, but apparently only the uppermost meter or half 

meter contains an appreciable proportion of manganese oxides, as 

in a cliff face at the north end of the deposit. The material in which 

the manganese oxides are most highly concentrated is estimated to 

contain 25 or 30 percent of manganese.

The Eureka claim is not a particularly promising source of manganese ore because of the scattered occurrence of the ore, its low 

grade, and the fairly small extent of the deposit.

AZTECA DEPOSITS

The Azteca deposits are about 10 kilometers by trail north of 

Mulege and approximately 5 kilometers inland from the Gulf of 

California. They are in a mountainous region of fairly strong relief. 

The mine workings are on the sides of two ravines and along a steep 

hill between them. The deposits were worked for a time in 1940 

by Mr. Henry Alien, and several open-cuts and short drifts were made. 

Some ore was sacked at the mine and carried on burros to the shore, 

but none was shipped, probably because of its low grade. The deposits were then abandoned and have not since been worked.

The rocks in the region belong to the Comondu formation of 

Miocene age, except for some younger gravels that cap the high mesas. 

The manganese deposits are in an orange volcanic rock, probably 

andesitic in composition. The deposits consist of narrow veins of 

manganese oxides accompanied by large quantities of white calcite, 

which in places forms from half to nearly the whole width of the veins. 

The calcite is in part coarsely crystalline and in part fine-grained and 

banded; it is white to gray and is stained green in places. Most of 

the manganese oxides are of the hard botryoidal psilomelane type,
234 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

accompanied by a small amount of soft black oxides. The average 

ore mined is estimated to contain 25 or 30 percent of manganese. 

The main vein is exposed at intervals for about 15 meters. It follows 

a brecciated fault zone in the volcanic rocks, and in places is bounded 

by a fairly smooth footwall. Its strike is northwest and it's dip is 

60°-70° NE. The vein ranges in thickness from 10 centimeters to 

2 meters, but as it is composed partly of calcite, the actual thickness 

of the manganese oxides is much less, certainly no more than 20 

centimeters. In the surrounding area thin veinlets of manganese 

oxides occur along joints and fissures, just as they do in the Gavilan 

deposit (7), but the spacing is not sufficiently close to permit excavating the wallrock on a large scale, as planned at the Gavilan. Furthermore, the grade of the manganese oxide ore within the veinlets is less 

than at the Gavilan.

The Azteca deposits are not believed to be of commercial importance 

because of the low grade of the ore and narrowness of the veins.

OAVTLAN ORB DEPOSITS (7)

The Gavilan deposits on Punta Concepci6n Peninsula, which were 

noted as early as 1892, have aroused considerable interest, both 

during World War I and at intervals since then (Halse, 1892; Wallace, 

1911 a, 191 Ib, 1916; McQueston, 1917; and Antunez Echegary, 1943, 

1944). The deposits are on the northeast side of the peninsula, 20 

kilometers east of Mulege on the Gulf coast of Baja California. The 

principal mine is along the seashore, about 3 kilometers southeast of

Concepcidn. It is reached by small boats from Mulege, which is 60 

kilometers by road south of San Rosalia. Boats cross Concepci6n 

Bay to a small landing called Guadalupe, where a dirt road 10 kilometers long leads across Punta Concepcidn Peninsula to the mine. 

Ore has been snipped in small boats from Guadaiupe across the Gulf

of QallforniU to Quaymas, Sonora. Some oi-o wo.s skipped during

World War I, mostly from float along the beach. In World War ii,

mining was begun by "gambusinos," who worked in open-cuts. No 

figures are available for production during either of the two wars, but

probablj a total of a few thousand tons of ore was shipped.

in 1942, the property was taken over by the Cia, Mexicana de

MaiJganeSO, S. A., which in 1944 constructed a mill to concentrate

the ore. TKe ore occurs as innumerable thill Veinlets Of

oxides in basalt, and It was planned to OXWY«*° - i--g

rock by surface stripping and to extract the veinlets of manganese 

oxides by grinding and wet Jigging, using sea water. Such an operation, if successful, WOllld probably be Unique in the field of manganese 

mining. By early 1946, the mill had not yet been placed in successful 

operation, although experimental work was continuing. Various
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 235.

difficulties resulted from the very low average grade of the manganesebearing rock and the use of sea water in the jigs, as well as from the 

inherent difficulties involved in the mechanical concentration of 

manganese ores. Most of the production of this company to 1946, 

therefore, had not come from the large-scale operations originally 

planned, but from small bodies of high-grade ore mined by hand from 

open-cuts in the larger veinlets. This ore has been sold for chemical 

purposes and has been shipped to the Tennessee Eastman Corp.

The rocks in the vicinity of the mine consist mainly of flows, 

agglomerates, breccias, tuffs, and intrusive rocks of basaltic to 

andesitic composition, which are correlated with the Comondii 

formation of Miocene age. A tuffaceous conglomerate rests unconformably upon the volcanic series south of the mine, and fossiliferous marine strata, probably of lower Pliocene age, occur in narrow 

belts along the shore on the west side of Punta Concepcidn. Cerro 

del Gavildn, the chief area mined, is composed of two flows of olivine 

basalt, underlain by agglomerate and tuff. The top of the lower flow 

is marked by a weathered, reddish to purplish, crumbly, scoriaceous 

zone, half a meter to 2 meters thick. According to thin-section 

studies by Noble (22), both flows contain phenocrysts of plagioclase, 

olivine, and augite in a fine-grained granular groundmass. The upper 

flow has a brownish color and is 35 meters thick; the lower flow is 

lighter-colored and only 25 or 30 meters thick. The underlying beds 

range from agglomerate to well-bedded sandy or clayey tuff.

Northwest of Cerro del Gavildn a valley has been eroded in the tuff, 

and the mill was built in this valley. The basalts reappear 200 meters 

to the northwest, in a series of hills terminating 800 meters northwest of 

Cerro del Gavildn, at Punta Gato, where six flows of basalt have been 

recognized by Noble. The flows on Cerro del Gavildn and Punta 

Gato strike N. 20°-30° W. and dip 15°-25° NE., toward the Gulf. 

They are cut by normal faults that strike northwest and dip mainly 

50°-70° SW., along which the northeast sides are upthrown from 

1 to 10 meters.

The ore deposits consist of a series of veinlets and stringers of 

manganese oxides that cut the basalts. The average strike of the 

veinlets is N. 20°-25° W. and the dip is 50°-70° SW. A less prominent 

group of veinlets strikes N. 50°-90° W. and dips 50°-70° NE. to N., 

and other veinlets have various attitudes. The veinlets tend to branch, 

reticulate, and change along both the strike and dip. Most of them 

are from 1 to 10 centimeters thick, but along fault zones some larger 

veins half a meter or more in thickness are found. Some of the larger 

veins are along brecciated zones in which manganese oxides cover 

fragments of the breccia. The spacing between the veinlets is highly 

variable, but within the main ore-bearing areas in the upper basalts of

789981 48 5
236 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

Cerro del Gavilan and Punta Gato, it ranges in general from a fraction of a meter up to 2 or 3 meters. The veinlets are more numerous 

along fault zones.

The ore within the veinlets consists of massive, nearly pure, black 

manganese oxides. It breaks readily from the wall rock, owing perhaps to the presence of thin selvages of clay, which facilitates hand 

sorting. The ore as sorted contain 76 to 80 percent or more of manganese dioxide and is suitable for chemical purposes. Some specimens 

sent to the Geological Survey by J. A. Noble were identified by X-ray 

methods by J. M. Axelrod, who found that the massive black oxides 

were hollandite,3 and that small crystals lining vugs in this material 

were ramsdellibe (Mn02 ). These specimens, however, wsre not 

thought to be characteristic of the deposit as a whole. The manganese 

oxides are accompanied in places by aragonite, iron oxides, finegrained quartz, minor quantities of calcite and dolomite, and, in one 

locality, crystals of vanadinite.

. The areas in which large-scale excavations have been contemplated 

are on :the; two hills, Cerro del Gavilan and Punta Gato, where tho 

manganese oxide veinlets are in the upper basalts and are most closelyspaced.; The upper basalts on Cerro del Gavilan are exposed in a 

roughly triangular area whose dimensions are about 400 by 300 meters, 

and the average thickness of basalt left by erosion is about 20 meters. 

Ttia.airea occupied by the upper basalts on Punta Gato is about 600 

meters long and ,80 to 200 meters wide, and the average thickness of the 

Vasalts, down to sea level, is about 20 meters.

, If tine milling method should prove successful and psrmit- largeseale .surface mining of ;all the rock, as was originally planned, the

Gravilan. mine /w.ould yield -fairly large quantities of manganese oxide

concentrate for several ye^rs. Early in 1946 it was not yet clear

whether this could be accomplished. If the milling method should not 

b.e successful* only a small production could be expected from the

mining and hand-sorting methods SO far used, owing to the riarz-owness 

of the individual vemlets.

'i *Gwdahpe deposits'- (7a). -The Guadalupe deposits are located on

tlie west side of Punta Conc<?pci6n peninsula, some 12 kilometers

southwest of the Gavilan deposits and 3.5 kilometers southeast of

Guadalupe landing. A few open-cuts were made during World War I,

but the production, if any, was very small, and the deposits were not

being WOrked in 1943 and 1944. They were not visited by the writers,

but were described by Halse (1892), Wallace (I911c, 1916), McQuesten

(1917), and Antiinez Echegaray (1944).

and Richmond, w, E., The manganese, oxide minerals; a preliminary report: Econ. Geology, vol. 38, p.

274, 1943.
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 237

From these descriptions it is gathered (1) that the deposits consist 

of six or seven northwestward-trending veins, mostly less than half 

a meter thick, in altered basalt and red basaltic tuff; (2) that the veins 

consist of manganese oxides accompanied by much gypsum, along 

with calcite, iron oxides, chalcedony, and quartz; and (3) that superficial concretions and films of manganese oxides have given a misleading impression as to the extent of the ore. The ore in the veins 

is of low grade; the average of seven assays reported by Wallace is 

17.54 percent Mn, 1.63 percent Fe, 3.61 percent CaO (as sulfate), 

and 28.22 percent Si02 .

The deposits are thought to have little commercial value because of 

the low grade of the ore, the abundance of gypsum, the tendency of 

the ore to diminish with depth according to Antiinez Echegaray 

and the thinness of the veins.

SANTA ISABEL (SAN NICOLAS) DEPOSIT (9)

The Santa Isabel deposit, known also as the San Nicolas, is on the 

south side of Arroyo de San Nicolas, about 7 kilometers inland from the 

village of San Nicolas on the Gulf of California and opposite Isla 

Ildefonso. The nearest road is about 15 kilometers by trail southwest 

of the deposit, at the ranch known asRosarito, on the Mulege'-Comondu 

road about 15 kilometers southeast of Concepcidn Bay. Several 

open-cuts were made during World War I; the largest is a trench 

about 60 meters long (discontinuous) and 1 to 5 meters deep. Ore 

was hauled on burros to San Nicolas, where it was loaded into boats. 

The production is not known but is believed to be small. In January 

1944 there was no evidence of any new work at the deposit.

The deposit consists mainly of a single vein of manganese oxides 

cutting a reddish volcanic conglomerate, a member of the Miocene 

Comondu formation. The vein occurs along a northward-trending 

fissure that is traceable at intervals for more than 200 meters. In the 

northernmost exposure the fissure strikes N. 10° E. and dips 50° W. 

Farther south, the strike is N. 20° E. and the dip is vertical, and 

near the south end the strike swings around to N. 15°-20° W. and the 

dip ranges from 80° E. to vertical. The thickness of the vein as 

now exposed ranges from 1 to 30 centimeters and, in general, averages 

10 or 15 centimeters. Some of the trenches are half a meter wide, 

but as the bottoms are filled with debris it is not known whether 

the ore originally had this thickness. The depth to which the vein 

extends is likewise unknown; the deepest trench is about 5 meters 

deep, but whether the ore continues in the bottom is not known. 

The fissure is followed in part by a single well-defined vein, but in 

places this splits and branches along its length into several veinlets.
238 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

The manganese oxides consist of hard black botryoidal material of 

the psilomelane type and are accompanied by veinlets of calcite and 

orange opal. The soild veins of manganese oxides probably have a 

manganese content of about 45 percent. Smaller, scattered veinlets, 

most of which are only 3 or 4 centimeters thick, are found in the hills 

as much as 1 kilometer south of the main deposit.

Although a small amount of manganese oxide ore of fairly high 

grade could perhaps be obtained, the Santa Isabel deposit is believed 

to have slight commercial importance because of the narrowness of 

the veins and the relative inaccessibility of the locality.

San Juanico deposit (9fi). The San Juanico deposit is in the mountainous area southwest of Punta Pulpito and southeast of the Santa 

Isabel deposit. It is on a high bench on the south side of Arroyo de 

San Juanico, 2 kilometers south of Rancho San Juanico. The nearest 

road is about 14 kilometers by trail to the southwest, at Rancho 

Bombardo on the road between Muleg6 and Loreto. No exploratory 

work has been done at the deposit.

Manganese oxides occur in a nearly flat-lying, fossiliferous, gray 

sandy limestone, which overlies a reddish conglomeratic sandstone. 

The fossils are principally pectens and medium-sized oysters, but their 

age was not determined. The manganese oxides occur in scattered 

veinlets, pockets, and irregular patches, and are of the hard botryoidal

psilomelane type, accompanied by veinlets of calcite. The veinlets 

of manganese oxides range from 1 millimeter to 10 or 15 centimeters 

in width and are generally not traceable for more than a few meters

along their length. They are thinly scattered over an area about 

100 meters long and 3 to 6 meters wide.

The San Juanico deposit is not regarded as having commercial value 

because of tKe thinness and small extent of the veinlets and the relative

inaccessibility of the locality.

CHIHUAHUA

BORREGOS ARM (1)

A group of fissure deposits consisting of black calcite in rhyolite is 

found in the Borregos area, 15 kilometers by airline southeast of the 

railroad Station Of Guzmdn in northern Chihuahua. The area is 31 

kilometers from. Guzman, in mountainous country having some 600

meters of relief.

In March 1943 the principal property, the Consolldada, WaS being

operated by the Tennessee Corp.; at that time approximately 75 men

Were Working on the property. TKe ore from the mine had to be

sorted by hand and concentrated in jigs, in the ratio of about one 

part of concentrate to one part of waste, to bring the grade up to 40
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 239

percent of manganese. An unknown amount of ore was said to have 

been produced from the Consolidada deposit during World War I, 

and 6,000 tons of ore was said to have been shipped during 1941-42. 

Early in 1943 some 300 tons of ore containing more than 40 percent 

of manganese were being shipped each month to the mills of the Tennessee Corp. in Tennessee.

The Santa Maria deposit (Chihuahua Ig), 2 kilometers north of the 

Consolidada property, was the only other deposit being worked at 

the time the region was visited. It is smaller than the Consolidada 

deposit and, up to March 1943, had produced only 350 tons of ore. 

The Borregos area contains some of the best fissure deposits in northern 

Mexico; thus, it offers promise of a continued production.

Consolidada deposit (la). The Consolidada deposit is one of the 

better manganese deposits in the State of Chihuahua. It consists of 

two veins that intersect at an angle of 45°. The mam vein trends 

northward and dips nearly vertically. It has been worked by means 

of adits and shafts for at least 300 meters along its length and presumably extends for some distance beyond these workings. It ranges 

in width from 1 to 5 meters and averages about 2.5 meters. The 

second intersecting vein trends northwestward. It is at least 100 

meters long and from 1 to 2.5 meters wide, averaging about 2 meters.

The ore in the veins consists of typical black calcite, most of which 

has been dissolved by rain waters near the surface. The northtrending vein is estimated to average from 25 to 30 percent in manganese and the northwestward-trending vein from 30 to 35 percent.

Mr. Love, the manager of the Consolidada mine, said that other 

manganese veins have been found on the property, but that they had 

not been mined because of their small size.

Santa Maria deposit (lg}. The Santa Maria deposit may perhaps 

be along the same fracture system as the Consolidada, although its 

veins trend eastward instead of northward. Three veins are present, 

all of them on the flank of the mountain, about 200 meters above the 

road, from which they are reached by trail. Two lying at the east 

end of the property, some 35 meters apart, are about 50 meters long 

and half a meter to 1 meter wide, averaging 80 centimeters; they had 

been mined to a depth of about 10 meters along a part of their course. 

Another vein of similar dimensions, which lies 300 meters to the west 

of the other two veins and more or less hi a line projected from them, 

was being explored when the property was visited in March 1943. 

At that tune the deposit was being operated by about 20 men. The 

production was said to have been 350 tons of ore, which had been sold 

to brokers in El Paso.
240 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946 

REFUGIO DEPOSIT (8)

The Refugio deposit is 140 kilometers south of El Paso, Tex., and 

40 kilometers east of the rail station of Ahumada. It was said to have 

been owned in 1943 by Jesus T. Porras Villegas and leased to Louis B. 

Goldbaum. It is of the fissure type in volcanic rocks, but no direct 

information was available as to the exact nature of the ore. The ore 

was reportedly so lean that it could not be sorted effectively to bring 

the grade up to 40 percent of manganese, and work was consequently 

abandoned. One hundred and fifty tons was said to have been stockpiled at the Ahumada rail station in June 1943, and another 200 tons 

at the mine. None was known to have been sold or shipped.

CA8A8 GRANDES AREA (9)

The Casas Grandes area is one of the most promising in Chihuahua. 

The principal deposit is in the Don Cuco claim (9a). Several mineralized fissures in nearly horizontal layers of rhyolitic rocks are found 

along a northward-trending zone 3 kilometers long and 1 kilometer 

wide. The ore in these fissures consists of partly leached black calcite. 

Up to March 1943 the area had produced 500 tons of ore containing 

from 41 to 43 percent of manganese, which had been shipped to 

brokers in El Paso.

Don Cuco deposit (9a). The Don Cuco deposit lies 6 kilometers

southwest of Nuevo Casas Grandes and about 4 kilometers west of the 

rail station of Huerta. In 1943 it was owned and operated by Julian 

Aguilar of Nuevo Casas Grandes, and in March of that year some 50

men. were working on. tke property.

The deposit consists of four vertical veins in rhyolite that dips 10°

to 20° E. Tlie principal vein strikes east; it is 150 meters long and.

from 30 centimeters to 10 meters wide. Its greatest width is at its

intersection with another fissure that trends N. 75° W. and is 60 meters 

long; most of the ore mined came from this intersection. Two other

veins, 30 meters apart, are 40 meters north of the main vein. These 

trend northward and are from 30 to 60 centimeters wide and 50 meters

long. Two adits and half a dozen cuts had been driven into the mam 

016 body, and numerous prospect pits had been dug on the other veins.

Tlxo ox-e consists of typical t>la.olt oaloite, XvKicll shows a banding

parallel to the trend of the veins. The calcite has been leached out

near the surface, but locally the outcrops are composed of nearly fresh 

black calcite. TKe average grade of the ore in the main vein is about

30 percent manganese; thus, 2 or 3 tons of mined ore has to be sorted

tO produce 1 ton of marketable ore. The grade of ore in the other 

veins is in general lower, about 25 percent manganese.

Tie production to Marcn 1943 AmAtfflM ft 500 IOH8, 9M1 SIM
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 241

pile of partly sorted ore of equal tonnage was stored at the mine. The 

Don Cuco deposit is one of the best black-calcite deposits in Mexico.

Orizabena deposit (9c). The Orizabena deposit is 3 kilometers south 

of the Don Cuco. In 1943 it was owned by Julian Hernandez of 

Casas Grandes, and the ore was sold to Julian Aguilar. When the 

deposit was visited in March 1943, three men were working there.

The property contains two veins, one trending eastward, the other 

northward, and both dipping vertically. The main, eastward-trending 

vein is 30 meters long, although 30 meters beyond its western end the 

ore reappears for some 15 meters; the northward-trending vein is less 

than 30 meters long. Both veins are from 30 to 60 centimeters wide. 

The average grade of the ore is about 20 percent of manganese, 

although in places pockets of high-grade oxide ore have been found. 

These have supplied most of the ore that has been shipped.

Up to March 1943 the production from the deposit amounted to 

only 50 tons of 41 percent manganese ore. The deposit is small and 

has little promise of yielding a large amount of ore.

Azatldn veins (9d"). The Azatlan deposit consists of two veins; 

in 1943 these also were owned by Julian Hernandez. When visited 

in March of that year the deposit was being prospected by three men, 

who had opened two cuts 15 meters in length. The main vein trends 

N. 30° E. and dips 70° W.; it is 150 meters long and 30 centimeters 

wide. The other vein lies some 30 meters to the southwest and trends 

more to the east. Both veins are 30 centimeters thick. The manganese content of the ore is relatively low, the average of the main vein 

being approximately 25 percent and of the other 15 percent. No ore 

had been shipped up to March 1943.

Tapatia deposit (9e). The Tapatia deposit was owned in 1943 byJulian Hernandez, of Casas Grandes; it consists of two veins, which 

are 300 meters west of the Azatlan deposit (9d). One vein trends 

N. 40° E. and the other N. 20° W. Both are about 50 meters long 

and 30 centimeters thick. The average manganese content of the 

ore is about 15 percent, although a few small kidneys of high-grade 

oxide ore also have been mined. One such kidney of mammilary ore, 

2 by 3 meters in area and 30 centimeters in thickness, was exposed 

in a cut in March 1943. A few small stringers of ore not more than 15 

centimeters thick are found in some other parts of the claims owned 

by Sr. Hernandez.

MAGISTRAL MINE AREA (26)

According to the files of the Foreign Economic Administration (10), 

a deposit controlled by Jack Ryan, of Chihuahua City, is near Magistral 

and a few kilometers beyond the old copper property of the American 

Smelting and Refining Co. Mr Ryan reportedly sank a shaft to a
242 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

depth of 130 meters in search of gold and silver and found ore containing from 30 to 35 percent of manganese and from 300 to 700 

grams of silver per metric ton. No tungsten or cobalt was present in 

the ore. The ore body was said to form a "manto," or nearly horizontal 

layer, 3 or 4 meters thick.

ZACATE MINE (27)

The Zacate mine was opened in one of the largest fissure deposits 

in Mexico. It is 26 kilometers south of the Las Palmos station on 

the Noroeste Railroad and 40 kilometers southwest of Chihuahua 

City.. In 1943 it was owned by Leo Naudin, of Chihuahua City, but 

was formerly owned and operated by Enrique Faber.

The ore is found mainly in a fractured zone in rhyolite. During 

World War I the ore was apparently taken from the main fissure 

zone, and is managanese content presumably averaged 30 percent; 

in 1943 it came from brecciated rhyolite impregnated with stringers 

of black oxide similar to the mode of occurrence in the Gavilan deposit 

in Baja California. The whole brecciated zone is estimated to contarn only 10 or 15 percent of manganese. The ore lends itself, however, 

to concentration in hand jigs, although the operators have had 

difficulty in concentrating it to 40 percent of manganese.

The principal vein is 100 meters long and from 3 to 15 meters wide. 

Along it several open-cuts as much as 15 meters in width have been 

driven. The mineralized zone varies in grade almost in direct proportion to the extant of brecciatioil of the pink rhyolitic host rock.

Production is reported to have been 5,000 tons during World War I

and 4,000 tons within the past few years, all Of WKicK was delivered to

the steel company in Monterrey. Some 100,000 tons of ore containing 

10 or 15 percent of manganese is estimated to be present, of which

probably 10,000 tons averages 30 percent.

For a distance Of 1.5 MlOmeterS tO the south of the Zaeate mine,

several Wns as much as SO meterS HI length and from 30 tO 60 centimeters in width have been explored to depths of 10 meters, i^ 1049

they were nearly mined out, although to the southwest, near the top of

the hill, there were several fissure zones that had not been explored.

The zones are likewise only 30 to 60 centimeters in width.

A note in the files of D. F. Hewett (15) mentions that a mine in this

Vicinity WaS Operated in 1918 by Leonard and Wercester, who produced a carload a week of ore containing from 34 to 40 percent of 

manganese.

China deposits ^ (27a). The Chino property, three kilometers SOUth 

of the Zacate mine, belonged tO L/eo Naudin in 1943. The deposits 

.were operated between 1915 and 1940 by Sr. Fdber, but no work has 

been done since then. The property contains six parallel veins that
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 243

strike north and dip 40° to 70° E. The distance across this belt of 

veins is 100 meters. The veins range in length from 3 to 300 meters 

and in width from 30 to 120 centimeters. Twenty or more cuts are 

present, many of which are rilled with waste rock. The ore consists 

of black calcite which contains from 25 to 30 percent of manganese 

and which must be sorted carefully to bring the grade up to 40 percent. 

 Production from the deposits is reported as 3,000 tons, much of 

which is said to have been shipped to the steel plant in Monterrey. 

The veins have been nearly depleted of easily minable ore, and the 

best chance for obtaining additional ore is to drift along some of the 

better veins, preferably toward the north, for a large canyon is south 

of the main workings. It may be necessary to drive 200 meters before 

encountering good ore, but as the old workings are so deep that hand 

hoisting is not particularly attractive, it seems best to drive an adit 

and then a crosscut. The ore may not persist at depth, however, and 

many of the veins may actually be mined out. The deposit may contain reserves of 15,000 tons of ore containing from 25 to 30 percent of 

manganese, but this is questionable; the depth to which the veins 

extend could not be determined because of fill material in the workings.

ORGANOS DEPOSITS (29)

The Organos deposits are among the more promising of those in 

Chihuahua. The deposits are in the Sierra de Los Organos, 50 kilometers northeast of Saucillo on the Mexican National Railroad, and 

100 kilometers southeast of Chihuahua City. They were said to be 

owned in 1943 by Manuel G6mez of Las Delicias and Saverio Davila 

of Saucillo. At that tune they were being operated by the Cia. 

Explotadora de Minerales. They are on a ridge 3 kilometers by trail 

from the end of a rather poor road from Saucillo. One disadvantage 

of this road is that the Conchos River must be forded a short distance 

east of Saucillo, preventing the transportation of ore during the summer 

rainy season when the river is high.

Two veins in rhyolite are present in the area. The main vein is 

250 meters long, although it is continuous for only 150 meters; it 

ranges from .60 to 240 centimeters in width, averaging 120 centimeters. The northern half of this vein seems to be fairly uniformly 

mineralized. In April 1943, four cuts had been opened in it to a maximum depth of 6 meters. Near its south end the vein branches, and 

there the ore is relatively much richer. The east branch is rather 

poorly mineralized for 100 meters south of the junction; then it 

increases in grade for a distance of 30 meters, beyond which it fades 

out abruptly. This branch has not been mined. The west branch is 

poorly mineralized to a point 50 meters south of the fork; 15 meters 

beyond this point it widens into a body with a maximum width of 120

789981 48 8
244 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

centimeters, and a linear extent of 15 meters. One cut has been made 

on this part of the west branch.

The ore consists of black calcite, whose manganese content generally 

ranges from 25 to 35 percent. The ore has to be sorted by hand to 

bring the grade up to 40 percent of manganese. To 1943 some 300 tons 

of ore containing from 40 to 43 percent of manganese had been shipped.

Socorro deposit (29c) . The Socorro deposit is located 10 kilometers 

west of the Organos deposits, across a broad valley in a low range of 

hills called Sierra de la Tinaja. It was owned in 1943 by Saverio Davila and leased to the Cia. Explotadora de Minerales. This property contains two vein systems : one is the westerly continuation of the 

northeast vein in the Escondida claim (29d) and contains little ore; 

the other trends southeast up the mountain and is said to consist of 

two veins, one of which attains a width of 120 centimeters and is more 

than 150 meters long. No ore had been produced from this property 

before April 1943. Reserves are estimated to be 500 tons of ore containing 25 percent of manganese.

Escondida deposit (29d) . The Escondida deposit adjoins the Socorro 

on the east. It consists of two main vein systems. One of these 

runs N. 50°-80° E. for at least 150 meters, but it is mineralized only 

at intervals, in lenses 30 meters or less in length and about 1 meter in 

maximum thickness. The best ore is at the west end of this system, 

where several exploratory cuts were made in 1943. The second vein 

System consists of two fissures, about 500 meters southeast of the east

end of the first system. The main vein in this system strikes N. 30°

W., and has a maximum width of 6 meters. Its average width is 1.5 

meters, and the main ore body is 40 meters long. About 100 meters 

SOUth of this 016 body is another vein, which strikes N. 10° W. and

dips so0 E. its width is i meter and its length is 15 meters, The ore

in the veins of the east system contains 20 or 25 percent of manganese. 

Little ore was produced from this deposit before April 1943.

TALAMANTES MANGANESE DISTRICT (3i) «

The Talamantes district 5 has been, the second largest mangaueseP Inducing district in Mexico, surpassed only by the Lucifer mine in

Baja California. It is in SOutheiTl GkMAn, 30 kilometers along an 

unimproved road east of Parral, which is on the Jimenez-Santa 

Barbara branch line of the Mexican National Railroad. The manganese mines are on Mesa de Talamantes, which is formed of resistant 

rhyolite flows and rises 100 to 150 meters above the general level of 

surrounding aUuvium-covered plains. The mesa is crossed near

« Description of the Talamantes manganese district has been Written by Ivan Fi WllSOll 811(1 ViCtOr5 ( 

Eocha.

« For a more complete description, see Wilson, I F., and Eocha, V. S., Manganese aeposits of the T&UVinantes district near Parral, 'Chihuahua, Mexico: U. S. Qeol. Survey Bull 954-E, 1948.
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 245

its north end by the Rio de Santa Barbara, which provides an abundant 

supply of water.

The manganese district is covered by 25 claims owned by four 

groups of persons. The largest group of claims, including the largest 

producing mine, the San Antonio, is owned by the brothers J. Antonio 

Fernandez and Horacio Fernandez. Some claims in the northern 

part of the district are owned by Cesar Diaz. Two others are owned 

by Saturnino Chavez, and another by Francisco Aguirre.

Production from the deposits began during World War I; it was 

intermittent until 1930 and has been more or less continuous since 

then. Until World War II most of the ore produced was shipped to 

the steel mill at Monterrey, Nuevo Le6n, operated by the Cia. Fundidora de Fierro y Acero de Monterrey, S. A., and more recently it 

has been shipped to the Metals Reserve Co. at El Paso, Tex. Production figures are incomplete and inaccurate, but according to the 

operators the production through April 1944 from the Fernandez 

brothers' properties was about 36,000 tons; that from the other properties may have produced about 15,000 tons, so the total production 

from the district through 1944 is in the neighborhood of 50,000 tons. 

Ore produced in 1944 contained from 40 to 44 percent of manganese, 

but some of that previously shipped probably was of poorer grade. 

The rate of production from tho San Antonio mine early in 1944 was 

reported as 350 tons per month. At that tune about 30 men were 

employed there, but the other mines in the district were being worked 

by "gambusinos."

The Mesa de Talamantes consists of gently dipping flows of rhyolite 

and layers of rhyolite tuff, volcanic breccia, agglomerate, and tuffaceous sandstone, all of Tertiary age, resting unconformably on folded 

limestones which are probably Cretaceous. The rocks are cut by a 

series of northward-trending normal faults, the largest of which divide 

the mesa into a series of blocks, that are, from west to east, (1) a 

horst, (2) a minor graben, and (3) an eastward-tilted block. The 

faults dip 60°-80° E. or W., and most of them strike a few degrees 

west of north, although some strike slightly east of north. Most of 

the faults have smooth slickensided footwalls, and a few have smooth 

hanging walls. The striations on the walls show an important horizontal component of displacement.

The manganese deposits occur in brecciated zones along the faults. 

Some of the ore is in narrow well-defined veins along fissures, but most 

of it is in veinlets and irregular masses that incrust rhyolite fragments 

in the fault breccia. Manganese oxides have impregnated and replaced 

the matrix of the breccia, but the rhyolite fragments themselves show 

very little evidence of replacement.

Some of the numerous veins and brecciated zones that have been
246 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

explored and mined in the district may be traced for several hundred 

meters. The most important vein systems are the San Antonio, 

Libertador, Vida Nueva, Keina (and Amplificacidn), and Amalia. 

The San Antonio vein system, consisting of at least three veins, has 

been explored for a length of 550 meters at the 23-meter level, where 

it has an average thickness of about 2 meters. The Libertador vein 

has been explored for a length of 450 meters. The Reina contains a 

manganiferous brecciated zone as much as 8 meters thick, but most 

of the other deposits have a thickness of less than 2 meters. Exploration has not been sufficient to establish the vertical extent of the deposits. The deepest shaft in the San Antonio mine reached 42 meters, 

and at the Vida Nueva mine 40 meters. The veins in the district 

have been mined by means of open-cuts, shafts, drifts, and overhead 

stopes. The San Antonio mine has five shafts and an extensive level 

at 23 meters, above which ore has been stoped out to varying height. 

X-ray studies by J. M. Axelrod and chemical studies by Michael 

Fleischer show that the manganese minerals are psilomelane, which is 

massive, sooty, and black; cryptomelane (much K, some Ba), which 

occurs in crystals; hollandite-cryptomelane (much Ba, little K), 

which occurs in botryoidal forms; and a mineral identified thus far 

only by X-ray studies, which may be imperfectly crystallized psilomelane. Coronadite (much PB) may be found in the Amalia mine. 

The associated minerals include calcite, chalcedony, barite, quartz 

(including amethyst), gypsum, and hematite. Thick barite veins 

containing minor quantities of manganese oxides also are found in the

district. Tungsten occurs in the ore to the extent of 0.4 to 2.9 percent

of tungstic oxide, the average being 1,0 percent, and chemical tests

show that much of it is contained within, the mineral psilomelane.

The average grade of the ore as it is found in the deposits varies

from 20 to 30 percent of manganese. In most of the deposits nearly 

half the ore is composed of rhyolite fragments, which are sorted out

partly by Ixand and partly in. Hand jigs. Tke methods of separation used result in considerable loss; as a result, the dumps m the district

contain from 18 to 25 percent of manganese. Many of these Were 

being reworked by "gambusinOS."

JO, the district/ I/tie reserves of infox-rod ore containing from. 2O to

so percent of manganese are estimated as 100,000 Or 125,000 tOIlS, 

These figures are approximate, however, because of lack of data

concerning vin? p.«ssii>i0 <aoFti^ Qt ^& deposits. Besides, about 25 000

tons of material containing from 18 to 25 percent) Of manganese remains

In the dUmpS, and thiS might be beneficlated if a mill were constructed. 

ff*<* o.mount <>f sKi^nim, ore containing from 40 to 44 percent of

manganese would be approximately M the amfluMS pen
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 247

The Matamoros deposits are 20 kilometers south of Parral and 

3 kilometers south of Villa Matamoros, or Las Cuevas as it was 

formerly named and is still -called by the inhabitants. Some 20 or 

more claims are said to have been denounced along a northwestwardtrending zone, of which six or more were controlled in 1943 by Manuel 

Duarte, Miguel Mendez T., and Daniel Morales, who live in Villa 

Matamoros and vicinity. The deposits lie on a flat plain, beside a 

good road, and are only 8 or 10 kilometers from the railroad to Rosario. 

When visited in April 1943, work had been abandoned because of 

the difficulty in obtaining enough ore that could be sorted to 40 

percent of manganese.

On the properties controlled by Manuel Duarte and others, six 

parallel veins which trend N. 30° W. and dip 80° W. are found within 

a horizontal distance of 200 meters. These veins range up to 30 

meters in length and from 8 to 60 centimeters in width, averaging 

30 centimeters. The vein system is said to extend 2 or 3 kilometers 

beyond these deposits in either direction, but little exploration has 

been done on the adjacent properties.

The ore is found in fissures in rhyolite, principally in chimneys 

as much as 30 meters high, but with a cross section of 60 centimeters 

by less than 5 meters. It consists of partly leached black calcite and 

is irregular and pockety in its distribution. The manganese content 

is variable but generally less than 25 percent, although in a few places' 

it is as high as 40 percent. The deposits were worked late in 1942, 

but were abandoned in 1943. Some six cars (250 tons) of ore were 

reported to have been shipped to the steel plant in Monterrey. A 

large quantity of ore is not likely to be found in these deposits in 

the future.

Nuevo Vesuvio deposit (82g}. The Nuevo Vesuvio is an antimony 

and manganese deposit 27 kilometers southeast of Parral, in the 

region of the Matamoros deposits. The mine was visited in April 

1943 by D. E. White (38) of the Geological Survey, who reported 

that it was owned by Roman S. Concha of Parral.

The country rocks consist of siliceous and calcareous .shales intruded 

by diorite and related porphyries. The presence of these basement 

rocks suggests that the ore deposit is at some distance from the 

Matamoros deposits, which are found in rhyolite. Six veins are 

present on the property. These trend N. 35° W. and dip 70° W., 

and they range in length up to 50 meters. The two northern veins are 

richer in manganese than the southern, and near the surface the 

manganese oxides are mixed with antimony oxides. The more 

eastern of the northern veins contains more manganese, but the ore 

is difficul t to sort to more than 30 percent of manganese. The mine
248 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

had produced 100 tons of ore containing from 30 to 35 percent of 

antimony, but no manganese had been produced. Keserves of 

manganese ore were estimated by White to amount to less than 1,000 

tons containing 35 percent of manganese.

COAHUTLA 

L.UCERO DEPOSIT (2)

The Lucero deposit was controlled in 1943 by Abraham Jime'nez 

Cdrdenas and Esteban Ibarra Garcia of Muzquiz. It was leased to 

Messrs. Leighton and Hull, who worked the property during 1942. 

The deposit is reached by road Irom La Esperanza on the railroad, 

13 kilometers distant. The owners built the last 3 kilometers of this 

road up a canyon, and from the road's end constructed a good trail

2 kilometers long to the deposits, which are 600 meters above the floor 

of the canyon. Leighton and Hull attempted to make ferromanganese 

from the ore by means of coke, but without success, and when the 

property was visited in April 1943 they had ceased their operations 

and the deposit was idle. The ore was found to be too low in grade to 

sort to 40 percent; none was purchased by the Metals Reserve Co., but 

one car of 40 tons of ore was ultimately sold to the Monterrey steel 

plant. In 1943, about 5 tons of 30 percent ore lay piled beside the 

workings. The property has been explored by three cuts each 2 or

3 meters in length.

 The host rock looks much like the limestone of the Glen Rose

formation (Lower Cretaceous) of Texas. Its beds strike northwest and 

dip 5° to 10° NE. The ore body appears to be a vertical chimney, 

whose maximum dimensions are 30 meters in height and 1 meter in

width. The ore is a replacement of limestone and consists of black 

calcite and a mineral that looks much like taunite, The ratio of

calcite to manganese ore is 4:1. Coarsely crystalized calcite crystals

8 centimeters in diameter overlie the manganese,

BALTJARTE DEPOSIT

The Baluarte deposit is on the south side of the prominent peak 

called El Baluarte, 13 kilometers northeast of Las Hermanas in the 

central part of the State of Coahuila. It is about 300 meters above the

plain and is reached by trail. In 1943 it was owned by Sr. Garza

Castro of Las Hermanas.

The country rock is massive limestone, which dips 20° N. and 

strikes east; the ore body is a replacement of this limestone by mangMSe OXideS In a ZOnG 19 meters long and 1 meter wide. TKe

manganese content of the mineralized rock is less than 5 percent. Ine 

ore is said to contain about 2 percent of iron. One small cut has been 

opened in the deposit, but the ore is of low grade and none of it has
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 249

been shipped. The small size and low manganese content make this 

deposit of little value.

CANDELA DEPOSITS (6)

In Cerro Colorado, 26 kilometers by airline west of the town of 

Candela and 12 kilometers northeast of the Panuco mine, a series of 

manganese deposits has been formed by the replacement of limestone 

adjacent to a granitic plug. Cerro Colorado rises 250 meters above a 

broad valley between two strike ridges that trend northwest and form 

a prominent butte or hill visible for many kilometers. The deposit is 

65 kilometers by road from the railroad station on the Piedras Negras 

line, and 40 kilometsrs from the Candela rail station on the line from 

Monterrey to Laredo. More than a dozen prospects are distributed 

around the periphery of the granitic stock, which is about 1.5 kilometers 

in diameter. The prospects on the east are controlled by Remigio 

Martinez, Francisco Farias Zertuche, and C. A. Kelly of Rosita; those 

on the west by Leopoldo Villareal, Jr., of Saltillo.

The ore in the Milagro deposit, on the east side of the stock, is 

found along the contact between the limestone and a nearly horizontal 

sill of fine-grained quartz granophyre. This granophyre seems to be 

an offshoot from the granitic stock and has intruded the limestone 

almost parallel to the bedding, which strikes northeast and dips 10° 

NW. The contact dips perhaps 10° more steeply to the west than 

the limestone, although it cuts across the beds irregularly. The 

mineralized zone might, in fact, be considered as lying at the base of 

a laccohthic sill extending from the granitic stock to the west. This 

zone is about 15 meters thick and contains coarsely crystallized 

calcite, barite, fluorspar, and drusy crystalline masses of manganese 

oxides. According to W. F. Foshag, recent explorations have shown 

that down the dip into the heart of the hill, the manganese oxides 

give way in part to alabandite. The manganese ore is in most places 

found near the base of the mineralized zone, although in some places' 

two zones 1 meter apart are present; in one place the whole minerali'zed 

zone consists of managanese oxides. The manganese ore can be considered, however, as lying in a zone from 15 to 60 centimeters thick.

The'deposit has been explored for 150 msters along the strike and 

100 meters down the dip by a series of drifts and crosscuts. Near the 

lower part of the exploratory workings down the clip, galena begins 

to appear. In the deepest part of the excavations, when the deposit 

was visited in April 1943, the content of galena was at least 20 percent 

of the total rock. The limestone in the lead zone is less coarsely 

recrystallized than where the manganese oxides are present. The ore 

mined contained about 2 percent each of lead and zinc, so it was not 

acceptable to.the Metals Reserve Co. Two analyses of manganese
250 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

ore from the Milagro deposit are given in table 9. One of the samples 

was taken by Mr. Skelly and the other by P. D. Trask, from a stock 

pile of 20 tons of selected ore lying beside the main opening of the 

Milagro deposit.

TABLE 9. Partial chemical analyses of two samples of Milagro (Coahuila 6b) ore

[Analyzed by J. F. Fyfe]

Sampler

Skelly. .....................

Mn

46.5

50.4

Fe

0.82

T

P

0.05

.04

Pb

1.86

0.0

Cu

0.06

.08

Zn

2.13

1.8

Ah03

0.03

.05

Si02

8.9

5.3

Fines

1.8.

The Milagro mine is said to have produced 2,000 tons of ore muny 

years ago. Who mined this ore and where it was shipped are not 

known. Before 1943, some 300 tons of ore were sold to the Monterrey 

steel plant, but owing to the low price paid for this type of ore, the 

operators were not able to make a profit. In April 1943, the deposit 

was being explored by a force of 10 miners, in the hope of blocking out 

more ore, so that if a market were found the quantity of ore that 

could be delivered would be known. About 2,000 tons of material are 

estimated to lie in the dumps.

The reserves of manganese ore in the group of deposits around 

Cerro Colorado are estimated to exceed 15,000 tons, containing 40

percent of manganese and 2 percent each of lead and zinc.

Around the border of the stock, half a dozen deposits have been 

explored by means of shallow prospect pits opened up by Martinez and

others, and by Sr. Villareal and associates, but none has been explored

for more than 5 meters. These show the same relationship between

the granite and the intruded limestone as in the Milagro deposit. Two 

Of these deposits lie leSS than 100 meters northwest of the main Milagro 

workings, and three others are found farther to the northwest, at intervals as great as 600 meters from these workings. Similar conditions

are fouiid in. tlvo ViUn/reo.! Wo*-l^i->es on tbo west side of the stock.

fc the Central part Of the granite Stock, a vertical copper-bearing 

vein was found arid worked many years ago, but it IS now abandoned.

EUREKA DEPOSITS (7) The Eureka deposits are located 27 Kilometers norm «* ^pom*, ^

t/lie railroad from Torro6ix to Monterrey. They were controlled in 

1043 by General Gabriel R. Cervera; they were Operated in 1942 bj Leopoldo Villareal, Jr., and in tne spring or 1^3 ^ »v* ». ^^

deposit is found in limestone and is presumably a chimneylike replacement, as are several other deposits in this general region. According 

to Senor VJlteal (30), Of QatillOj NUVY^ ^e^ «*« <~- ^Ody wa.s 3 

meters wide at the surface and diminished to a width of 8 centimeters
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 251

at a depth of 6 meters. A sample of ore examined by the (writers 

looked much like braunite. Some 250 tons of ore were sold to the 

Monterrey steel plant. Senor Villareal said that the deposit was 

worked out and that he doubted if much ore was still fco be found.

DURANQO \ 

DESTAMITA DEPOSITS (2)

The Dinamita deposits are about 15 kilometers southwest of 

Dinamita, in the northeastern part of the State of Durango, and 30 

kilometers northwest of Torre6n, Coahuila. They consist of the 

replacement of massive limestone by black calcite around the periphery 

of a granitic stock from 3 to 5 kilometers in diameter. The main 

deposits are the Sarnosa (2b) and the Luz (2g), which is 2 kilometers to 

the south of the Sarnosa. Half a dozen others, among which .are the 

Nena (2e), Santiana (2c), and Zurita (2b), are known in this'general 

vicinity. Another group of deposits, which includes the Negra (2m) 

and Providencia (2n), is found on the opposite side of the mountains, 

on the west side of the granitic stock. This group had not developed 

into large deposits when the area was visited in 1943, and difficulty 

was found in sorting the ore to 40 percent of manganese. The Sarnosa, 

Santiana, and Negra deposits are within a hundred meters of the outcrop of the granitic stock, which protrudes almost vertically into the 

limestone, but others, such as the Luz and Nena, are as much as 2 

kilometers from the granite.

All the deposits seem to be associated with breccia, which was formed 

in part when the granite was intruded and in part along vertical faults 

of considerable displacement. The ore is in pockets distributed 

irregularly throughout this breccia. The deposits were probably of 

hydrothermal origin when first formed, but the present ore bodies are 

clearly secondary, for their calcite matrix has been leached out, and 

the manganese oxides are in powdery form. This fine powder detracts 

from tha value of the ore. Except for the Sarnosa deposit, whose ore 

contains from 40 to 45 percent of manganese, the ore from most of the 

others generally averages from 35 to 38 percent.

Production from the area to June 1943 was about 12,000 tons of ore, 

of which some 10,000 tons came from the Sarnosa deposit and 1,500 

tons from the Luz deposit. Reserves in the region are estimated to 

amount to about 25,000 tons, of which 10,000 tons each are in the 

Sarnosa and Luz deposits, and 5,000 tons are in the other deposits. 

The average grade of this ore is estimated to be between 35 and 40 

percent of manganese.

Sarnosa deposit (#&).< The Sarnosa deposit is 2 kilometers by trail 

from the road and 300 meters above the road. It was owned and 

operated in 1943 by Arturo Villar of Tdrre6n, Coahuila. About 100

789981 48 7
252 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

men were working on the property when the area was visited in the 

spring of that year. The deposit consists of a replacement of limestone by black calcite, more or less parallel to a large fault along the 

edge of a massive stock of medium-grained granite or quartz monzonite 

This black calcite has been partly leached out; leaving irregular masses 

of powdery, black manganese oxides that lie parallel to the sides of 

blocks of limestone breccia.. The primary black calcite is clearly of 

hydrothermal origin, but the present manganese oxide ore bodies are 

the result of secondary oxidation and leaching.

The outcrop of the deposit was an area about 1 meter square on the 

face of a nearly vertical cliff. When explored this area opened into a 

leached zone 60 meters long and 5 meters thick. One cavity in this 

zone was 15 meters in diameter and was filled with manganese oxides; 

another was 6 meters in diameter. In 1943, the operators were following small leads in the hope of finding other such cavities filled with 

manganese oxides. A typical sample of run-of-mine ore (sample 116, 

table 5) taken in April 1943 contained 44.1 percent Mn, 1.0 percent 

Fe, 1.8 percent SiO2 , 1.05 percent W03 ; 0.06 percent A1203 ; 0.04 percent Cu; 0.02 percent Pb; and traces of Zn and P. It contained 27.6 

percent of fines. -

Before April 1943 some 10,000 tons of ore had been shipped to the 

Monterrey steel plant, but because of the high proportion of fines, 

none had been accepted by the Metals Reserve Company. The reserves are difficult to estimate, but they may perhaps amount to as 

much as 10,000 tons of ore containing approximately 45 percent of

manganese.

Nem deposit $e}. The Nena dsposit was owned in June 1943 by

General Zurita ancl was being operated by Tb-eodoi-e Symons. It is

about 2 kilometers south of the Sarnosa mine (2b) and 3 kilometers

farther frOin the fall Station at Dinamita. The route to tne railroad

coxild easily be shortened by 5 kilometars if a new road 1.5 kilometers

along Were Constructed, as the way .lies across flat country sparsely

covered by brush. Tke deposit is in tKe east faC6 of a Stop SCarp,

about 220 meters above the road, and is reached by a good trail about

1 kilometer long. About 20 men were working on tKe property in 1943.

The ore is found along a fissure in limestone in a zone that is eo

meters long and 15 meters deep and that average 2.5 meters in Width.

TKe main part of tKe ore body lies in a cave 15 meters long, 15 meters

dCCP. and. »S mu^li as O meters wide. Oi-e is foui^d oloixg tKe walls of

this cave and extending along the fissure zone beyond it. A tunnel was 

driven about 8 meters below the exposed ore to simplify mining. The

f-t.-i.il o^tem.t of tKe Kocly -wa.s not 1-c.noWIT. wln.en tKe deposit was visited in

1942. TKe ore consists of a mixture of black calcite and powdery

manganese oxides, similar to the ore in the Sarnosa (2b) and Luz (2g)
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 253

deposits. It averages 35 percent in manganese and was being sorted 

to 38 or 40 percent.

Before June 1943, about 100 tons of ore estimated to average 38 

percent in manganese and 4 percent in silica had been mined. Reserves indicated by the workings existing at that time were estimated 

to amount to 2,000 tons containing 38 percent of manganese.

Luz deposit (2g). The Luz deposit in 1943 was owned by the Garcla 

brothers and was being operated by Ernesto Madero and associates. 

It is 25 meters above the base of a vertical cliff, 1 kilometer west of the 

Nena deposit (2e). It is reached by a trail 3 kilometers long, which 

leads up the canyon from the end of the road; from there ascent is 

by means of a wire rope, 10 meters up the cliff. About 50 people 

were working in the mine in June 1943. The ore was being carried 

on burros, which made five trips a day, to the road at the end of the 

trail where it could be picked up by trucks.

The deposit is found in horizontal beds of massive limestone and is 

exposed in a vertical wall 150 meters high. This wall was formed 

by erosion along the plane of a joint or, more probably, a fault. As 

originally exposed, the outcrop of the deposit formed an area 10 meters 

long by 1.5 meters high. Three open-cuts had been made in this 

outcrop. The largest and westernmost cut follows a narrow zone 

that, inside the mountain, widens into an ore body 50 meters long, 10 

meters wide, and 5 meters in average thickness. When the property 

was visited in June 1-943 the limits of this body had not been determined. Two other prospect pits, 20 meters and 30 meters, respectively, southeast of the main opening and at approximately the same 

level, encountered relatively little ore and were not being worked.

The ore from the Luz deposit contains about 38 percent of manganese and less than 5 percent of silica. About half of it is black calcite, 

and the rest is a soft powder similar to the ore in the Sarnosa deposit 

(2b). The ore that was shipped was mixed with high-silica ore from 

the Abundancia or Colorado deposit (Zacatecas 7). Before June 1943, 

production was said to have amounted to 1,500 tons of ore containing 

38 percent of manganese. Reserves are estimated to amount to some 

10,000 tons of ore of the same grade.

Negra deposit (2m). On the west side of the granitic intrusion around 

which the Dinamita deposits are situated, several other manganese 

deposits of the same general type have been found, although up to 

June 1943 no large ore body had been discovered. When the area 

was visited in April of that year the largest deposit, the Negra, was 

being worked by five men and had been explored to a depth of 3 

meters and for a length of 6 meters. As difficulty had been encountered in sorting the ore to a grade of 40 percent of manganese, the
254 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

owners, Senora Julia Pamones de Cueto and Licenciado Lucas Haces 

Gil of Torre6n, were considering stopping the work.

The ore consists of manganese oxides and black calcite, in bodies 

that replace limestone .breccia 100 meters distant from the granite 

stock. The limestone is recrystallized to a fine-grained marble, whose 

grain size is about 2 millimeters, and in places it is stained red with 

iron oxides. Because of the similarity of this deposit to the Sarnosa 

on the other'side of the granite stock, where tungsten had been found, 

samples of ore from the deposit were examined with an ultraviolet 

lamp, but no tungsten in the form of scheelite was seen. The average 

grade of the ore is about 38 percent in manganese. No ore had been 

sold before June 1943, and no significant reserves had been blocked out.

PICACHO DE LA CANDELA DEPOSITS (3)

The Picacho de La Candela deposits are among the most inaccessible manganese deposits in Mexico and have been visited by very 

few people. They lie 30 kilometers by air line east of Tepehuanes, 

which is at the end of the branch railroad extending northwestward 

from Durango City. The nearest rail stations are Presidio and 

Sandia, each about 25 kilometers southeast of Tepehuanes, and from 

these the deposits are 35 kilometers distant by steep trail. The 

deposits may be reached by road from Presidio to the Brock lumber 

camp, 40 kilometers distant, and from there by trail for 17 kilometers. 

They may be reached also by trail 5 kilometers up the valley from 

Matamoros and 30 kilometers by country road from the Palmito 

dam, which is, in turn, 150 kilometers by all-weather road from 

Mapimi on the railroad. In the spring of 1943 the ownership of the

deposits had not been clearly established.

Three types of deposits are present in the region : (1) a replacement 

of tuff by silica, jasper, and manganese oxides, as in the Guadalupe

deposit (3e); (2) manganese oxides in a breccia zone along a fissure, 

as in the Cia. Minera Central deposit (3c), which lies 2 kilometers

east of th.© Gruadalupe; and' (3) coatings of secondary manganese

OXideS On tile Surface. Of a calcified tuff; as in the Esperanza deposit

(3D), Whicll is 1 kilometer west of the Gxiadahipe. The best of these

is the G-xm.ciaiu.pe deposit, but as itg ore contains around 2 percent of

ZinC Md i8 dlffiCUlt tO 80rt tO 40 percent of manganese the ore cannot 

readily be marketed. The average ore in the Cia. Minera Cfintrfll

deposit contains about 15 percent of manganese; it cannot be sorted

effectively for marketing. These two deposits nave been prospected

by means of several pits and adits.

Practically all the ore produced up to June 1943 came from the 

Guadalupe deposit. Not more than an estimated 25,000 tons of 

30-percent ore remains in this deposit; probably not more tlian 10,000 

tons remains in the other deposits in the area.
. . - MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 255

Esperanza deposit (56). -The Esperanza deposit lies I kilometer 

west of the Progreso claim (3a) and has been prospected by only one 

adit, which is 8 meters long. The deposit is said to have been owned 

* in 1943 by Angel Bunis and operated by the Cia. Minera Central. 

The ore consists mainly of drusy coatings of high-grade, mammillary 

manganese oxides, on a fracture plane'in calcified'tuff. This bed of 

tuff extends east and west for a distance of 600 meters and is 1 meter 

thick.- Manganese ore is present in three places along the outcrop 

'of the tuff, but the workings are only in the exposure near the west 

end, where ore is found at intervals for a distance of 50 meters. The 

adit driven into the tuff in this place encountered oxide ore only at its 

entrance. The grade of the ore found in the drusy coatings exceeded 

45 percent of manganese. At the west end of the bed of tuff, a shaft 

was sunk several years ago in search of gold, but only galena was 

found. No ore had been produced from the deposit in 1943, and the 

reserves are estimated to be small.

Cia. Minera Central deposit (8c). The Cia. Minera Central deposit lies in the second ridge northeast of the Guadalupe-deposit (3e), 

and about 2 kilometers east and a little north of the Progreso (3 a) 

deposit. It consists of several ore bodies at intervals along a fissure 

zone trending due north to N. 40° W. and dipping nearly vertically, 

in rhyolitic agglomerate, which in turn "dips somewhat gently southward. Several cuts had. been made in the more favorable localities 

in 1943, but little ore containing more than 15 percent of manganese 

was found. About 25 tons of ore had been produced when the deposit was visited in the spring of 1943, and 5 tons of sorted ore estimated to contain 35 percent of manganese Jay in a pile beside one of 

the cuts. The reserves in the deposit are estimated at 5,000 tons of 

ore containing about 15 percent of manganese.

Guadalupe deposit (So). The Guadalupe deposit contains the best 

ore body in the Picacho de La Candela region. It is about 300 meters 

north of Picacho de La Candela (Candlestick Peak), which is a 

high rhyolitic peak notable for its sharpness. The deposit was controlled and operated in the fall of 1942 and spring of 1943 by Darrell 

M. Wonn, and when it was visited in March 1943 work had been 

abandoned because the ore "had failed to meet marketing specifications.

The manganese ore occurs in silicified rhyolitic tuffs, which strikes 

northeast and dip 45° to 65° SE. These tuff beds seem to be broken 

by faults in this general region, and no continuous ore zone is present. 

The deposit runs into massive rhyolite on the south, where jit is 

seemingly cut off by a fault, and it lenses out to the north.. The 

silicified zone is 60 meters long and 25 meters wide; it is mineralized 

irregularly with manganese and iron oxides, locally withered and
256 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946 .'

yellow jasper. Two zones about 1,5 meters apart, generally 2 or 3 

meters thick and parallel to the main trend .of the tuffs, have been; 

particularly enriched with manganese oxides. The easternmost one 

has been explored by an open-cut, or "patio" as it is called locally, 

and the other by an adit 10 meters long. Little ore containing as 

much as 40 percent of manganese was seen in these mineralized 

zones, and it would be difficult to keep the silica content of the ore 

below 15 percent.

The deposit is reported to have produced 175 tons of ore containing 

from 35 to 42 percent of manganese and as much as 2 percent of 

zinc, but only one car load was accepted by the Metals Reserve Co. 

It is doubtful if more than 25,000 tons of 30 percent ore remain in the 

deposit.

GUANAJUATO

VICTORIA MINE (2)

The Victoria mine is in the northern part of the State of Guanajuato, 14 kilometers north of Le6n. It is 20 kilometers from the nearest rail station, from which it is reached over a narrow mountain road. 

The deposit was first explored during May 1942; when visited in May 

1943 it was being worked by about 50 men. It was owned at that 

time by Sr. Villasefior Range!, and was leased to Credito Minero.

The ore is found in lenses of salty shale that range from. 3 to 30 

meters in length, 1.5 to 15 meters in width, and 1.5 to 3 meters

thickness. These lenses strike northwest and dip 30° to 45° W. 

Five'such lenses, occurring at intervals in a zone 300 meters long,

had been explored in 1943, and at that time they were largely mined 

out. Tiie operators were prospecting actively for more ore down the

dip of some of these mined-out lenses, hut the chances for SucCess

were small, for apparently once having pinched out, the lenses almost

never repeat themselves down dip. The ore is cut by quartz vemlets 

»s much as i centimeter wide, and as the manganese content averages

Only about 30 percent, the ore kas to be hand-sorted to bring tKe grade

up to 40 percent. The primary manganese minerals are probably

silicates, although as all the lenses that 'had been mined or explored 

were still within the limits of the zone of oxidation, no primary minerals could be identified with certamty. . . Before M:ay 1943 the mine had produced 300 IMS Of 01*6 Containing

from 40 to 45 percent of manganese, which had been shipped to the

Metals Reserve Co. The dimensions of the known ore bodies are

such, tliafc a. large toniiage of r<J8©rVOS C^HnOt ftC OXDCOteCl tO

in the deposit. 
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 257 

PROTECTORA .DEPOSIT (3)

The Protectora deposit is 14 kilometers east of Le6n, in the mountains 1-3 kilometers by trail from the Trinidad rail station. It was 

controlled in 1943 by Justo Pedroza of Silao. The property was 

worked in the fall and winter of 1942, but was abandoned when visited 

in May 1943.

The ore occurs in lenticular bodies in slightly metamorphosed rhyolitic porphyry, along a contact between this rock and a granite stock 

to the west. Three lenses of ore, each about 100 meters apart, are 

found in a zone that trends N. 70° E. and dips 60° to 70° N. The ore 

bodies range in length up to 30 meters, in width to 15 meters, and in 

thickness to 6 meters. The central deposit is the largest and richest, 

and in it a cut 12 meters in diameter and 6 meters deep exposes an 

ore body whose dimensions are 6 by 6 by 5 meters. Near the surface 

the ore consists of manganese oxides impregnated with leached silica, 

which gives way with depth to fine-grained, purplish-pink rhodonite. 

Blocks of rhodonite 2 meters in diameter were found in the bottom 

of the cut. The ore contains a small proportion of tiny greenish grains 

that might be apatite, which may account for a reportedly high 

phosphorus content of as much as 4 percent.

The deposit is reported to have produced 200 tons of ore containing 

from 36 to 40 percent-of manganese and as much 'as 4 percent of 

phosphorus, which made the ore difficult to market. The two adjacent ore bodies, which consist of low-grade manganese oxides at the 

surface, are estimated to average only about 20 percent of manganese.

Because the ore .passes almost certainly irito rhodonite with depth 

the deposit is. not of great value. Reserves are estimated to amount 

to 3,000 tons of ore containing 35 percent of manganese, of which at 

least 60 percent is in the mineral rhodonite.

Quanajucbto deposit (So). A deposit mentioned in a letter in the 

files of D. F. Hewett (15) of the U. S. Geological Survey, was said to 

be located near Le6n, Guanajuato, and to have been controlled in 1918 

by H. C. Baldwin and-a Sr. Rosada, who at that time had a contract 

for 20,000 tons of ore .that were to have come from this deposit. The 

letter states, moreover, that some 500 tons of ore containing 50 percent of manganese and 5 percent of silica were mined from a deposit 

3 kilometers from the Protectora (3). Whether these two are the 

same deposit is not clear, nor were they identified by the writers when 

the area was visited in 1943. They might represent the Victoria 

deposit (2), although that is 16 kilometers northwest of the Protectora 

(3). The ore was reported to consist of psilomelane and rhodochrosite,
258 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN-AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

and to contain 43 percent of manganese and 10 percent of silica.^ As 

his deposit could not be identified in the field, its production is notj 

ncluded in table 2 because of a possible duplication of figures. The 

reserves are thought possibly to amount to several thousand tons.

GUERRERO 

BUENAVISTA REGION (4)

Some 15 deposits are known in the Buenavista region, which is lo 

kilometers southeast of Taxco and 10 kilometers northeast of the 

rail station of Buenavista. Most of them were controlled in 1943 

by Mario Jimenez Galindo of Buenavista, and were operated largely 

on a "gambusino" basis. The ore was sold to Comercio General of 

Mexico City, which in turn sold it in the United States. Some ore 

was also sold to the Monterrey steel plant, and one carload was 

shipped to the Electrometallurgical Co. of Alloy, W. Va.

The deposits are found in chimneys of breccjated massive limestone, 

along fissures located from 5 to 150 meters from the contact between 

the limestone and a granitic stock from 3 to 5 kilometers in diameter. 

These fissures are roughly parallel to the contact, and the ore chimneys 

in them are small. The ore consists of black calcite and secondary 

manganese oxides, generally found in stringers from 5 to 10 centimeters wide ramifying through the chimneys. In a few places, notably 

in the Maria, Carmen, Unidn, and Porfirio deposits, pockets of ore

have been found that are as much as 3 meters wide. The manganese 

minerals have only partly replaced the limestone, and the manganese 

content of the ore bodies varies from 2 to 50 percent of the material 

mined. The ore shipped to Alloy, W. Va. ; ran: 42.67 percent Mn,

0.33 percent F©, 2.51 percent SiO2 , 1.03 percent A1203 , and 0.13 

percent P.

Production to June 1943 is estimated to have amounted to 400 tons, 

most of which came from the Uni6n (4n) and Carmen (4h) deposits.

Wh.en the region, v^as visited, about 1 ton of ore a -v^eek was being

produced, BeserYes are estimated to amount to 2,000 tons of 40- 

percent Oie, although this amount >Yill probably not be mined, tor

the better .deposits had already been worked out in 1943. Future 

production Will depend upon the-discovery of new deposits in some

of the mineralized breccia zones.

Indi(L depOSitS (6g). The India deposit lies across the canyon south 

of tKe 33os Lupes (4cD and Vidal (4f) deposits, about 10 kilometers

by trail from the rail station of Amates, It was owned in 1943 by

Enrique Ballena of Amates and was controlled by H. W. Fowler and 

associates. The deposit had been explored by means of two small 

cuts 3 m'eters in length. The Ore is louna in loroooiated limestone

partly.replaced by manganese oxides, along a zone trending N. 60°
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 259

W. and dipping 60° SW. This zone extends for a distance of perhaps 

150 meters but is mineralized extensively in only one place. There 

the ratio of manganese oxides to limestone is about 1:1, or 1:2. The 

ore would have to be sorted carefully to bring the grade up to 40 

percent in manganese. No ore had been produced when the deposit 

was visited in June 1943.

Carmen deposit (4h). The Carmen deposit is 3 kilometers southeast 

of the India (4g), on the west side of the granite stock and about 8 

kilometers by trail from the rail stations at Amates and Pimental. 

It was owned in 1943 by Jos6 Merino and was controlled by Comercio 

General. The manganese ore occurs in two chimneys about 200 

meters apart. The southern chimney, which is 50 meters west of 

the granite contact, was explored and mined by means of two cuts 

35 meters apart, and the northern one by a cut 6 meters in length. 

The ore in these chimneys forms only about 20 percent of the rock 

and is difficult to beneficiate by sorting. Production to June 1943 is 

estimated as 200 tons, most of which was said to have been shipped 

to the Monterrey steel plant. The deposit seems to be largely mined 

out and offers little promise of yielding more ore.

Union deposit (Sri). The Uni6n deposit is 100 meters southeast 

of the Cabrillo (4m), 60 meters east of the granite contact and about 

9 kilometers by trail from the railroad at Buenavista. It was last 

mined in 1942. The ore is found in finely recrystallized limestone in 

a zone 20 meters long, 6 meters wide, and 3 meters thick. The 

proportion of ore to waste rock is low, and the average grade of the 

ore body is about 30 percent in manganese. Up to the time when 

mining stopped (1942), some 100 tons of ore had been produced. 

It was shipped mainly to the Monterrey steel plant. The deposit 

is apparently almost mined out.

Maria deposits (4p). The Maria deposits are 5 kilometers south 

of the Negra deposit (2o) and are at least 1.5 kilometers from the 

granite stock. They consist of two deposits; one of these is adjacent 

to the railroad, and the other is about 300 meters to the north. Both 

were owned in 1943 by Jos6 Merino; they were mined during 1942 

but were abandoned in 1943. The northernmost deposit was explored by means of one cut 15 meters long, in which the ratio of 

manganese ore to limestone is about 1:4. The southern ore body 

consists of a breccia zone 12 meters long and 6 meters wide, in 

which the manganese content is about 20 percent. This deposit 

had not been mined. The production is said to have amounted to 

some 50 tons of ore, all from the northern deposit. The property 

may still contain 1,000 tons of 15-percent ore, or perhaps 50 tons of 

40-percent ore.

789981 48 8
260 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946 

CONSUELO DEPOSITS (5)

The Consuelo deposits are about 80 kilometers northeast of Acapulco 

and 7 kilometers to the east of the paved highway from Mexico City to 

Acapulco, by a trail that starts at a bend in the highway near kilometer 

342. The country is brush-covered, and from June to October receives 

much rain, which makes mining difficult. The deposits were owned 

by Galvo Ortega in February 1943 when the area was visited, and 

negotiations were under way with Productos Mineros Mexicanos for 

their exploitation, which was then being carried on by only a few 

miners. Mr. Arnold, one of the principals of Productos Mineros 

Mexicanos, died in April 1943, and work at the deposits flagged until 

May, when Dr. Volf of the Cia Mercantil Reforma became interested. 

It is not known, however, whether this company worked the deposits.

The ore is found in chimneys in fissures that cut through massive 

limestone, in a zone 250 meters long that strikes east and dips 40° N. 

Four cuts were made along this zone; one of these is 30 meters long and 

10 meters deep. About 100 meters northwest of the main cut is a 

shaft that was said to extend to a depth of 30 meters. The ore consists 

of residual oxides derived from johannsenite, a manganese-bearing 

silicate. At one place the primary silicate mineral was found within 

50 Centimeters Of the surface, but in others the oxidized zone extends

to a depth of at least 10 meters. In places galena is found With the 

ore. At the shaft, no ore shows at the surface, and seemingly little

good ore was encountered at depth.

Sorted ore was carried by burros to a stock pile along the highway, 

but none had been sold in 1943. Reserves are estimated to amount

to 3,000 tons of 30 percent ore, of which a large part is manganese 

silicate.

Northeast of the Consuelo deposits, long tongues of limestone

apparently grade into agglomerate, and faults With more than 100 

meters of displacement seem to be present.

1.-^^^ N-L-n.a. deposit L5a^. TLe Lxicky Nina deposit is 500 meters 

WeSt Of ttl6 ConSUelO deposits (5). It was owned in 1943 by Froductos

Mineros Mexicanos, which had a contract witk the Metals Reserve

Co. The sorted ore was hauled to a stock pile along the highway,

v^ixe .-o it x^o.s to ta^e been trucked to Naranjo on the railroad, some 

160 kilometers distant. Shipping COStS from the mine tO LaMO 111611 

amounted to 59 pesos a ton; 10 pesos from the mine to the higWay,

so p.esoa fr-om tKor-a to Nn,i-o,nio, and (14 pesos by rail to Laredo.

Because of the difficulty in concentrating the ore to 40 percent or

manganese, none was marketed in the United atates.

TI^O o,-e is fou.-n«i J.TV veins tlia.t occupy fissures in massive limestone

The veins strike N. 20° E. and dip nearly vertically; they are from

15 to 50 meters long, 7 to 30 meters or more deep, and 1 to 3 meters
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 261

wide. The primary ore mineral is johannsenite, a manganese-bearing 

silicate having a radiating fibrous habit. When oxidized the mineral 

retains its habit but becomes light and porous from the loss of its 

silica. The primary ore is found at a depth of from 1.5 to 10 meters 

below the outcrops, and oxide ore seemingly cannot be expected to 

occur at a depth greater than 15 meters. Even in the deepest cut, 

which is 10 meters deep, most of the ore consists of primary silicate. 

The oxidized ore contains about 20 percent of manganese and as much 

as 30 percent of water, half of which, according to Mr. Arnold, is 

driven off at 105° C. and the rest at about 300° C. A rough sample 

taken from the stock pile of sorted ore gave the following composition: 

35.4 percent Mn, 16.7 percent SiO,2 5.6 percent Fe, 0.06 percent A1203) 

0.04 percent Cu, 0.02 percent P, and traces of Zn, Pb, and S; 1.2 

percent of the ore extracted was finer than 20 mesh.

About 50 tons of ore had been mined when the deposit was examined 

in 1943. Half was stock-piled at the highway and the rest at the mine, 

but none had been sold. The deposit is estimated to have reserves 

of about 5,000 tons of ore containing 30 percent of manganese, largely 

in the form of silicate. The high content of silicate and relatively low 

content of manganese, owing to the shallow depth of oxidation, combine 

to make this deposit unattractive.

HIDALGO 

JACALA DEPOSITS (1)

Two manganese deposits, about 400 meters apart, are found not 

far from the Mexico City-Laredo highway, about 260 kilometers northeast of Mexico City and 6 kilometers east of Jacala. In 1942 a good 

road 2 kilometers long was built from the highway to the deposits, 

which at that time were controlled by Sr. Bourneman of Mexico City. 

The southernmost deposit was the more promising. At this deposit 

two exploratory cuts had been made, both about 15 meters long, 5 

meters wide, and 7 meters deep. The ore occurs in chimneys in brecciated zones in massive limestone. The mineralized material consists of a diffuse replacement of the limestone by manganese oxides. 

The average manganese content of the material, which is fairly evenly 

mineralized, is estimated to be 20 percent, and it is therefore difficult 

to obtain high-grade ore by sorting.

About 1,000 tons of rock had been mined from the southern deposit. 

Most of this lay in the dumps when the property was visited in 1943, 

although some 50 tons of ore containing 35 percent of manganese had 

been sorted out and stored separately. The low grade of the ore and 

the relatively small reserves make these deposits of little commercial 

interest.
262 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

JALISCO 

MEZCAJLA DEPOSITS (2)

A group of manganese deposits occurs near Mezcala, 15 kilometers 

north of Tepotitlan in northeastern Jalisco. The area is about- 15 

kilometers from the railroad, from which some of the deposits can be 

reached by road. In 1943 several claims in the area were owned by 

Adalberto Taylor of Guadalajara, among which were the Amparo (2e), 

Bertha (2b), Chiripa (2c), Palomas (2d), Concepci6n (2e), Elba (2f), 

Magdalena (2g), Murallas (2h), and Olga (2i). These had been leased 

to Rodolfo Aldape, M*ho attempted to mine the deposits and sell the 

ore to the Metals Reserve Co. As the ore could not be sorted to 40 

percent of manganese, work on the deposits had stopped by April 

1943.

The area was not visited by the writers, but samples of the ore 

were examined. A report by Philip Chase of the Foreign Economic 

Administration states that near Mezcala several small veins were 

found in fissures in volcanic rocks, probably rhyolites. According to 

Martin Sutti (31) of San Luis Potosi, some of the deposits lie across 

the river from Mezcala; these are small and contain ore with less 

than 40 percent of manganese. According to Chase, most of the 

mineralized rock occurs in patches less than 15 centimeters in diameter. 

In a few places the ore forms 25 percent of the rock, but in general 

the tonnage of such bodies is small, presumably less than 1,000 tons, 

and the manganese content is only about 25 percent. Chase also

Stated that the best sorted ore contained from 37.8 to 50.7 percent of 

manganese and 0.4 to 9.6 percent Of Silica; F. M. Newton reported 

that some of the ore contained 52.8 percent of manganese, 1 percent 

of iron, and 4.1 percent of silica. Cuts less than 3 meters deep had 

been opened lip when Chase visited the area in 1942, a^a S0me 25 

tons of ore had been sorted out.

DEPOSIT (3)

The ProgreSO depOSit IS abOUt 6 kilometers north of the Viotoria

deposit (Guanajuato 2), which is across the boundary line inCruanajuato. It is 40 kilometers from the railroad ftttd 1 kilometer by trail

from the nearest road. The deposit was condoned ^ 1043 by j. J.

Falomir of Fomento Minero in MeXlCO City. An attempt was made 

to mine it late in 1942, but When the writers visited the area in May

1943, the property w»» i^, °ww apparently to difficulty in obtaining 

a product that would meet marketing speCificationo.

The ore is found as lenses Of manganese oxides in slaty shale, which

strikes N. 00° -W- and dips 15° to so0 sw. The deposit has been

explored by means of two cuts 7 metei'S long, in Jfl^^ the ore body is 

20 meters in length and averages 1 meter in width. The rim-Ol-mme
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 263

ore contains 25 or 30 percent of manganese. The manganese oxides 

presumably grade into rhodochrosite or rhodonite with depth. This 

deposit is similar to the Victoria to the south, and is in fact in more or 

less the same general line of strike. One hundred tons of ore are 

reported to have been produced, and about 10 tons estimated to contain 40 percent of manganese lay in a stock pile at the deposit in May 

1943. Difficulty will probably be encountered in mining the deposit 

at a profit.

MEXICO 

GUAJDAIAJPANA DEPOSITS (2)

The Guadalupana deposits are in the southwestern tip of the State 

of Mexico, about 15 kilometers north of Arcelia, Guerrero. They are 

. probably the same as the so-called Tlalchapa deposit (2a) that is shown 

in the southwestern part of the State of Mexico on the Mexican 

manganese map (8). Although the area is served by a good road, the 

distance to the railroad, at Iguala, Guerrero, is 160 kilometers. For 

a year prior to May 1943, the deposits had been controlled and worked 

by the Cia. Minera La Guadalupana, of which Sr. Rafael Pous 

Chazaro of Mexico City was the principal owner. The area was examined by D. E. White (38) in December 1942, and by Trask in May 

1943, when about 50 miners were working in the area.

The manganese deposits occur in silicified fracture zones in thinbedded rhyolitic or latitic tuffs. These zones contain chimneys of ore 

that in general range to 80 meters in length and 5 meters in width, 

although the average width is only about 1.5 meters. The main 

Guadalupana deposit has four such lenses or chimneys. The general 

trend of the ore bodies is north-south, and the dip is 50° to 90° W.

The ore is composed mainly of manganese oxides, although a mineral 

that looks much like braunite is also present. An unknown manganese 

mineral, whose X-ray pattern, as determined by J. N. Axelrod of the 

Geological Survey, was different from all known minerals, was found 

in one specimen. Some bementite and a small quantity of neotocite 

occur in some of the ore. Silica is abundant in certain zones, and iron 

occurs with it in places, in part combined with the silica in the form 

of jasper and in part as iron oxides. Some of the silicified zones have 

been recrystallized. The abundance of silica requires that the ore be 

sorted carefully to keep the silica content below 15 percent. The ratio 

of sorted ore to run-of-mine ore is 1:2 or 1:3, although according to 

J. H. Ribgy, former operators maintained a ratio of 1 :8 or 1 : 10. 

A representative sample from a pile of sorted ore ready for shipment 

gave 47.4 percent Mn, 12.0 percent Si02 , 1.1 percent BaO, and 0.0 

percent W03 .

The main deposit had been explored by three cuts in a nearly northsouth line. The northernmost cut is 80 meters long and 12 meters
264 -GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

wide, and exposes two manganese zones, of which the westernmost 

averages 1.5 meters in width and contains 35 or 40 percent of manganese. This zone had been explored to a depth of 14 meters. The 

easternmost zone, explored in this same cut about 6 meters from the 

westernmost zone, is more siliceous and is estimated to contain about 

20 percent of manganese and 15 percent of iron. It had been mined 

only slightly because of the leanness of its ore. About 30 meters to 

the south of this cut, another cut which is 40 meters long and 7 meters 

wide, was opened up. This cut exposes a zone averaging 1.2 meters 

in width, in which the manganese content is 35 or 40 percent. Another 

ore body of the same width lies 60 meters to the south of this cut.

Up to May 1943 some 1,000 tons of ore containing from 40 to 45 

percent of manganese had been produced from the deposits. About 

50 tons of ore lay in a stock pile at the mine; 100 tons were in a warehouse in Arcelia. Ore was customarily stored in Arcelia during the 

dry season, to permit continuing shipments during the rainy season, 

when the Alahuixtlan River is often too high to ford. Except for 

the long truck haul, which cost 35 pesos a ton in 1943, the deposits 

have good possibilities for production. Together with the Dulce 

Nombre deposit (2b), 400 meters to the north, the reserves are estimated to amount to 10,000 tons of ore containing about 40 percent of 

manganese and from 10 to 15 percent of silica.

Dulce Nombre deposit (2b~). The Dulce Nombre deposit is about 1 

kilometer to the north of the Guadalupana deposits (2). It was controlled in 1943 by the Cia. Minera La Guadalupana y. Anexas, S. A., 

and when visited in May of that year was being actively explored.

Two ore bodies are present. They lie in fissure zones transverse to the 

bedding of the tuff. One ore body is 25 meters long; the other, 15 

meters farther east, is 35 meters long; both average 2 meters in width.

Tlxery- ILCWC Tboeia exploded t»y t>~v^o cuts, one sbx'ilsJLug^ 1ST. 70° E. tl.i3.cl 1/lxe

other due east, but no ore had been produced, as the exploratory work

Had not been finished.

Maria del Consuelo deposit (2e). The Maria del Consuelo deposit

is 20 meters to the south of the Ohaca ^2d^ which in turn is 000 meters

soutK of the Guadalupana deposits (2), some 18 kilometers by road 

north of Arcelia, Guerrero. In May 1943 the deposit was being consicLei-ecl foi- exploitation t>y Oom.ero.io Crenei-al of A4Te:x:ioo City. The

ore body measures 6 meters by 3 meters by 70 centimeters, and it

tapers at either end. The ore is relatively richer in manganese than

closely resembles the ore in the Guadalupana deposits. The ore body 

had been fully explored by two open-cuts when the area was visited 

in May 1943, but no ore had been shipped, Reserves are estimated
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 265

to be 50 tons of ore containing 15 percent of manganese and 15 percent 

of silica.

Tiempos Futuros deposits (2g). The Tiempos Futures deposits are 

2 kilometers south of the Guadalupana deposits (2) and are 200 meters 

west of the road. They were controlled in 1943 by the Cia. Minera 

La Guadalupana y Anexas, S. A. The ore is found in chimneylike 

bodies in silicified zones in broken tuffs, as at the Guadalupana 

deposits. Six lenses from 3 to 15 meters long and 1 to 2.5 meters wide 

are found in a northwestward-trending zone 450 meters long and 125 

meters wide. Small cuts had been made in each of these lenses. 

The ore is relatively high in silica. None had been shipped up to 

May 1943. Some 1,000 tons of material containing 30 percent of 

manganese are estimated to be present in the deposits.

NAYABIT 

TEJABANES DEPOSIT (1)

The Tejabanes deposits is about 20 kilometers north of Hostotipaquilla and across the Santiago River. It was owned in 1943 by 

Maria Mendez and Teresa de Jesus M6ndez, and was leased to F. M. 

Newton and T. F. Taylor. According to Martin Sutti (31), the 

deposit consists of zones of manganese oxides in vertical fissures in 

schists. Sutti regarded the deposits as of relatively small size. If 

the ore is in crystalline rocks, it will probably grade into manganese 

silicate or carbonate at depth. No ore had been shipped before 

May 1943, although three carloads had been mined and stock-piled 

at the mine. The long steep haul by trail makes the deposit costly 

to operate.

PUEBLA 

PODEROSA DEPOSIT (1)

The Poderosa deposit is about 10 kilometers south of Huauchinango 

in northeastern Puebla, in the deeply dissected "barranca" region 

between the high central plateau and the coastal plain. It is at the 

base of a large waterfall at an altitude of about 1,500 meters above 

sea level. When the area was visited in May 1943, the deposit was 

owned by Manuel Vite, Antonio Estreganay, Luis Guille'n Vite, 

Moises Vite, and Epigmenio Vite, all of Huauchinango. These 

gentlemen were attempting to develop and operate the deposit, but 

were having difficulty in meeting costs because of the low grade of 

the ore and the small size of the ore body.

The ore is in vertical stringers in horizontal layers of trachitic or 

rhyolitic agglomerate and tuff. The main vein strikes N. 30° E. and 

is at least 12 meters long and 8 centimeters wide, although its maximum width is as much as 1 meter. One adit 5 meters long had been 

driven into the hillside at an angle of 15° with the vein, and another
266 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

was being started in the hope of finding a second vein. About 5 

meters south of this adit another body of manganese ore crops out, 

possibly a continuation of the main vein. About 5 meters west of 

the main vein is a discolored zone containing perhaps 15 percent of 

manganese. This zone is at the base of an overhanging cliff that 

contains large loose boulders, which makes exploration difficult. 

This manganese-bearing zone does not extend into the overlying 

massive trachitic bed. Several small stringers of manganese ore 

are also found in other places. The ore in the narrow stringers contains about 45 percent of managanese, but the over-all grade of the 

ore zones is probably less than 25 percent of manganese. Some 30 

tons of 25-percent ore lay in a stock pile beside the main workings in 

May 1943.

CUAJTLOTE DEPOSIT (8)

The Cuajilote (Guajilote or Xuajilote) deposit is 20 kilometers 

south of Acatlan, on top of an old upland surface about 250 meters 

above the Petlalcingo River. It is mentioned in the Mexican manganese report (8) as the Petlalcingo deposit. It is said to have been 

controlled in 1942 by Mr. James B. Tanney of New York City; it 

was later operated by a Sefior Traslajeros, who reportedly disposed of 

his interests in April 1943 to Sr. David Mujaes of Mexico City, who in 

May 1943 was operating the mine. The ore was shipped by truck to 

Matamoros, about 100 kilometers distant, for the most part over a 

good paved highway. The truck rate to Matamoros was reported as 

25 pesos a ton; the freight rate from there to Laredo was 30 pesos a 

ton. According to C. E. Pouliot (26), who visited the deposit in 

March 1943, approximately 80 men: were working on the property; 

the daily production amounted to 10 tons of ore containing 42 percent 

of manganese. In May 1943 only 10 men were working in the mine, 

and the operator was having difficulty in trucking the ore.

The deposit is found in a northwestward-trending zone in nearly 

vertical schists. It apparently consists of three ore bodies within a 

distance of 500 meters. These bodies are parallel to the schistosity 

of the country rock and are cut by many quartz veins, which are composed of crystals as .much as 1 millimeter in diameter. The largest 

ore body is at the edge of a cliff overlooking the Petlalcingo River, 

where it is exposed in a cut 20 meters long, 6 meters wide, and 10 

meters deep. The width of the ore body is variable; 3 meters may be 

the average. A length of 10 meters seems to be all that is warranted 

for the ore body, as the cut narrows toward the north and the ore 

probably does not extend far beyond its south end, judging by the

small quantity of float found on the surface. About 300 meters southftftSti Ot te I\OTtu CUt another cut had been opened that was 15 meters 

long and 7 meters deep. This cut is elongated toward the northwest
!' A MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF ^MEXICO - 267

 and exposes an ore body whose maximum thickness is 2.5 meters; 

but which averages only 1.5 meters. Some 200 meters farther to the 

south a third cut had been opened for a length of 10 meters and to a 

depth of 5 meters. The ore body exposed in it has an average width 

of 1 meter. As little manganese ore is found as float on the surface 

between these three cuts, the ore bodies are believed to be lenticular 

and discontinuous.

The ore in the deposit consists of a mixture of manganese oxides 

and a dense hard mineral that looks like braunite. The average grade 

of the ore in the north ore body is only about 25 percent in manganese, which necessitates sorting by hand to bring the grade to 40 

percent. A sample of sorted ore from this body contained 38.4 

percent of manganese, 33.2 percent of silica, and 0.02 percent of tungstic oxides; no barium was found. The middle ore body contains 

materials of about the same grade as that in the north ore body, but 

the south ore body is somewhat leaner.

Total production from the deposit is said to have amounted to 1,000 

tons of ore, of which about 125 tons lay in a stock pile at the north 

mine in May 1943. Reserves in the area are estimated to amount to 

5,000 tons of ore averaging about 25 percent of manganese, of which 

the greater part is in. the north, ore body.

SAN LUIS POTOSI 

MONTANA DE MANGANESO MINE (1) «

The Montana de Manganese mine, one of the most famous manganese mines in Mexico, is 80 kilometers by road west of Charcas and 

4 kilometers southwest of the small village of Santo Domingo (Ranchito), in San Luis Potosi. Charcas is on the Laredo-Mexico City line 

of the Ferrocarriles Nacionales de Mexico. The mine may be reached 

either from Charcas to the east, Salinas to the south, or Villa de Cos 

to the southwest. The roads by these routes are unimproved and 

traversable with difficulty when wet.

The mine is owned by Sr. Aureliano de Leon of Mexico City and is 

operated by the Cia. Minera Adeledn, S. A., undsr the direction of 

Mr. T. W. Callahan, who has offices in Charcas, San Luis Potosi. 

The mine was first operated during World War I and more or less 

continuously since then. Until World War II, most of the ore was 

shipped to the steel' mill at Monterrey, Nuero Le6n, operated by the 

Cia. Fundidora de Fierro y Acero de Monterrey, S. A. In 1942 some 

ore was shipped to the Metals Reserve Co. at Laredo, Tex., but most 

of that mined between 1942 and 1944 went to the Sheffield Steel Co.

4 Description of Montana de Manganeso mine (1), exclusive of the Cruz deposit Clb). has been written 

bv Ivan V. Wilson and Victor S.' Rocha.
268 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

and to the Tennessee Coal and Iron Co. About 20 men were working 

on the property in June 1944.

Production figures are not available for the years prior to 1923, 

including the World War I period, when probably at least 5,000 tons 

of ore was produced. Published figures for the period 1923-33 report 

a total production of 11,912 tons of ore" for that period. (See table 

10.) No data are available for the period 1934-41, but from January 

1942 to June 1944, some 5,000 tons of ore were produced. Hence the 

total production to June 1944 was probably between 20,000 and 

25,000 tons, although the total to March 31, 1945, as given in table 17, 

is only 19,000 tons. The rate of production in June 1944 was estimated to have been from 190 to 200 tons a month. The Montana de 

Manganese mine is thus the third largest producer of manganese ore 

in Mexico, ranking after the Lucifer (Baja California 4) and Talamantes (Chihuahua 31) deposits.

TABLE 10. Production of manganese ore from the Montana de Manganeso mine

(San Luis Potosi 1), 192S-SS 

[Compiled from Anuario de Estadistica Minera, 1925-38]

Year

1925......-....-.,-.....--...... -..

1Q97

1928............ .......................

Production 

(in metric 

tons)

2,700

861

661

Year

1931 . 

1933. 

Production 

(in metric 

tons)

650

731

306

573

Montana de Manganeso is a prominent, isolated rocky hill formed 

of resistant jasper. It rises 40 meters above the general level of the

surrounding plains, which are at an altitude of about 2,000 meters.

The hill is 200 meters long and 100 meters wide, but the manganese

deposits are scattered over an area 600 meters long. The flanks of 

the hill and surrounding plains are underlain by fine-grained, thinbedded, white to buff, clayey tuffs, which are covered for the most

part by alluvium and alliche but are exposed in some of the mine

workings.

The tuffs have been silicified and replaced by massive jasper and 

siliceous manganese ore along a northward-trending fissure zone. Jasper crops out prominently on Montana ae Manganeso, i\> occurs

within a belt 50 to 120 meters wide and at least 700 meters long, which 

probably extends even farther beneath the alluvium. The jasper 

USUally IS red, altUOUgn Some OI it is green or, in many places, Btainoa

black by manganese oxides. The jasper belt is parallel to the bedding 

of the tuffs, which have a general strike of N. 25° E. and a dip of 

50° NW. In the mine workings several small high-angle faults may
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO

be observed, most of which dip from 70° to 80° to the east or west 

and strike northeast, parallel to the jasper belt, although a few strike 

northwest or west.

The manganese ore occurs in chimneylike bodies and irregular 

masses within the jasper and, in part, adjacent to the tuff. The 

bodies are irregularly distributed, and many of them are bounded on 

one or more sides by faults. In many places the contacts with the 

jasper are not sharp, but consist of a gradation from siliceous manganese ore into a jasper containing small quantities of manganese oxides. 

The chimneylike bodies have average dimensions of 5 to 10 meters in 

width and 10 to 25 meters in length, and most of them have been 

bottomed at depths of 20 to 30 meters. Veinlets of manganese oxides 

extend from the main bodies into the surrounding tuffs and jasper. 

The distribution of the ore bodies and mine maps of the most important 

workings are given in the detailed report by Wilson and Rocha.7 

The dimensions of the workings and the features of the principal ore 

bodies are summarized in table 11 of the present report.

TABLE 11. Descriptions of eight workings in the Montana de Manganeso mine

(San Luis Potosi 1)

Working name 

or No. Extent of development Nature of ore body

Cueva.

Mezquite.

No. 2......

No. 3...-.

Irregular stopes and pillars extending to 

a depth of 34 meters. Area about 20 

by 30 meters, but variable at different 

levels. Open to surface, by open-cuts 

and a short drift.

Irregular stopes 30 meters long, 5 to 10 

meters wide, and 5 to 10 meters high 

 extend to a depth of 21 meters. Short 

drift near top connects to surface; also 

connection 12 meters lower, by adit 20 

meters long.

Open-cut, vertical shaft, inclined shaft, 

and stopes at 19.5-metcr level. .

Drift 42 meters long.

No. 4. 

No. 5.

Shaft 28 meters deep; drifts at 23-meter 

and 28-meter levels.

Two shafts, 6 and 14 meters deep; short 

drifts at 14 meters.

Open-cut 8 meters deep; drift 23 meters 

long at 6.8 meters.

Shaft 11.9 meters deep; drift 17 meters 

long at bottom.

Irregular chimneylike body about 20 meters 

in diameter and 34 meters deep. Cut by 

several faults. Softer ore mined out; large 

pillars and irregular masses of siliceous ore 

remain. Most of ore produced in World 

War I and succeeding years came from 

here.

Irregular chimneylike body. In places offset 2 to 3 meters by faults. In fault contact 

with tuff to southeast. Most of softer 

oxide ore mined out; pillars of hard siliceous 

ore remain.

Chimneylike body in main stoped area was 

15 meters long, 5 meters wide, and 4 to 5 

meters high. Also other bodies of ore. 

Many faults. Mostly siliceous ore left.

Driven from west side of hill to reach Mezquite ore body, which had not been reached 

in June 1944. Few pockets of manganese 

oxides in jasper in face of drift.

Chimneylike body about 4 by 10 meters and 

bottomed at 28 meters. Siliceous ore 

remains in northwest face.

Main ore body 15 meters long, 5 meters wide, 

and bottomed at 14-meter level. Hard ore 

remains in some of walls. Many intersecting faults.

Ore body about 8 by 5 meters, mined iromk 

.open-cut. Drift penetrates alternating 

jasper and siliceous manganese ore.

No ore encountered to June 1944. Object 

was to reach ore body exposed in open-cut 

to south.

7 Wilson, I. F., and Rocha, V. 8., Manganese deposits of Montafla de Manganeso mine, San Luis Potosl, 

Mexico:.U. S Geo'. Survey Bull, (in preparation). " , .
-270 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

The chimneylike ore bodies have been worked chiefly by means of 

shafts and irregular stopes. Some of the older workings were even 

more irregular, particularly the largest one, called the "cueva" (cave). 

In the past, the ore was carried to the surface on the backs of the 

miners, who followed very tortuous paths and utilized "chicken 

ladders" (notched poles), but the present operators employ vertical 

shafts and hoists.

The deposits consist mainly of a very hard, massive, siliceous 

manganese ore, in which occur irregular pocketlike and chimneylike 

bodies of softer manganese oxides. This softer oxide ore has been 

mined selectively, and the larger masses of harder siliceous ore have 

.been left as pillars. The hard ore consists mainly of braunite, containing patches of brown opal and quartz with inclusions of finely disseminated manganese oxides. The softer ore is composed of pyrolusite and manganite. All gradations occur between the hard and 

soft types of ore. Through a series of 15 X-ray determinations 

J. M. Axelrod has identified the minerals listed in table 12. The 

minerals are given in their approximate order of abundance.

TABLE 12. Minerals found in the Montana de Manganeso (San Luis Potosl 1} ore,

Mineral

Braunite. ------------------

mineral. Opal i. -- - --- 

Composition

3(Mn,Fe)2O3 .MnSiOs------- 

MnOz ------------------

MnO(OH)... .... ......... -

Si02.7iHzO~.---~---.. _--~- 

Si02 

Appearance

Dark gray to black, massive, smooth surface. 

Lighter gray, massive, rougher surface.

Brown, massive or crystalline.

Traces found with braunite and opal.

Brown, massive, glassy to pitchy luster. 

Brown or pink, glassy, massive crystalline.

i Material that gives a moderately diffuse pattern similar to that of cristobalite is here called opai. 

The grade Of the Ore shipped has ranged from 38 to 43 percent of

manganese, and has probably averaged 40 or 42 percent. The silica 

content reportedly averaged about 17 percent. Lower grade, higher 

silica ore has been sorted out at the mine or left in the mine workings.

ASSQiYS Of a Series Of Seven samples taken from tlie mine workings by

Wilson and Rocha are given in table 13. A sample collected by Trask

and analyzed by Michael Flelscher, of the Geological Survey, contained

46.0 percent Mn, 33.2 percent SiO2 , 0.2 percent BaO, and 0.02 pel^t

W03 . §

The deposits are thought to have been foimed by ascending solutions tHa,t deposited manganese mineral and silica along" CulflllieyllKG

channels and fissures, partly replacing some or me tun. Many v* ***

deposits appear to have been localized by faults. It is thought likelytKat tke original manganese mineral deposited was braunite and that 

the manganese oadflS JJTOllMte EM mQnganiVf *~ ~i by 

oxidation along irregular channels near the surface.
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 271

TABLE 13. Partial chemical analyses of manganese and silica in samples of 

Montana de Manganeso (San Luis Potosi 1) ore

[Analyses by Crfidito Minero y Mercantil, S. A., Mfixico, D. F.]

Sample 

No.

1

2

3

4

5

6

*

7

Manganese 

(percent)

'43.3

46.0

50.1

45.5

40.6

35.1

' 42.7

Silica 

(percent)

22.0

17.8

11.6

20.8

28.8

37.0

23.4

' Location of sample and remarks

Mezquite. Pillar opposite main entry tunnel. Horizontal sample over

width of 5.5 meters. Pillar is nearly 10 meters high. Hard ore.

Cueva. Wall at north end of main stope, opposite entry tunnel. Hard

ore containing some seams of soft oxide. Sample, 2.7 meters wide.

Cueva. Level, 30 meters at southwest end. Mostly hard ore. Sample,

2.0 motors wide.

Shaft No. 4. Level, 23 meters at northwest wall. Hard ore containing

pockets of opal and quartz. Sample, 4.7 meters wide. 

Mine No. 2. North wall, near top of entrance. Hard ore. Sample,

4.9 meters wide.

Mine No. 2. Bottom at west end. Hard ore containing pockets of

opal and quartz. Sample, 3.2 meters wide.

Mine No. 5. Bottom'of shaft, at west wall. Hard ore. Sample, 3.6

'meters wide.

Most of the visible bodies of soft manganese oxide ore had been 

mined out by June 1944, but as many of the bodies do not crop out at 

the surface, others may possibly be uncovered by underground exploration. A considerable tonnage of hard siliceous ore remains, which 

requires careful sorting to obtain a product with less than 20 percent of 

silica.

Cruz deposit (ib). The Cruz deposit is 1 kilometer south of the 

Montana de Manganeso, on the flat plain eroded in rhyolitic rocks. 

It was owned in 1943 by Martin Sutti and was operated by Geoffrey 

Wastenys. In May of that year it was almost mined out and operations were abandoned. During the previous 12 months, some 1,000 

tons of ore were said to have been produced from the deposit and 

sold to the Metals Reserve Company. The grade of this ore was 44 

percent Mn, 3.5 percent Fe, and 9 percent Si02 .

The deposit consists of a lenticular ore body .20 meters in diameter 

and 1.2 meters in average thickness, which lies in the projection of the 

strike of the lenses in the Montana de Manganeso deposit. The ore 

consists of the replacement, in a nearly circular area, of a flat-lying 

tuffaceous bed. The ore body was less than 5 meters from the surface 

and contained more manganese and less silica than the ore from the 

Montana de Manganeso mine. Several holes were drilled into the 

caliche-covered flat on the general projection of the Montana de 

Manganeso lenses, both to the north and south of the Cruz ore body, 

in the hope of finding other mineralized zones, but none was found. 

Additional prospecting between the Cruz and the Montana de Manganeso deposits might disclose additional lenticular ore bodies, but the 

presence of the caliche makes prospecting difficult. Geophysical 

methods might be helpful.
272 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946 

SAN ANTONIO DEPOSIT (3)

The San Antonio deposit is 8 kilometers west of Salinas on the railroad between the cities of San Luis Potosi and Aguascalientes. It 

was owned in 1943 by Francisco Alfaro and Jose A. Guzm&n of Salinas. 

The deposit consists of a chimney of manganese ore in a silicified zone, 

in rhyolitic flows and tuffs. The ore body is slightly more resistant to 

erosion than the surrounding country rock and rises as a hill about 100 

meters above the adjacent plain. Two lenses of manganese ore are 

present: one is 6 meters long and 1 meter wide, the other is 5 meters 

long and 1 meter wide. Two cuts about 5 meters in diameter had 

been made in the two ore bodies, but no ore had been produced. 

Probably less than 1,000 tons of ore containing 30 percent of manganese and 25 percent of silica are present. The reserves of good ore 

are relatively small.

VICTORIA DEPOSIT (4)

The Victoria deposit is about 6 kilometers northeast of Guadalcazar' 

in the northeastern part of the State of San Luis Potosi. It is reached 

by trail from Guadalcazar, which is 14 kilometers by poor road and then 

78 kilometers by paved road from the city of San Luis Pdtosi. It can 

be reached also from Villar to the south, on the railroad from Tampico 

to San Luis Potosi, by means of a trail about 20 kilometers long which 

passes through Guadalcazar. The deposit was owned in 1943 by Raiil 

Oliva of San Luis Potosi. It had not been worked since 1942.

The Ore is found in a breccia zone in limestone, about 15 meters from

the contact between this rock and a small granitic stock. The principal mineralized zone is a chimney 50 meters long and 2 meters in

average width, which extends vertically to an unknown depth. In

One place it is beside a fine-grained porphyry dike about 15 centimeters 

tKlck. The ore consists largely of manganese oxides and probably

contains very little silica. The average manganese content is about

20 percent, which requires that the Ore be SOrted Carfif ully tO Obtain 9,

marketable product. Several cuts had been made into this zone, but

in 1943 these were largely filled witn material tiaat iiad t>eezi ^asKea

in by the heavy summer rains. One of these cuts is said to hare been

20 meters deep. AbOUt 30 meters north of the outcrop of the chimney, 

an inclined shaft 3O meters long had been sunk to intersect the Ore at

depth, but no ore was found in the shaft,

A deposit similar to the Victoria was reported about 800 meters

farther up the creek, adjacent to the granitic stock, but it was not" yisited Uccauoo i/nc gum* M-A » ?«> * ~~ * i t: <>n. a. ^

smaller deposits were reported to occur in other places near the stock, 

but none had been mined because of the low grade of the ore. 

Some 40 tons of ore from the Victoria deposit lay in a warehouse in

Guadalcazar in 1943. This ore contained only 30 percent of man-
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 273

ganese, and none had been shipped. About 300 tons of fine washings 

estimated to contain 20 percent of manganese lay in the dumps at the 

mine. This material had been run through a jig, but apparently 

almost no concentration had been effected. The relatively small size 

of the ore bodies in this area and the low manganese content of the 

ore makes these deposits unpromising. 

SONOBA

INDEPENDENCIA DEPOSIT (2)

The Independencia .deposit is 4 kilometers southeast of Nogales, 

Sonora. It was owned in 1943 by T. J. Anderson of Nogales, Ariz., 

and was said to be controlled by the Cia. International Mines. When 

visited in June 1943, it was being operated by three men. The deposit is in granitic rocks, in a fissure zone that crops out intermittently 

for several hundred meters, but the largest single continuous exposure 

of this zone is only 60 meters long and 40 centimeters in average width. 

The ore body strikes nearly east and dips vertically. It had been 

explored by means of two cuts. No ore had been marketed, but some 

10 tons estimated to contain 35 or 40 percent of manganese, 10 or 15 

percent of silica, and about 8 percent of iron lay in a pile beside the 

workings. The reserves are believed to be relatively small.

CARR DEPOSITS (3)

The Carr deposits are 20 kilometers southwest of Agua Prieta and 

are about 6 kilometers south of the International Boundary. They 

were first mined during World War I. In 1943 they were owned byJames P. Carr of Cananea and Hal P. Forester of El Paso, Tex. 

About 20 men were working on the property when the mine was 

visited in March 1943.

The deposits consist mainly of three mineralized zones in thinbedded, fine-grained limestone believed to be of Mesozoic age. In a 

short distance along its strike, this limestone grades into a breccia 

composed of roughly rounded limestone fragments. The region has 

been highly faulted, and these deposits appear to be in a downthrown 

block 150 meters in width. The ore zones apparently occur within a 

stratigraphic interval of 30 meters, separated by beds of barren limestone, but the aggregate thickness of each is only about 2 meters, of 

which from 30 to 60 centimeters consists of ore. The mineralized 

zones have been explored and mined by means of three shafts as much 

as 25 meters deep, and by associated underground workings and 

several surface cuts. The shafts pass through a surficial mantle of 

detritus and caliche, and the ore is extracted from drifts driven into 

the underlying ore bodies. Another mineralized zone, about 120 

meters long, occurs some 100 meters to the north of the main zone.
274 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

It is in limestone breccia that, strikes N. 70° W. and dips 40° N'. 1 

This zone is offset 7 meters by a fault near its east end. It-has been 

explored by two cuts 15 meters long and an adit that was being 

driven in 1943. The principal manganese mineral in the deposits 

appears to be braunite, and the silica content, estimated to be about 

10 percent, is thus somewhat higher than that in clean oxide ores.

Production from the area during World War I amounted to some 

2,500 tons of ore, which was extracted from the north ore body. Although this body seems to be largely mined out, the region affords 

some possibilities and geologic mapping would aid materially in 

locating additional ore. Perhaps as much as iO,000 tons of ore containing 40 percent of manganese may remain in the deposits, but as 

the structure in the area is complex, the ore bodies may not be so 

continuous over the entire basin as has been assumed.

GAMER DEPOSITS (5)

Several deposits of rhodochrosite, the Shangrila (5a), San Antonio 

(5c), Victoria (5d), Spirit 1 and Spirit 2 (5e) claims may be found in 

the mountains 32 kilometers by airline and 45 kilometers by mountain 

road east of Imuris. They are in a region of complex faulting and 

mineralization. Many silver, lead, and gold veins were worked in 

this region during the tune Of Porfirio Diaz, but without much success. 

The gangue in many of these veins consists of manganese oxides near 

the surface, and of rhodochrosite at depth. In 1943 William L. 

Gamer of Magdalena acquired some of these deposits and began to 

Work Over the old dumps for manganese ore. Both oxide and rhodochrosite ore were recovered and sold, the latter mainly to the William 

Carus Co.

In the fall of 1942 and spring of 1943, Mr. Gamer sank a 25 meter 

Shaft at the ShaHgrild (5a) Claim; on a vein of manganese oxide ore,

which, at deptK gave way to ore composed of coarsely crystallized.

pink rhodochrosite and quartz. The ore is about half rhodochrosite,

and its manganese .content averages about 25 percent, The Yein, hasan average width Of only 30 centimeters and is not a promising:

ore body. Production from the area has amounted to some 500 tons Of ore,.

most of which, was of chemical grade. The reserves appear to D6'

small. The operator was having difficulty in finding marketable orein JUne 19i3j and It Was probable tlxat opoi-o.fcic.ns wouia soon cea.se.

Shangrild claim (5a). About nine men were-Working OH tuG' 

Shangrila claim when it was visited in June 1943. The shaft began in:

a series of argiiiites, some o motore nv^^o^t 0* tu0 outoroP Of a tody

of manganese oxides. This ore body strikes N. 50° E. and dips 60° NW.,. 

and at the surface is half a meter wide. At a depth of 12 meters in" 

the shaft, a vein consisting of rhodochrosite, quartz, calcite, and several:
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO ' 275

sulfide minerals was encountered. The shaft was continued to a 

depth of 25 meters, where a drift was driven for 15 meters along the 

vein, which was found to have a maximum width of 60 centimeters. 

The ore body appears to pinch out toward the north. The ore in the 

outcrop contains 22 percent of manganese, and a sample from the best 

part of the vein, near the bottom of the shaft, gave 32 percent of 

manganese. The rhodochrosite must be sorted by hand to raise the 

grade of ore to a marketable level. Perhaps as much as 100 tons of. 

rhodochrosite concentrate have been produced from this shaft and. 

drift.

San Antonio (5c), Victoria (5d}, Spirit 1, and Spirit 2 (5e) claims. 

The San Antonio, Victoria, Spirit 1, and Spirit 2 claims are about 3 

kilometers northeast of the Shangrila (5a) and are reached by a road 

that follows the river bed. They were owned by William L. Gamer 

in June 1943, but work on them had ceased several months before. 

The manganese ore is found as gangue in silver, lead, and gold veins, in 

a complex series of argillites and tuffs. The veins strike northeast, in 

general, and dip nearly vertically; they range up to 60 meters in length 

and 1 meter in thickness, although the average thickness is only 60 

centimeters. About 400 tons of rhodochrosite ore had been sorted out 

of the old dumps and sold to the William Carus Co. for chemical 

purposes.

ANTILJLAS DEPOSIT (6)

The Antillas deposit is 3 kilometers west of Magdalena, which is 

90 kilometers by road or railroad south of Nogales, on the international 

boundary. It was first mined during World War I, and a detailed 

description of the old workings has been given by Ingeniero Teodoro 

Flores (1929b) of the Institute de Geologia. In 1943, the deposit was 

owned by Juan Antunez of Santa Ana and was operated by the 

Explotadora Mexicana de Manganese. About 10 men were working 

on the property when it was visited in March 1943.

The deposit is located along a shear zone between gneiss and schist. 

This zone trends northwest and dips 65° to 80° N. Three lenses of 

ore are in this zone in a horizontal distance of 250 meters. The 

largest of these, the middle one, has been explored to a depth of 15 

.meters in one cut and for a horizontal distance of 150 meters in several 

trenches. Its width varies from 1 to 2.5 meters. The southeast lensis about 50 meters long and has been explored by means of a shaft 

6 meters deep. The ore from the middle lens is the richest and 

averages. 35 percent of manganese; that from the other two lenses, 

averages 20 or 25 percent of manganese. All the ore must be sorted 

carefully to bring the grade up to 40 percent.

The deposit yielded some 3,000 tons of ore during World War I 

and some 200 tons during the recent period of mining to March.
276 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

1943. A large dump containing about 3,000 tons of ore lay beside the 

mid'dle ore body when the area was visited, and another dump of 200 

tons lay beside the northwest ore body. Reserves are estimated to 

be 10,000 tons of ore containing 30 percent of manganese. Because 

of the low grade of this ore, it is doubtful whether the deposit can be 

mined profitably.

GUADAIAJPANA DEPOSITS (8)

The Guadelupana deposits are 5 kilometers by trail from the road 

and 45 kilometers from the railroad at Magdalena. They are 12 

kilometers southeast of the Dardanelas deposit (7). In 1943 they 

were owned by Roberto Gallego of Magdalena, and in March of that 

year were being operated by George W. Greenwood. At that time 

five men were mining the deposits.

The country rock in the area consists of gently inclined rhyolitic 

and andesitic flows and tuffs, which are underlain by vertical, contorted, dark-gray clay shales that look much like the shales of the 

Knoxville formation of California, of Jurassic age. All these rocks 

are disturbed by faults. The manganese ore occurs in veins in 

fissures that trend N. 15° to 30° E. and dip 70° to 80° W. The veins 

are as much as 60 meters long and 1.2 meters wide, though generally 

they are leSS than 60 Centimeters Wide, Four main veins are found 

on the Guadalupana property, within a horizontal distance of 50 

meters. These vary markedly in width along their course. The ore

consists, of black calcite and manganese. oxides, and its average 

manganese content is about 35 percent. A sample of sorted ore 

contained 47 percent of manganese, 8 percent of silica, and 4 percent 

of iron. Production up to March 1943 amounted to approximately

50 tons of ore, besides 40 tons that W6f6 On the dumps at the mino 

when trie area was visited. Reserves are not large.

OJO Negro deposit (8d). The Ojo Negro deposit is 2 kUometors northWeSt Of the Guadalupana deposits (8), along a fault between rhyolite 

and tuff. It has been explored by one cut 6 meterS long. TnG 01*6 IS 

in grade, averaging about 20 percent in manganese, and

fferS little promise Of yielding mucll ore commercially.

of this ore body, stains of manganese oxides are found on 

the face of a scrap along the same fault, Farther to the southeast,

aDOUt 1 Ullomwo*- r*-om tiio Oj 0 Kroe^0 deposit and in the general

projection of its ore body, a series of manganese-bearing lenses occurs

along a fiSSUre ZOne, These lenses are found over a distance of 60

TO^U.^-^ ^^ t.o.ti-^ «i«io« of a. sKari? divide between two streams. They

strike N. 20° W. and dip steeply ft ffle SOUffiffW MI am *»-

explored by means of three cuts, one of which is 6 meters long. The 

grade of the ore in these lenses is about 20 percent in manganese, as 

in the other veins. The ore reserves are small.
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 277

ZACATECAS 

HERCULES DEPOSIT (1)

The H&rcules deposit is 3 kilometers north of San Pedro Ocampo, 

in the northeastern tip of Zacatecas. It is 20 kilometers by road and 

trail from the railroad, which ends at San Pedro Ocampo. When the 

area was visited in April 1943, the deposit was owned by the Agencia 

Minera of Saltillo, Nuevo Le6n, and was being operated by Leopoldo 

Villareal, Jr., also of Saltillo. At that time the deposit was being 

mined by ten men.

The deposit is at an altitude of 2,280 meters above sea level, or 360 

meters above the town of San Pedro Ocampo. The ore occurs in 

massive limestone that strikes east and dips 45° N. This limestone is 

about 1,500 meters thick and consists of fairly massive beds near the 

top, which gradually become thinner and metamorphosed with depth. 

The ore is found in a chimney, which is elongated in an easterly direction and dips vertically. It is about 25 meters in length and 3 meters 

in average width. A few quartz veins less than 1 centimeter in thickness cut through the chimney. In April 1943, one cut 6 by 3 meters 

in area had been opened in the ore body. The ore is a mixture of 

manganese oxides and a mineral that looks like braunite. It is associated with yellow jasper, although no intrusive body from which 

the jasper might have been derived was found nearby. The average 

manganese content of the ore is 20 percent; difficulty is encountered 

in raising the grade to 40 percent by sorting.

The mine had yielded 20 tons of ore containing 40 percent of manganese up to April 1943, and about 10 tons of selected ore estimated 

to contain 30 percent of manganese was stock-piled beside the workings. 

Because of the small size of the ore body and the low grade of the ore 

this deposit does not offer good commercial possibilities.

The Tinaja deposit is 10 kilometers by airline east of Gutierrez and 

14 kilometers south of Canitas, from which it is reached by a road 

18 kilometers in length. It was owned in 1943 by Ramdn Molleda of 

Canitas and was said to have been leased to Erie P. Halliburton of 

Los Angeles, Calif. About 20 men were working on the property 

when the area was visited in May 1943.

The deposit consists of manganese-bearing chimneys in silicified 

rhyolitic tuffs and agglomerates at the northwest end of a low hill. 

It was being explored by a series of vertical shafts from 3 to 12 meters 

deep, over a distance of 200 meters in the durection N. 60° W., which 

is the general trend of the hill. The largest ore body has dimensions 

of 30 by 15 by 1.5 meters. The ore consists principally of a mineral 

that looks like braunite, mixed with a large proportion of crystalline
278 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

silica. Much yellow and red jasper are present in some of the ore, 

and the proportion of iron may be high. Only a few small pockets of 

manganese oxides had been found at the time the property was visited, 

but the operator believed that oxides would be encountered in greater 

abundance at depth, for the ore in the Manganita deposit (6), 40 

kilometers to the northeast, became richer in oxides at depth. The 

average grade of the ore is estimated as 20 percent in manganese, and 

the ratio of siliceous ore to manganese .oxide ore is about 10:1, which 

is among the highest of the ratios observed in the deposits in this 

general region.

Up to May 1943 no ore had been produced from the Tinaja deposit. Reserves are difficult to estimate because of the variable nature 

of the mineralized rock.

MANGANITA DEPOSIT (6)

The Manganita deposit is among the best of the manganese deposits 

in Mexico, and has been mined ever since World War I. It is 35 kilometers east of Canitas. In 1943, it was owned by Aureliano de Le6n 

and was operated by the Cia. Minera Manganita. The original 

Manganita claim included the present Manganita and Mezquite properties on the northeast end, and the Humo de Oro and Cerrito properties on the southwest. All of these are now combined into the Expansion de Manganita claim.

The deposit consists of three mineralized zones in silicified rhyolitic

tuffs. The general strike of the ore bodies is N. 70° E. and the dip IS 

50° to 60° S. The ore body at the east end of the original Manganita

claim consists of a lens about 60 meters long and from 1.5 to 3 meters 

wide, averaging about 2.5 meters in width. The Ore is composed of a 

hard dark mineral that looks like braunite and is mixed with manganese oxides in the ratio of five parts of braunite to one of oxides. 

The percentage of oxides tends to increase with depth. The average 

manganese content of the ore is estimated tO be 40 percent and the 

silica content 15 or 20 percent. As the ore body is mined by hand 

Operations cease at the water level, which is at a depth of 15 meters. 

Tke M^Ulte pMpfffr TS 30 DieterS N. 60° W. from the east ore 

body in the Manganita claim. It contains a mineralized zone that 

strikes east and dips 70° S., this zone is 60 meters long and from 1 

to 2.5 meters thick. The ore is hard and siliceous near the surface 

but grades into softer manganese oxides with depth. The tenor of

tMS Ore bO<ty is similar to that of the east ore body. About half the 

oxide ore in this lens has been mined Ollfc.

The best ore body in the Manganita deposit is at the west end of 

the area, more than 1 kilometer from the east ore body. It occupies 

a zone 150 meters long arid from 2 to 6 meters wide. This zone has
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 279

been explored to a maximum depth of 12 meters, where the ore body 

was found to widen to 6 meters. At the surface the ore consists 

mainly of braunite(?) mixed with a small proportion of neotocite, a 

hydrous manganese silicate, but in the bottom of the workings at the 

east end of the lens, for a distance of 30 meters along the strike, the 

braunite(?) gives way to. manganese oxides mixed with a large proportion of calcite.

The Manganita deposit has yielded about 3,500 tons of ore, mainly 

.from the west ore body. Some 50,000 tons of ore containing 40 percent 

of manganese and 10 or 15 percent of silica are estimated to remain 

in the deposit.

ABUNTDANCIA MINE (7) «

The Abundancia deposit, also called the Colorada, was newly 

discovered and mined during World War II. It is 40 kilometers by 

road east of La Colorada, a station on the Ciudad Judrez-Mexico City 

line of the Ferrocarriles Nacionales 'de Mexico, but is reached by automobile more easily from Zacatecas City, by way of Villa de Cos. It 

is in a region of nearly flat plains, at an altitude of about 2,000 meters 

above sea level.

The mine is owned and operated by the Cia. Minera Central, S. A., 

under the direction of Sr. Luis Madero of Mexico City. Exploration 

and mining began in 1942. According to the operators, up to the 

end of 1942 the deposit had yielded 5,000 tons of ore that averaged 

approximately 42 percent of manganese and up to May 1944 a total 

of about 12,000 tons. Most of this ore was shipped to the Metals 

Reserve Co. at El Paso, Tex. About 70 men were employed on the 

property in May 1944.

The ore is enclosed in thin-bedded, white to buff, tuffaceous clays, 

which are very fine grained and generally soft. Near the ore bodies 

these clays have been silicified and contain lenticular masses of jasper. 

The strike of the beds curves from N. 70° W. in the eastern workings, 

to M. 70° E. in the western workings, and the dip averages 25° S. 

but is variable in detail. In the southern mine workings the dip 

flattens and local anticlinal structures are present. Two small 

normal faults striking N. 70° W. and dipping 65-75° SW. drop the 

ore down from 1 to 3 meters on the southwest side.

The ore has been followed down the dip and stoped out in irregular 

workings of the room-and-pillar type; up to May l£)44 it was carried 

to the surface on the backs of the miners. Ten shallow shafts had 

been sunk. Data concerning then- depth and the levels at which ore 

was encountered are given in table 14, in which the shafts are listed 

in order from west to east.

' Description of Abundancia mine has been written by Ivan F. Wilson and Victor S. Rocha.
280 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946 

TABLE 14. Description of shafts in the Abundancia manganese mine (Zacatecas 7)

Shaft No.

6..................

5....... ..........

41.................

23.... ........... _.

1. --..-..-..--..

2...--..-..-......

21.................

22.................

Altitude at 

surface, in 

meters '

2004. 5 

2003.8 

2004.1

2003.4 

2003. 6 

2004.9 

2003. 6 

2003. 9

2003. 8 

2003. 7

Depth of 

shaft, in 

meters

7.1 

8.9 

9.7

12.2+ 

12.4+ 

4.1 

10.0 

13.8+

6.4 

5.0

Remarks

In tuffaceous clay; not deep enough to reach ore. 

Ore at 6.2 meters. 

Ore at 6.2 meters. Bottom of shaft was 1 meter deeper, 

but has been filled in by waste. 

Ore at 6.35 meters; water at 12.2 meters. 

Ore at 6.9 meters; water at 12.4 meters. 

Short drift at bottom; very little ore. 

Ore at bottom. 

Ore between 10.7 and 13.7 meters; water at 13.8 meters. 

Used as water well . 

Ore at 4.1 meters. 

Ore at bottom.

1 Starting point for survey was assumed to be 2,000 meters.

The manganese ore occurs in lenticular bodies that roughly follow 

the beds of clay and only locally cut across them. The ore pinches 

and swells along both the strike and dip, and in places wedges out into 

thin lenses intercalated with clays. Thin veinlets of manganese oxides 

extend from the main ore body into the adjacent wall rock.

The average thickness of the ore bodies is from 1 to 2 meters, ranging from leSS than half a meter along the thin edges of the deposit,

to more than 5 meters as in the vicinity of shaft 4 "nuevo." There 

the ore bulges into a cbimneylike body in an anticlinal structure in 

the clays. The main ore body, between "boca mina" 1 and "boca 

mina" 4, has a length of 120 meters along the strike and a width of

42 meters down the dip. A greater width down the dip is to be expected, but work in that direction had been temporarily halted in 

May 1944 because of an excess of \vater at a depth of 12 meters. The

operators were expecting to carry on exploratory work along the 

strike, both to the east and west.

.A-notliox- deposit lxa,cL "boon fox^nc! in "toon. min.«." 2 o.nd sKo.fts 2

and 21, north of the main ore body, This deposit had been explored

for 35 meters along the strike and 24 meters down the dip, where 

further exploration had been halted in May 1944 by the presence of

YTtlt/er. If tills Ore "bocl^r slxould. continue mviolx fa.i-tb.oi.- to tlxe soutK,

it would pass below the main ore body, although the alternate possibility exists that the two deposits may represent faulted segments of

the same ore body. On the west wall of the open cut at "fooca, mina"

2, the ore consists of two lenses, the upper one 2.0 meters thick and

the lower one 1.3 meters thick, separated by 1.6 meters of clay.

At mine 3, 60 meters N. 67° E. from shaft 21, a siliceous ore body

was explored by means of a small open-cut ana a snort anii), MI won*

WHS abandoned foec^vuse of the high silica, content of the ore. This is

probably a separate ore body not connected with those in the main 

workings.
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 281

Part of the ore in the Abundancia deposit consists largely of soft 

manganese oxides, and the rest of hard siliceous rock. As the two 

types occur in separate, moderately well defined masses, the softer 

ore has in many places been mined selectively and the hard ore has 

been left in the form of pillars. A series of 15 X-ray determinations 

made by J. M. Axelrod has resulted in the identification of the following minerals: pyrolusite (Mn02 ), cryptomelane, pyrochroite 

(Mn(OH)2 ), an unnamed manganese mineral probably a hydrous 

manganese dioxide identified thus far only by X-ray methods, a 

trace of another unidentified manganese mineral, quartz, opal, calcite 

in veinlets cutting the manganese ore, magnetite, and halloysite 

(Al203.2Si03 .2H20), which is found as a pink filling in fractures. The 

quartz and opal occur in patches or pockets in the hard siliceous ore. 

They are generally dark brown because of finely disseminated manganese oxides, but in a few places the opal is pink. The dominant 

manganese mineral in all the samples studied is pyrolusite. It is 

light to dark gray and either massive or crystalline. The ore is 

accompanied by massive jasper, which generally is red but in places 

is green.

The results of assays for manganese and silica in 10 samples of ore 

taken by the writers are given in table 15. The average manganese 

content of these samples was 42 percent, and the silica content 13 

percent. Analyses of the ore in two shipments made to the Metals 

Reserve Co. in February and April 1944 are given in table 16.

The ore is sorted and screened by hand on a cement platform at 

the mine, in order to separate and discard the more siliceous part.

TABLE 15. Partial chemical analyses of manganese and silica in samples of Abundancia (Zacatecas 7) ore

[Analyses by Cr6dito Minero y Mercantil, S. A., M6xico, D. F.]

Number 

of 

sample

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Manganese 

(percent)

47.1

41.1

46.9

35.3

44.1 '

38.4

41.4

52.0

37.3

35.9

Silica 

(percent)

13.4

19.4

14.8

18.6

12.8

15.8

13.6

4.4

17.4

23.2

Locality of sample and nature of ore

Pillar east of shaft 4 "nuevo." Hard massive ore. Sample, 2.4 meters

thick, but ore continues both above and below.

Drift west of shaft 4 "viejo." Mostly hard ore, but some soft oxides.

Sample, 1 .3 meters thick.

Drift west of "boca mina" 4. Mixture of hard and soft ore. Sample,

1.2 meters thick.

' Northwest corner of pillar north of shaft 41 . Soft ore intercalated with

clay. Sample, 1.7 meters thick.

Stope west of shaft 1. Mostly soft crystalline ore, intercalated with

some clay. Sample, 1.4 meters thick.

South wall of stope in mine 1. Mostly soft ore. Sample, 75 centimeters thick.

Pillar at 9-meter level south of "boca mina" 1. Soft and hard ore intercalated with clay. Sample, 1.6 meters thick.

Pillar south of shaft 21. Botryoidal psilomelane type of ore containing crystalline bands, which is best type in mine. Sample, 1.8

meters thick.

Drift east of "boca mina" 1. Soft ore intercalated with clay. Sample,

1.7 meters thick.

Composite sample of ore stocked on surface, mostly of screened fines

and medium sizes.
A series of 30 assays, furnished by Sr. Madero, of the "fines" (less than 

18 mesh) stocked at the mine showed a range in manganese content 

of 32.8 to 42.0 percent, averaging 37.3 percent, and in the content of 

insoluble matter of 11.6 to 25.2 percent, averaging 19.0 percent.

TABLE 16. Partial chemical analyses of Abundancia (Zacatecas 7) ore shipped in

February and April 1944

Mn

42.3

52.3

SiOj

15.0

7.5

Fe

2.4

1.5

AhOs

1.4

.9

Ou

0.0

.2

Pb

0.0

.0

Zn

Tr.

0.2

P

0.13

.04

The ore deposits probably have been formed by ascending manganese- and silica-bearing solutions, which impregnated and replaced 

tuffaceous clays. The most favorable channels for these solutions 

were the bedding planes in the clays.

In May 1944 the chances seemed good that the ore body would 

extend considerably farther down the dip and perhaps also along the 

strike. The thickest part of the ore body had been found in the 

vicinity of shaft 4 "nuevo," where further exploration down the dip 

was retarded by the lack of a pump of sufficient capacity to extract 

the water that entered the shaft. Probably not more than half the 

ore in the explored area had been mined by May 1944, although much 

of that left is of lower grade and has more silica than that previously 

shipped. It is possible that further exploration may reveal as much 

ore as that already known to exist. It cannot be expected, however,

that the grade will be higher than 40 or 42 percent of manganese, nor 

that the silica content will be less than 12 or 15 percent.

SAN FELIPE DE JESlTS DEPOSIT (8)

The San Felipe de JeSUS deposit is 16 kilometers south of the Manganita deposit (6) and about 50 kilometers by road from Cafiitas, the

rail Station. It Was owned in 1943 by Aureliano de Le6n and

being operated by the Cia. Minera Manganita, which in May of 

that year employed 25 miners on the property.

The ore is found partly in vertical fissures in tuffs, and partly in

nearly horizontal layers that extend outward from these fissures,

along the bedding planes in the tuffs. The- fissure zones are filled

with either (1) braunite(?), (2) braunite(?) and bementite (hydrous

manganese silicate), or (3) braunite(?) and silica, in some places

where siliceous ore fills the fissures, the proportion of manganese

oxides increases with depth. The ore in the flat layers consists of

D18H29J1G5G OXideS and braunite(?). The main flat ore body, found

from 3 to 5 meters below the surface, is 50 meters long, 30 meteTS 

wide, and from 30 to 60 centimeters thick, although in some places 

it attains a thickness of 2 meters. The thickest part of this ore body,

was
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 283

however, contains a greater proportion of silica. A similar ore body, 

called the Carmen, may be found about 150 meters to the southwest, 

at a depth of 10 meters below the surface.

To May 1943 the San Felipe de Jesus deposit had yielded 1,000 tons 

of ore containing more than 40 percent of.manganese and less than 

10 percent of silica. The amount of ore inferred to remain in the San 

Felipe de Jesus and Carmen deposits is about 10,000 tons containing 

40 percent of manganese and 10 percent of silica. If the ore body 

should be continuous between these two deposits, the reserves might 

be as great as 30,000 tons. Deposits of this type are so lenticular, 

however, that no such tonnage should be inferred without additional 

exploratory work. The association of the flat layers with the vertical 

fissure zones suggests that perhaps these layers may not extend 

very far laterally. At any rate, the ore bodies can be explored by 

means of diamond drills or shallow shafts at relatively small cost, 

as they lie very close to the surface. The presence of these flat-lying 

ore bodies within 10 meters of the surface and the large proportion 

of oxide ore in them combine to make this deposit attractive.

Tenango deposit (#c). The Tenango deposit is 10 kilometers to 

the northeast of the San Felipe de Jesus deposit (8). It was owned 

in 1943 by Aureliano de Le6n and was being operated by the Cia. 

Minera Manganita, which in May of that year employed 20 men on 

the property.

This deposit is one of seven that occupy mineralized fissures in 

tuffs, in a belt 600 meters wide. Strong silicification of the rocks 

around these fissures has caused the area to resist erosion and to 

stand some 100 meters above the surrounding country. Within the 

fissures the ore bodies form chimneys that average 50 meters in height 

and about 1.2 meters in width. Some ore occurs also in horizontal 

layers that branch off into the tuffs for as much as 6 meters from the 

fissures. Most of the ore is composed of braunite(?) or braunite(?) 

mixed with silica, which gives it a glassy or vitreous lustre, but in 

some of the lateral offshoots it is composed of black calcite and manganese oxides. The ratio of siliceous ore to oxide ore is about 10:1, 

with the result that the production from these deposits has been low, 

compared with that from the Manganita (6) and Abundancia (7) 

deposits in which the proportion of oxides is greater.

To May 1943 the Tenango deposit had yielded some 500 tons of 

ore. The reserves in this and the two adjoining deposits, the Pirolusita and Tinajita, are estimated to amount to 20,000 tons of ore 

containing 40 percent of manganese and perhaps 20 percent of silica. 

Owing to the variable nature of the mineralization in this type of 

deposit, however, the reserves may be much greater or less than 

estimated.
284 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

NEGRA DEPOSIT (9)

The Negra deposit is 7 kilometers southwest of Fresnillo. It was 

first worked during World War I, and in 1943 it was owned by Alberto 

Stefano of Fresnillo and operated by H. Montagne.

The deposit occurs in a zone of silicified rhyolite that forms a low 

hih1 300 meters long, 150 meters wide, and 15 meters high. The 

rocks in this zone have been strongly impregnated and replaced by 

by silica and iron, largely in the form of red and yellow jasper. The 

manganese mineralization is irregular and is found mainly in elongated chimneys that trend northwest. The main ore body is 60 

meters long and 30 meters wide, and has been explored by means of 

two cuts. One of these is 30 meters long, 15 meters wide, and 10 

meters deep, and the other is 10 meters long, 15 meters wide, and- 10 

meters deep. Besides, some 60 meters of underground workings 

and associated chambers and stopes up to 5 meters in diameter have 

been opened up.

The ore seems to be composed principally of braunite and silica. 

In places bementite is common, in part in fairly coarse crystals. 

Relatively little oxide ore was seen, although the large pockets that 

were mined in former years were probably rich in oxides. The ore 

being mined in 1943 seemed to contain about ten parts of siliceous 

ore to one part of oxide ore, and difficulty was encountered in keeping the silica content low enough to permit marketing of the ore.

Production from the Negra deposit during World War I is said to

have been 10,000 tons of ore. In the few months prior to May 1943, 

when the deposit was visited, some 1,000 tons are said to have been

produced. This ore contained 41 percent Of manganese, from 12 to 

15 percent of silica, and 5 percent of iron. The reserves in the

deposit are difficult to o^ti ^^ i>c-0«.^ eo of tKe variable nature of the

mineralization, but they may amount to about 50,000 tons of- ore 

containing 30 percent of manganese and 20 percent of silica.

Tne Tinaja deposit lies in a prominent low hill 6 kilometers West 01

the stations of Palmireto and La Honda on the railroad from San

Luis Potosi to Aguascalientes. It was controlled in 1943 by ix/Tartfn

Sutti and Jesus Eobledo of San Luis Potosi but was not being operated when the area was visited in May of that year.

The deposit consists of three manganese-bearing chimneys in two

This silicified rock forms an area about 100 meters in diameter, 

because of its resistance to erosion rises about 25 meters above the 

surrounding country. Three cuts have been made in the deposit: 

the largest, 15 meters in diameter, is on the south side of the hill;
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 285

another lies just north of the hill and is 5 meters in diameter; and the 

third lies 30 meters northeast of the hill and is likewise about 5 meters 

in diameter.

Some of the ore consists of a dark reddish-brown rock, which is 

heavy, weathers black, and is said to contain more than 30 percent 

of manganese. This may be composed largely of bementite. Less 

than 10 percent of the ore is estimated to consist of manganese oxides. 

Fine-grained quartz and jasper are abundantly disseminated through 

the ore, and difficulty will be encountered in keeping the silica content 

below 15 percent. The better parts of the ore bodies contain about 

35 percent of manganese.

No ore had been shipped from the deposit up to May 1943, principally because of the high silica content. The inferred reserves are 

5,000 tons of ore containing 35 percent of manganese and 20 percent 

of silica, but probably less than 100 tons can be expected that contains 40 percent of manganese and less than 15 percent of silica. 

The ore is too siliceous to be of much value at present.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MEXICAN 

MANGANESE DEPOSITS

Aguilar y Santilldn, Rafael.

1908, Bibliograffa geo!6gica y minera de la Republics mexicana completada 

hasta el ano de 1904: Inst. geol. Mexico Bol. 17, 330 pp. General 

bibliography on Mexican mineral deposits, through 1904.

1918, Bibliografia geo!6gica y minera de la Repiiblica mexicana, 1905-18: 

Appendix to Inst. geol. M6xico, Bol., 97 pp., Mexico, Secretarfa de 

^Industria, Comercio y Trabajo. General bibliography, 1905-18.

1936, Bibliografia geoldgica y minera de la Repiiblica mexicana, correspondiente 

a los anosde 1919 a 1930: Appendix to Inst. geol. Mexico, Bol., 83 pp., 

Mexico, Secretaria de la Economfa Nacional. General bibliography, 

1919-30. 

Aguilera, J. G.

1901. Distribucidn geografica y geo!6gica de los criaderos minerales de la Repiiblica mexicana: Acad. mexicana cien., Anuario, tomo 5, pp. 157. 

Manganese deposits discussed on pp. 14, 30-31.

1902. The geographical and geological distribution of the mineral deposits of 

Mexico: Am. Inst. Min. Eng. Trans., vol. 32, p. 505. Manganese 

silicate, oxide, and sulfide (alabandite) at Tepeyahualco, Pachuca, 

and Tetela del Oro. 

Antiinez Echegaray, Francisco.

1943. Informe acerca de los recursos sos naturales del Territorio Norte de la 

Baja California y exposici6n de las condiciones de esta, como resultado 

de los trabajos de exploraci6n realizados . . . del 4 de junio at 28 de 

agosto de 1940: Bol. minas y petr61eo, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 10-11. 

Deposits in northern Baja California and on Punta Concepci6n.

1944. Informe sobre los dep6sitos de manganese de la peninsula de la Concepci6n, Municipio de MulegeV Territorio Sur de la Baja California: Bol. 

minas y petr61eo, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 3-14. Deposits on Punta Concepci6n and surrounding region (Baja California 5-12).
Biddle, Clement.

, 1906, Notes from Magdalena Bay, Mexico: Eng. and Min. Jour., vol. 82,

p. 361. Manganese on Isla Santa Margarita (Baja California 13). 

Boletin del Cr6dito Minero y Mercantil, S. A.

1940, Vol. 1, no. 3, p. 33. Information on Mexican manganese production

and activities.

1942. Vol. 3, no. 1, p. 36; no. 2, p. 38. Information on Mexican manganese 

production and activities.

1943. Vol. 4, pp. 32-33. Information on Mexican manganese production and

activities. 

Boletin de minas y petrdleo.

1939-41, Vol. 11-13, no. 1 (in one volume), p. 208. Manganese-production

figures.

1942, Vol. 13, no. 4, t>. 111. Manganese-production figures. 

1946, Vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 7-18. Manganese.-production figures. 

Boletfn de petr61eo y minas.

1939, Vol. 10, no. 2, p. 142. Manganese-production figures. 

Burkart, H. J.

 1856, [Manganese in Puebla in Sitzungsberichte der niederrheinischen Gesellschaft fur Natur- und Heilkunde zu Bonn: Naturh. Ver. preuss. 

Rheinlande und Westphalens Verb., vol. 13, pp. XIX-XX. 

1867, Nahere Angaben uber die Fundorte des Domeykits und der Mangenblende in Mexico: Neues Jahb. 1867, pp. 826-828. The Preciosa 

Sangre de Cristo deposit (Puebla 4). 

Flores, Teodoro.

J929a, Geologfa mlnera de Mexico, pp. 16-17, Mexico, Dept. explor. y estudios

geOl. Brief summary of occurrencies of manganese ore in Mexico. 

1929b, ReconocimientOS geoltigiCOS en la region central del Estado de Sonora: 

Inst. geol. Mexico Bol. 49, p. 218. The AntlllaS deposit (Sonora 6). 

1933, Yacimientos minerales de la Republica mexicana: Inst. geol. M&iCO 

FolletO de Divulgaci6n 38, pp. 35-38. General summary- of manganese occurrences in Mexico and production figures for 1923-32.

Freudenberg, Wilhelm.

1921, Geologic vori Mexiko; dargestellt nach der LitfiratUr u«d nach eigeiien 

ForSChUIlgen, P. 227, Berlin, Gebruder Borntraeger.

figures for Mexican manganese,

Gonzalez Reina, Jenaro.

1944, Minerta, y riqv^a minera de Mexico, pp. 85-90, Mexico,

industrials del Banco de Mexioo, s. A., no 2 General summary,

including map showing HiaDganese occurrences in e*ico. 

1946, Los yacimientos de manganese cerca de Teloloapan y ArceJia, Estado de 

Guerrero: Bol. minas y petr61eo, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 3-5. Tlamaxcaltepeti and Tierra Bianca deposits in Guerrero; La Guadalupana deposit, State of Mexico.

GriggS, Jorge. 

1907, Mines of Chihuahua, p. 257, chihuahua, A. Vicente Guerrero. JJeposit

, at Cusihuiri-icKic (Chihuahua 24). 

Groves, W. A.

1938, Manganese, pp. 26, 119,-London, Imperial InStltUte, Mineral Resources

Dept., 2d ed. Mexican manganese production; also Monta'fifl do 

Manganese mine (San Luis PotosI la), Santiago mine (Durango (8), 

Talamantes district (Chihuahua 31).
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 287

Gurria Urgell, Oswaldo.

1928. La industriaTminero-metalurgica en el ano de 1926: Bol. minero, M6xico, 

vol. 25, pp. 180-181. Data on production from Montana de Manganeso mine (San Luis Potosf la), Santiago mine (Durango 8), and 

Talamantes district (Chihuahua 31).

1929. La industria minero-metalurgica en &1 ano de 1927: Bol. minero, Mexico;, 

vol. 27, pp. 252-253. Data on production from Montana de Manganeso mine (San Luis Potosi la).

1930. La industria minero-metalurgica en el ano de 1928: Bol. minero, Mexico, 

vol. 29, p. 48. Date on production from Montana de Manganeso 

mine (San Luis Potosi la). 

Halse, Edward.

1893, Mineral de manganese, cerca de Muleg6, Baja California: Minero mexicano, vol. 23, no. 25.

1892. Notes on the occurrence of manganese ore near Muleg£, Baja California, 

Mexico: North of England Inst. Min. Mech. Eng. Trans., vol. 41, pp. 

302-307. Gavilan deposits (Baja California 7).

1893. The occurrence of manganese ore in veins: Eng. and Min. Jour., vol. 55,

pp. 223-225. Gavilan deposits (Baja California 7). 

1902, Notes on the structure of ore-bearing veins in Mexico: Am. Inst. Min.

Eng. Trans., vol. 32, p. 294. Gavilan deposits (Baja California 7). 

Harder, E. C.

1910, Manganese deposits of the United States, with sections on foreign deposits, 

chemistry and uses: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 427, pp. 180-181. Deposits in Puebla, Guerrero, and Hidalgo. 

Hewett, D. F.

1921, Manganese and manganiferous ores: U. S. Geol. Survey, Mineral Resources U. S., 1918, pp. 648-649. Manganese deposits in Chihuahua 

and Guanajuato. 

Humboldt, Alexander von.

. 1827, Essai politique. sur le royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne, vol. 4, p. 109, 

Paris, F. Schoell, 2d ed. The"author says, "Manganese seems to be 

less abundant in tropical America than in the old world." 

Institute Geologico de Mexico.

1923, Catilogo sistematico de las; especies miuerales: Inst. geel. Mexico-, Bol. 

40, pp. 156, 221, 223, 224, 226, 227, 234, 245-246, 251, 254. Catalog 

of mineral localities1 ..in Mexico: Localities of manganese minerals 

give on pages listed. 

Keighley, J. R.

1944, Mexico, in Minerals Review of Latin America, 1939-44: U. S. Bur. Mines, 

Foreign Minerals Survey, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 79, 82. Manganese production figures for 1939-44. 

McQuesten, C. A.

1916, Minas de manganese en Punta Conception, Municipalidad de Mulege", 

Baja California, Mexico: Bol. minero, vol. 1, pp. 232-235. Gavildn 

deposits (Baja California 7). 

Martinez Portillo, Jesus.

1942, Bibliografia del manganeso, 2 pp., in P6rez Pena, Adan, Datos sobre 

yacimientos de manganeso en Mexico, Mexico, Universidad Nacional 

de Mexico, Institute de Geologla, Monografias. Bibliography of 

Mexican manganese deposits.
288 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

Mexico, Departamento de minas.

1923-38, Anuario de Estadistica minera, afios 1922-33. Statistics on production of Mexican manganese. 

Mineral Resources of the United States.

1897-98, U. S. Geol. Survey. Statistics on Mexican manganese production. 

1916-23, U. S. Geol. Survey. Statistics on Mexican manganese production. 

1924-31, U. S. Bur. Mines. Statistics on Mexican manganese production. 

Minerals Yearbook.

1932-41, U. S. Bur. Mines. Statistics on Mexican manganese production. 

Ord6fiez, Ezequiel.

1902, The mining district of Pachuca, Mexico: Am. Inst. Min. Eng. Trans., 

vol. 32, p. 237. Manganese in ore-bearing veins at Pachuca (Hidalgo 

2).: 

Ortfz Men a, Rafael.

1941, Minerales mangano-argentiferos oxidados, su genesis y beneficio metalurgico: Soc. geol. mexicana Bol., tomo 11, nos. 1-6, pp. 7-76, Brief 

description of Mexican manganese deposits on pp. 16-17. 

Penrose, ; R. A. -F., Jr.

1891, Maganese: its uses, ores, and deposits: Arkansas Geol. Survey Ann. 

Rept,: 1890, vol. 1, pp. 450, 555. Alabandite in San Luis Potosi. 

P6rez Pena, Adan.

1942, Datos sobre yacimientos de manganeso en Mexico, 24 pp., Mexico, 

: Universidad Nacional de Mexico, Institute de Geologia, Monograffas. 

General."summary of manganese deposits in Mexico. Includes a 

bibliography by J. Martlnez Portillo. 

Rangel, M. F. .

1911, Apuntes sobre la distribuci6n de minerales en el Estado de Durango: 

Soc. geol. mexicana Bol. 7, p. 109. Santiaga and Purisima deposits 

(Durango 8 and 9). 

RodrigUez Cabo, Jose1 , Jr., and Trask, P. D.

1944, Manganeso en Mexico; Reporte preliminar; Bol. minas y petr61eo, vol.

15, no. 11, pp. 3-8. Preliminary summary report on manganese 

in Mexico.

Roush, Q. A. (editor).

1917, The mineral industry, vol. for 1910, p. 497, New York, MoGraw-mu.

1919, The mineral industry, vol. for 1918, p. 475, New York, McGraw-Hill. 

1923, The mineral industry, vol. for 1922, p. 468, New York, McGraw-Hill.

Description Of Mexican manganses deposits.

Santillan, Manuel.

 1936, Carta geo!6gico-minera del Estado de Durango: Inst. geol. M6xico

Cartas geol. y minas 2, p. SO and map. Cuencame, CerrO de Santiago

(Durango?, 8,and8a).

Schaller, W. T.

1938, Johannsenite, a new manganese pyroxene: Am. Mineraio6ist, vol. 23,

pp. Bra-582. Johannsonite at Tetela del OrO (Puebla 3).

Villafafia, Andrew

1916, Resena minera de la region central y sureste del Estado de JallsCO, P. 54,

Mexico, Departamento de Minas?. (Also, Soc. cient, Antonio Alzate

 \. Mem,, vol. 34, p. 2O4.) Hostotipaquilla (Jalisco 1).
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 289'

Villafafia Barajas, Andr6s

1943, Estadfsticas mineras mexicanas, 1931-41, pp. 15, 43, 67, Mexico, Secretaria.

de la Economia Nacional, Direcci6n General de Mitias y Petr61eo.

Statistics on Mexican manganese production, 1931-41. 

Wallace, H. V.

1911a, Dep6sitos de manganese en la Baja California: Bol. de la Camara.

Minera de Mexico, Ano II, no. 16, 11-12. Gavilan deposits (Baja

California 7). 

1911b, Deposits of. manganese in Lower California: Min. World, vol. 35,.

pp. 103-104. Gavilan deposits (Baja California 7). 

1911c, Manganese in Lower California: Min. and Sci. Press, vol. 103, pp.

201-202. Guadalupe deposits (Baja California 7a). 

1916, Informe sobre los dep6sitos de manganesoc erca del pueblo de Mulege', Baja.

California: Bol. minero, vol. 1, pp. 209-212. Gavilan "deposits

(Baja California 7). 

Wyckoff, R. W. G.

1921, The crystal structure of alabandite (MnS): Am. Jour. Sci, 5th ser.,

vol. 2, pp. 239-249. Alabandite from Puebla (no description of' 

. locality given) 

Anonymous. 

- 1902, Mexican meeting excursion: Am. lust. Min. Eng. Trans., vol. 32,.

p. clii. Descubridora mine near Chihuahua.

1917, Los minerales de manganese: Bol. minero, vol 4, pp. 366-368. Occurrences in Chihuahua, Baja California, San Luis Potosi, Puebla, and

Zacatecas. - 

1928, Sonora, Sinaloa, y Nayarit; estudio estadistico y econ6mico social,.

elaborado por el Departamento de la Estadistica Nacional, p. 253,.

Mexico, Imprenta Mundial. Manganese production figures forSomora. ; , 

1930, Las tarifas norteamericanas y el manganeso (editorial): Bol. minero,

vol. 29, pp. 122-124.. Gives number of mining claims for manganesefiled in various States of Mexico, and list.of recent producers of man-.

ganese ore. .

SOURCES OF UNPUBLISHED INFORMATION

Additional material was obtained from the following sources of unpublished', 

information:

1. Alkadeff, J., Chihuahua City.

2. American Consular report for 1938.

3. Brown, A. M., Chihuahua City.

4. Calvin, C. C., Magdalena, Sonora.

5. Cardenas, Manuel, Comercio General, Mexico City.

6. Chase, P. W., Foreign Economic Administration, Mexico City.

7. Departamento de Minas, Mexico City (Mineral statistics).

8. Direcci6n General de Minas y Petr61eo, Mexico City (Map of manga-- 

nese deposits in M.exico, issued in 1941).

9. Espinosa, Antonio, Cuudad Juarez, Chihuahua.

10. Foreign Economic Administration (files), Mexico City.

11. Fernandez, H. A., Parral, Chihuahua.

12. Frothingham, Thomas, Durango City.

1.3. Garcij,, Erco, Chihuahua City.
290 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

14. Gonzdlez R., Jenaro, Institute de Geologfa, Mexico City.

15. Hewett, D. F., U. S. "Geological Survey.

16. Lujan Z., Abraham, Chihuahua City.

17. Mahieux, Pierre, Cia. del Boleo, Santa Rosalia, Baja California.

18. Mdrquez, Jos6, Torre6n, Coahuila..

19. Molleda, Ram6n, Canitas, Zacatecas.

20. Morales, Daniel, Matamoros; Chihuahua.

21. Mujaes, David, Mexico City.

22. Noble, J. A., San Luis Mining Co., Mexico City.

23. Ostos, Enrique, Torre6n, Coahuila.

24. Pamones de Cueto, Sra. Julia, Torre6n, Coahuila.

25. Plass, Robert, Metals Reserve Co., El Paso, Texas.

26. Pouliot, C. E., Foreign Economic Administration, Mexico City.

27. Rigby, J. H., Metals Reserve Co., Mexico City.

28. Sisniega, Carlos, Chihuahua City.

29. Stone, J. B., Fresnillo, Zacatecas.

30. Storm, L. W., Foreign Economic Administration, Mexico City.

31. Sutti, Martin, San Luis Potosf City.

32. Trask, P. D., U. S. Geological Survey (Field examination in the spring 

of 1943).

33. Trask, P. D., U. S. Geological Survey (Examination of ore, or of general 

setting of the deposit, in 1943).

34. Trask, P. D., U. S. Geological Survey, and Pouliot, C. E., Foreign 

Economic Administration (Field examination in the spring of 1943).

35. Trask, P. D., U. S. Geological Survey, and Rodrfguez Cabo, Jose", 

Direccidn General de Miuas y Petrdleo (Field examination in the 

spring of 1943).

36. Villareal, Leopoldo Jr., Saltillo, Nuevo Le6n.

37. Vplf, H., C[a. Mercantil Reforma, Mexico City.

38. White, D. E., U. S. Geological Survey.

39. Wilson, I. F., U. S. Geological Survey.

40. Wilson, I. F., U. S. Geological Survey, and Kocha, V. S., Comlt6

Directive para la Investigaci6n de los Recursos Minerales de Mexico. 

41. Wilson, I. F., U. S. Geological Survey, and Veytia, Mario, r>irecci<5n

General de Minas y Petr61eo.
TABLE 17. Location, ownership, production, reserves, and type of in

[Latitude and longitude determined from U. S. Army Eighth Corps maps, for the years 1935-37. In column g

when visited in spring of 1943; a dagger (t) shows deposit was undeveloped; year, 1942, etc., shows 

 from 10,000 to 125,000; B, 1,000 to 10,000; C, less than 1,000] 

0

*

§

o

p

Name

Location

M o 

£3

0

*

'Si

!«

«1

«

^

Direction and airIme distance from 

place named (in

kilometers)

o.9

f3~*

£o

>>'3-^ 

x: >- £

- 0

§^ S

M -fa2

ft

o

^ t^

f9 ^

* ?

>»2

^S 

a, a

oO

Q"

Owner or operator

BAJA CALIFORNIA

Cerro del Centinela

deposits. 

Zacatosa deposits..--

Socorro mining district.

Sierra de Juarez deposits.

Lucifer mine-.___.

Navidad group.._. 

Faunas deposits.

Eureka claim, isla 

San Marcos.

Azteca deposits.---.. 

Gavilan deposits..... 

Guadalupe deposits..

32° 38' 

32°14'?

3l°05'? 

32° 10'? 

27°22'

27°21' 

27°23' 

27° 12'

26°55' 

26° 52' 

26°49'

115°44' 20 west of Mexicali..

115°36'? 

115°45'? 

112°23'

112°22' 

112°23' 

112°05'

112°00'

48 southeast of Tecate.

130 southeast of Ensenada. 

50? southwest of

Mexieali. 

17 northwest of Santa Rosalia.

4.5 southeast of the 

Lucifer mine (4).s

4 north of the Lucifer 

mine (4).

25 southeast of Santa Rosalia.

10 north of Muleg§. 

20 east of Mulege

12 southwest of the 

Gavilan deposits 

(7).

20

48

220?

50?

10

6 

10 

"3

«5 

'0

5?

10

0

3.5

Mahieux y Qarcla 

Quintanilla, S. en 

N. C.

.....do .... ..

.do.

M. F.deLara(1942).

Henry Alien (1940)..

Ola. Mexicans de 

Manganeso, S. A.

(?

Se

Re

...

V

V

N

V

See footnotes at end of table.
292" GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

 2 

o.2

CO1

Reserves

Production March 31, to

1943

9S9ueSuBin

JO ;U90J9<J

SUO^OU^H

JO JU90J9,J

mwn.

o ° a § ^

|l

f^

O

O 

O

(SJ8}8mO[I2l UI) pBOJ

UI) pBOJ[TBJ 01 \V311

jo pBOJ ^q gouB^siQ

Location

Direction and airline dstance from 

place named (in 

kilometers)

apn;

.,..->_

!

 oNW»<fta

BAJA CALIFORNIA Continued

pj <u y a> ~<o ^ -

'S^C^C Sod's 2 . . £2 2 ^ ~"

 < .' .. £ 0 8 8 <! M <N M

w S'CN J§ S '!!!!!

e^ ff- e- _ c>- -^ j^. -.

n oo w " o ^^oooo

i i i S i 1 1 I |

C

o 1- ^^1 o ^" o

O OOOOOO

o c-

^* CO

II

I?iifcS!f * a° |!

- |lji«

d i 

 i ^

£ 

w

N oo>o jo ss^£»; 00

«0 OO ^ CN O O O O CO -H 

O 

 «, 

M> 

 I a.gaoC^CO

«9 M»

C3CQ OJCOCPOTI I ''! C303

5« 2| 5| 3 HH o o ^ § ^ J

-w In 'In m OT ""^"cocn

Sa Sa ga £ £ o o ^ "3 S S 

^2 £2 52 5 ,§ ^ajao-g'S-2

w °° "^^ ^ N ^ ro>" Ss^sS s'^'s'1'

c^«

o 

^ 

OO 

r-l 1 * 

O 

TH 

O 

rH 

OOOOOO

* Ii l» tr-(O^

| - I | g | -| 2 | | | |

1 ' .J -j i 1 1 +> (fl +J !

i a S 'S . a 55 1 S 5 ! 3 1 © -I 1 o 8 1 a i j I I * -si1 § ^ s ^ a ^ i

"S « S ^1 1 ^'"jS 113 1

5 s -S -S-° 5 5'555'SO m o.-^ § 

 5 fl C fl^J 0 dftB&r? rt^S I

* C3o3 CO C3 «»cftcnuJ 

H coco CQ CO ^PHMMCQEH

e g . « .g.ci-ssas^
Chihuahua

1

la

1b

1C

1<1

1e

If

IK

?:

3

3a

4

4a

4b

fi

fi

7

Fresnal deposit (Salazar 1).

posit.

Cuatro Amigos deposit.

31°10'

31°10'

31°10/

31°10'

sino7

31°10'

30°10'

31°11'

30°55'

30°56' 

31 °3'

30°57'

31 °4'

31°4/

31°3'

30°45'

30°36'

107°21'

107°21'

107°21'

107°21'

107°21'

107°21'

107°21'

107°21'

107°S6'

107°35'

107°38'

107°23'

107°22'

107°22'

106°21'

107°28'

man.

(1). 

North of the Consolidada deposit 

(la). 

West of the Verdun

deposit (ib).

Toribio deposit 

(lc).

solidada deposit 

(la).

solidada deposit 

(la).

sjon.

station. 

18 northwest of Sabinal station.

station.

inal station, south 

of the Borregos 

area (1). 

17 northeast of Sabinal station.

Rancherla station.

cension.

20 southeast of San 

Pedro station.

31

31

31

31

31

31

31

30

40

12

20

11

20

20

20

60

20

0

0

1

1

0

0

0

0

, >?

3

5?

<*?

5?

5?

fi?

*?

0

.. ...do.... _. __ 

zalez de Armijo.

William Salazar? 

Louis B. GoldbaumBla

su

... .

.... .

.....

.. 

... ..

... .

- .d

rh

 do

 do

..... 

 

.... .

 

in 

F

25 

2 v

ci

ce

an

in 

See footnotes at end of table.
294 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS. IN'AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

 o

3

d

+3d

o 

D

I

i

^

8

CO

to

io

<5a*

e

 i

g 

e

o>

8

3

^

-O

e

S

e

S

|

0"

WFa, 

g>

a

8

e

BO" 

to i

»

a

y>

<>5s 

o

s

3

»

5. 

a"

*S

-a

o

5

U

e

5

s

B ^>

o

3

j

5

=1

t

3

q

<!

-t

a Q

 9 a

o-B

z 

o

rfi

I>

!

1" 

o'u".

H 2* 

|!2

AH o

as9ufe3nBtu

jo ;u90J9<3;

SUO? 0W9^

jo ;n80J8,j

sao»ou}9W

» tsS-g

cS Q o 9? o

o a g &

_^.

o

o W

i CJ ^4 ^ cS "s a

« £

D.

f^

t4

S

2

S

'

. o

0

te

c

fe

O

(gJ919mOlT5l 01) P130J v 

ni) p^oaiiBj o^ [iBJ?

JO p«OJ Xq 80TO1SIQ

§

S

o

)J

 o d

'§ 0"

111.

s s s

0.23 <c

3 0 § §

f.,1 ^H C3 »-H

5

apni

-l9«Ol ^SOjW

apn?

-ll«l m-lOM

2

1

 oN"itsod9a

 a

S-.3

.1

O

9

: 1

1 A

'§

-

CO O5 ' O5 ' CN rt O5

CNCM rH

ffl <1 £0 jOO

oooooo

deposits Fissure in

rocks. canic 

Black calcite vein

rhyolite.

B. GoldA^uila

a)aj<u 

wwco

> > >

, "5 >O 00

 <}( _i 0 * CM "0

. .

OOO

CO CN

(N CM

S S

- 

'> ':' Hi<

» s

tfO 0 <! O<!

«
17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

"27

27a

28

29

29a

29b

29c

29d

30

31

32

32a

32b

32c

32d

32e

32f

fiormigas deposit __

Sostenes deposit

Chilicote deposit _ -

Alkadeff deposit -

Adela deposits. 

Virgen and Providencia deposits.

Santa Rosa and Coroncl deposits.

Cusihuiriachic deposit.

San Isidro deposit. _

Magistral mine area..

Zacatemine - -- _

Chino deposits.. . _ .

Savanarola mine. . _

Organos deposits _ .

San Miguel depositsAntonio Farias deposits.

Soeorro deposit

Escondida deposit- ..

Minas Nuevas deposit.

Talam antes manganese district.

Matamoros deposits .

Santa Barbara deposits.

Tres Estrellas deposit.

Luz deposit..... _ ..

Cruz deposit ------

Capitandeposit- .

Vesta deposit --------

29°18'

29°15'

29°2'

28°36'

28°41'

28°47'

28°43'

28°17'

28°21'

28°8'

28°10'

28°8'

28°4'

28°17'

28°17'

28°17'

28°16'

28°16'

27°8'

26°53'

26°44'

26°44'

26°44'

26°44'

26°44'

26°44'

26°44'

105°48'

105°17'

104°49'

107°40'

106°40'

106°21'

106°4'

106°50'

106°7'

106°17'

106°8'

106°8'

105°46'

104°55'

104°55'

104°55'

105°2'

105°!'

105°41'

105°28'

105°36'

105°36'

105°36'

105°36'

105°36'

105°36'

105°36'

23 northwest of Hormigas station.

7 north of Sostenes 

5 north? of Chilicote.

15 southwest of Santo Tom as.

21 northwest of San

Andrfe.

30 northwest of Chihuahua City.

10 northeast of Chihuahua City.

5 north of Cusihuiriachic.

12 southeast of Las

Palomas.

26? south of Santa

Isabel, near Magistral mine.

26 south of Las Palomas.

29 south of Las Palomas.

33 southwest of

Meoqui.

50 northeast of

Saucillo.

Same as the Organos 

deposits (29)?.

__ .do. ________

10 west of the Organos deposits (29).

East of the Soeorro

deposit (29c).

20 north of Parral- - -

20 east of Parral .....

3 south of Villa

Matamoros.

Same as the Matamoros deposits

. (32).

In the Matamoros

area (32).

__ do ________

 do 

 .do ...........

. .do ............

30

10

5?

15

21

30

10

5

8

26

40

43

33

60

60

60

60

60

20

15

8

8

8

8

8

8

8

10?

5'

5? 

5'

3?

5? 

5'

3'

3

0'

0

0

5?

?,

?

f.

1

0

5?

0

0 

0

0

0

0

0

0

Abraham Lujan Z 

Dr. Erco Garcfa. ....

Dr. Erco Garcfa __ -

 -do... 

Minerales. 

 do.... 

 do 

 do 

 do 

Manuel Duarte, and 

others. 

 ..do ---------

 -do. ------

- do ... ---------

 do ... ------

 do .... .. ---

 do - - 

F

--

(

F

(

F

B

(

 

 

 

(

V

B

_

..

-

-

 

. 

See footnotes at end of table.
296 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

e

e 

S

'e 

1

 S1

 c 

S

w

H

1 ^s

JO !}nOOJ9,J

JO

*a 

08

oj {IB.EJ

ui) peojnw o? ifBj?

JO pBOJ Xq 90UBJSIO;

CO CO CN

O i i 

CO 1 i

? S £

i I

0 00

£ S £

Veins ofantimony ore with manganese ox- ides,n siliceous andcalcareous shales. Black calcite veins in

rhyolite? 

..do............... 

Rom&n S.Concha. .

Valdarama. Agapita 

0 s §

00 ~* «

of Par-27southeast 

rel.

Kosario 15east of-. _ _ Sane tieRosario as 

£*

i 1 o O 

CO CO CO 

IO IO O

0 O O

^ CO CO 

o 60 

CO CO CO IN CN CN

Nuevo de- Vesurio 

posit.

deposits. Rosario 

Valdarama deposits..

if s i

i

0

i

o

e

a'S 2 ° 

S ra S

fl '

S^s .

wSS^g 3 M o os *>

CO

Fernandez brothers.

S

o

southwest of130

Parral.

S5

2

0**

s

1

 a

o o

^S-a .3_:H,

55 as! 

n c

a I

l

o <j

 s w

I II Il£2 JJW 

S fe
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 297

o ci ci CN ci

CM i-f CO CO CO CO

! ' S ! !

*- <N. ^ ^ ^

00 ^ ^ ^

11* i i 0 ° 1

e," 21. S, 51,

 -N ^\ /-*

^ -^ ^ ^ ^ ^

i

2^_ | £.§g|g|a |

!*(>> 03

g|oi| i « J2

Sfcd5,28 J 'S^'3

.2 ° S o .2 " « '3 "2 a

o i§ > i « 8S (S h

*o co

S3 S § S § S

§ 1 ^ ^' § s

35® ^ *d g

53 | § § § § 

^|6 o £ 2 << ^ . o ° 

^*O O ® ® QJcS'^ c

|§ 3 8 8 «g|| 

«s . 3 S S w°>°

>tf* CO U5 »O "3 W3 

O O O O O O

§ 2 § O O 0

C4 C4 (N O* M W

0> 0) 1 0> ^ I !

'O tJ I *ci <D i I 

+5 IS^^ ^-S w £ g

C O t* O C3 fc *~* ^^ ^

S I? o . o S -5

*4* O C0 -03 JQ CJ 

CO S ^

CO CO 

CO CO

CO CO CO CO CO CO CO

i i i i i IO O 

' 1 1 1 I ICO N

 ! : 1 ! :' 1

1 °

^ ^^^ ^

v^v-'>-'^1-"H v_

1 ' ' ^

i C3 o *^i 03 d CQ 

' ® 8 § eu a '3 :*f s*-§.s 

io o

H i

2 a

il 1

ics oj _ 1 tH O

;r= » -d 

ooood2>; -3 . dTa-d'd'd 2 & a ? :So g£

10 3

§sss °"

is 8

|J3 CU ! a (ii 

; ! o w o

jCCCCotn -^S

3 !^ So

i CN IO

§

OOOO iH -H 

OOOOO O

OO CO 00 00 00 O CN 

^T ^T ^ ^T M* IO IO

CNCNCNCNOJCN CN

I "** i '

*. .-a S, a £

i^iiii i

^css^ci^ °°

Durango

CO CO

CN" of e<

CN CO CO CO

i oo i m i CO ' *

o * £ *

i "i i s

K .§

00 ,-v 0

^ '*"'*' C

_Q >»,i >» jg oT^'d £

&H P5 53

1 s 

.2 i -d J eS i- i .E 

5 ! b > ! -<i

 5-0 o CN

o "5 m m 00 i-l rH rH

s o. i 1

o ?f 1 *

Is 11 i

|S 1°. : Q >i 5 "C d o a

§f §2 1 3 

R g \ &

is § . s 1 

g I II

o8 c? cT | 10 in 10 in

<N IN CN CN

: : <£>« 

« 1 *!

a o i§ i i

3 f losg > rt "3 1 ^T;

ca 9 t; o &e 

0 Q 6 ^a

-1 N 5 CN ^C4

1

'

S

cu '4

+J

<M

See footnotes ed at
298 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

TABLE Locat-ion, 17,- and owership, production, individual deposits ofContinued Mexico type in reserves, manganese 

a

o

Sa «*_ o 033

8

0 

CO

Reserves

Production March to31, 

1943

,o"SSSl

snoWH

. esatreStreui

sww

05*5 O g o

"58

o a*-£ 

Ui

o 'a

0

0

OJ P-4 Aq QOUB^stg;

rs«i9.}9nio[i^

uj) ptJOJjnj.! O!) TI13J5

 

Location

Direction andir-line distance from

named place (in

klilometers)

,, «.. 

opm

I

as

 ON«sod9a

Continued Durango 

co' . . c$ o

CO" .Tjl ^t< * »)< * * oo' . IN (N CO . C<- 

CO 5OCO CO CO CO CO CO .-1 00 CO CO <N CO ' CO

OOiOOiOOlCO < O i i 00 00 i 00 OC 

COiCOiCO'CO CO * I CO CO I CO. C<

« OM £ <1 £ O O o o O O' £ ' O- 'O

CS i OO i 00 I OO i i I I I i I 

Tj« iCO i CO i CO ' iiiii i.

ooo 

O O 

o 

O r 

ic o oooo.ooo

a ^- - Cl*'

^ ^^ ^^^^. ^ ^^/-s/S^j;f;

x_/ ^,-v^ ^^v_»v^v^ v^ v^^^v^

cS a^-S^^^^JJcS®-- i ' '

ll If . ' 

3| S^||s^S«|f|2.; S|

oa^cc c c c ce^toa-2'3=2^"w-2 :3"o^ ^-2 C c c . c

IS ,t!!j 'Ct t; X 'C ^^-HQjflJrn-^H-^cS^Oy 3>«t " X 

S OT S ^- ^ CO

XJ ' w if 1 «i I 

1 If 1 . a I 1 *S -

i'iS , ISo | 8 : -S -ls§ ^. .« « r/jOO'C<uJ3X^ 'fl^. (!)

& -<§ (3 ° ra [3 ^ co ' '

i-H f 1 I < i-H Ofl W tM ^ C^- C^- <O O O C C" C^5 "5 co eo

 o i« oft flOCOCOOO'* ,w- (-^QcccocO'coco

" "* ~" " H

| ;§ ; 9 ; 3 J | J g g, 5 nj| 

n'H/^lfvi ^'^'*-| A*v^«3 t^'S 

|-< : i. ! ! ^ J^ ^ S ffl^ a) ?° ;3 °.S

Sti iSw i ^ ' "^ ^ "d^o ^'""i'^o^ S ^" a) w to w ,i fl°3>ftw "3

r-l lIN 1 r-l 1 r-l CM ^

CO COCO COMCOCO J» 0!|1 o'31'or O>' i 6J< 0* 

s fes se»co co cOCOrOM'CO'.COCO

_, ^i^ SSSs s OOOOOO.O

OOCJSOSOSOSOS .OS ^Ai«M«^*44 ^^ 

-* -*co cococOco CO ^^^^^An ° ft ?ft ooo o OO°O.O,OO

; j ! £ * j S i \ j -s 1 d i^ ! : 

i. s ' w^ ' « -P '3 o 1 1 "5 1 I ^

»' § ! °.-ti ! *» -.t3 'M ' 0 S P fH ftiS/^+J 2

I |1 |Ed |§l 1 f 5 I S 5oef i

S ^| .* §§ |a« « H « g § vHV-f § --S | «- *Hfl Si.m e § ^-=< aj S'-'M'S «s fiMlLsIf J |!E|!*8ti;i

raO^N^O^ S So^(^5 feO

iN^csS^^iN c7 W^SINCN t2- 01
3

3a

3h

3n

3d

3e

3f

3g 

3h

3i

4

5

5a

6

7

8

8a

fi

10

dela deposits.

tral deposit.

deposit.

Wonn No. 2 deposit. _ 

Presidio deposit ......

deposit.

Patos deposits . . __

tos deposits (5).

deposit Santiago 

deposit (8).

25°39'

25°25'

25°25'

25°25'

25°25'

25°25'

25°24'

25°24'

25°24' 

25°23'

25° 23'

25° 17'

25°07'

25°07'

24°48'

O4.O OQ/

oxooo/

94° 1 f\f -

23°55'

103°43'

105°28'

105°28'

105°28'

105°27'

105°28'

105°28'

105°28'

105°28' 

105°28'

105°28'

105°44'

105°0'

105°0'

105°7'

103°43'

103°43'

103°45'

104°6'

gra deposit (2m) .

nes.

choarea (3).

so claim (3a) .

so claim (3a).

Progreso claim 

(3a).

President Roosevelt deposit (3d).

Ouadalupe deposit (3e).

Just south of the 

Purisima deposit 

(3f).

Just south of the

Wonn No. 2 deposit (3g) .

the Presidio deposit (3h).

anes. 

25 north of Patos ....

.....do ......... 

m§.

mfe.

.... .do..... -

nas.

25

35

35

35

35

35

35

35

35 

35

35

10

25

25

10

10

25

25

35

3

3?

35

35

35

35

35

35

35

35 

35

35

10'

0

0

10?

6'

5'

5'

3'

.... .do ..- 

 ..do. ... 

..... do..... ....

Darrell M. Wonn ... 

Cla. Minera CentraL

-. ...do --------

General Mario Arieta. 

.....do. ...-- 

Juan Villegas ........

.....do 

.....do. ...: 

 ..d

fiss

coa

gan

bre

frag

fied 

Mang

bre

sur

.....d

Cro

me

from 

wid

Repl

Cro

me

me

Prob

of t

Fissu

rhy

Black 

sur

ate

 d

vol

C)

(»)

in 

See footnotes at end of table.
300 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

o 

ft, -8

rod Ma 1

JO }U90J9<J

JO ?a90J9<I

(sjei>aaio[ij[ ui) peoa 

oj itB-n -£q

ao p^oa j?q

Direction andir- line from distance place named (in 

kilometers)

apn;

 0^ ijtsodaa:

«

c*-

c

£

e1

o

c

i

:

0

£H

2

8

S3

- K

0

 r

8

 s

flj <D § 

3

*"*

IO »O u3 CO CO Pi >ra i

i CO i

 « ' £ S

<N i

S £ S

i r JT jr

o|

O

1"!

0? OT

^ §£

.,-, fl ^ ^

 Has'0

o

',

S

§

*3 *c *c

o

o o o

CM 8 C*

1

? ^

tj ^^

S ^

<§ !-

(J-J3

b'C o o

 ^ O ^ T *s

^ ^ s

o o o 

H rH rt

«to so to

2-i ° °

' ffl*

oj , j^ d

Q *"* J, ^r 5J "33 w i| 

 H o 6 d) 'r

S i'oS?

> ra <1

ex eg ' .Q

<N <N

0 O

 co" 00^*0 »o

) CO COCOr-1

i ,>0i 

i iCO '

^ O O^£

in.

o oo .

cmxj

io

1 1~4

' O

! 03

! S.-§

.' 3 o

o ci o Q.C T: 'C'0,0 §

I i^

8 ^s i i

'3 '5 ! '

£? 5* es-2

0 0^^

s a^«

S3 &^ . 

a So

5 Slw

c-- e« io c^. 

N CN "5

S

oco^ NrHCO

03 ' ' '

L III

S fl '

!> *o I

 3d

S £2^ -B'S

2 S ® "*.«

V^ tH f£ fli M

a

m ^ 

fl)

^ VSSB

r-l I-lrHr-l

CO cfaX i-t

0^ 000

2, ' £ w o

aa jj c<n O O<

ri ' "S o« 4> ^ 

p w G'cJ o ^

oa ex ta ^ "^ O

5*2 "o1^1 ^

S So ^H o ^/v c*

.^ fePnO

(S S^'co

00-

i

£

i

£

rH

c-

"5

a

a

<0

a>

 s

 *?

c3

s

^

s

0

«?,

(VvS

iSS4^

jB

a

CO

CO CO OO

o o o

o o o

II

. 3

C3O 

0

S |SS;

f3 o3-rt 5 V

IO ®

rH CO. CO

S3 S3 S3 0 oo

00 00 00
2

2a

2b

3

4 

4a

4h

4c

4d 

4c

4f

4fT

4h

4l

4j

Tierra Blanca deposit 

Conception deposit..

Chapas deposit.. __

Iguala deposit.....

Buenavista region... 

Lucha deposit.. _

Avion deposit Lucha deposit (4a). 

Jacobo deposit. __ .

Dos Lupes deposit ... 

Gabriela deposit

India deposit .......

Carmen deposit _ .

Caballo deposit ......

18625' 

18°25'

18°20'

18°21'

18°29' 

18°29/

18°29/

18°29'

18°28' 

18°28'

18°28'

18°28'

18°26'

18°29/

18°29/

99°52' 

99° 53'

99°51'

99°37'

99°29' 

99°29'

99°29/

99°29/

99°27' 

99°27'

99°27'

99°27'

99"? 28'

99°26'

99°26'

4 north of Teloloapan.

1 south of the Tierra 

Blanca deposit (2).

6 southeast of Teloloapan. 

3 southwest of Iguala.

15 northeast of Iguala. 

North end of the

Buena ,vista region (4).

.-..do... ............

1 south of the Lucha

deposit (4a). 

1 southwest of the 

Jacobo deposit 

(4c).

Near the Dos Lupes 

deposit (4d).

Lupes deposit 

(4d).

Dos Lupes deposit (4d). 

3 southeast of the

India deposit (4g).

deposit (4a). 

Just southeast of the 

Urquiri deposit 

(40.

4 

3

3?

?'

10 

11

11

11 

10

10

10

10

8

11

11

Manuel de la Puente. 

.... .do..... ..........

Guadalupana.

Comercio General.. . 

.....do .... ........

Comercio General ?.

Comercio General . 

 ..do . ..

.....do .. ....... ...

.....do ............

H. W. Fowler and

others.

.....do..............

 -do-.. ._. 

Filli

lim

sit

pi

ro

an

m

w

de

ni

(1). 

(?

Chi

th

'st

sto

1-

ox

up 

Sim

sm

or

ce

Sim

sm

du

of 

19

Sim

er

be

In 

du

to

to 

ga

sm

... ..

Sim

sm

-....

See footnotes at end of table.
302 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

i

"3-

 a

®s

3

0

CO

>t-t

S

«

o s"

o ^^

S rt 

0 0«

5^2 IS"

PH_O

9S9UB3aBni

JO 4 U90J9,J

suo? ou:>aH

JO JU90J9.J

SU04 OU49K

p°a§l

o

o|

-S

S

1

o

a

o

(SJ8?aUTO[I3[ m) PBOJ

Ul) pBOJ[IBJ O^ IJBJ^

JO P80J Xq 9DUB;SIQ[

(3

0

1

3

 §§^ ifl5

«s§^ *S§2

5 2 <3 §.2°^ S-a^S

S§«-2

is AM

p

9pn^

-I3n0[ 3Sv_^

-,,,,'^U

0)

 0N ,ISOd9a

CO CO CO CO CO

; CO CO .CO 

o o o o o

: 9 S S S

O C1-- C-« C1-* O"

o o o *o

, i »H O C4

S5 1 £ £

1 ill != ' 11 l a * -M S J

* ss 10 ! ,*3a V g

5 |"§g °S£° oc

H^a 03 .. nS^n VH-C

£"a°° i-. Ju.w,3 & 10 ° .£5 S

0Sli'S§! < 3£s ' li

O3 rH O3 O3 CO

O O O O O

-i rH

o o os O5 n

i t ^^ Q3 4* 43 -*J dJ 4^

c3 /^ 0 u & 't? J3 'tr p£3 '^ 

Og^S »§ ^o -pw

l|l| *| ~t 55

5121 52 *» CQ }a fl « |i S 'C |§3 *° !ni w.Q_S H m&m wCLiO-' t«O?:,EnD P^ W3W '^3^'^

)-» ,H iH H» (^

s ~s % * &

°« & « | g OS OJ 0» 0> 0s

8 ?9 §§ 5 S

SS cO OO CO CO

i : i ;

« ^ j* ; :'

§ | S a '1

 d 5 -o S1 1

§ o e * -d

If I I !

EH fc OP J5

3 * ! .§ S

ci ci ' CN

IO C- 1 O

rr< O i CO

mm o ?

" ! II

§ °

s e e c

§ S^ "goSeb M ««

tg°l gSxia gSS.§ 

n -o Q S S 2 Sss of 2|g M ^ a gs-Sg ^.s« ^-§1° a«^^

a-9-ao S °« o.aa& rrt C8 CD 3 en *** M 

*T-C3 V) U*U(9ci3 .-^OiS UO.S a c33'Soa3a>rr<S*J

Sra7 =2 l-s S3 SI? § S 5^.§g aa-Saa-ioSS

03 03 > U

a m

0 S

' s -a

i si

o o ° «'5

!¥

50

HO « 0

CO

S -2 i a 

co 3 . c8

£ > ffl fl a S .S !j.2a

||| J|o ^«"m gS1®

fl'gog 5«5d 1 lil'l |I?I

«D C4 i-(CM

05 0) os o>

S H S I!

CO CO CO N.

! « i ;

. p '

'« -O " § 

5 1 I i

o) J3 -o S 

S 1 £ § d o o .?

So? H 0

ft O* i *O

T(< Tj< "

CO

o

CO

?

1

o

£

stone, 

imilar to5--.._. _..

CO

T:

O

Just of thewest 

Consuelo deposits 

(5).

fe

fe

^

0

J^

I'M

W

O

Q. 8

1

1 (-1

S
Hidalgo

V

?

21°0'

20°8'

99°9'

98°42'

ing district.

175

0

0

0

st

g

o

c

R

Jalisco

1

la

2

?a

?h

2o

?d

?p

2f

2g

?h

?i

3

" 3a

posit.

totipaquilla deposit (1). 

Mezcala deposits .....

Bertha deposit.. _ .-.

Chiripa deposit. -..-.

Comarija deposit 

Progreso deposit 

(3)?. - -----

21° 7'

21°7'

20°57' 

20°57'

20°57'

20°57'

20°57'

20°57'

20°57'

20°57'

20°57'

20°57'

21°18'

104°3'

104°3'

102°43' 

102°43'

102°43'

102°43'

102°43'

102°43'

102°43'

102°43'

102°43'

101°43'

101°43'

...--do..............

15 north of Tepatitlan.

(2). . . - . 

 :/_do.. - 

-.--.do...............

.... .do....... ........ .

.....do......... i.....

.--..do..............

--.-.do...............

 .do.. 

..-..do...............

Guanojuato. 

.....do...... .........

20

20

15 

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

15

dft

40

0

0

0 

(?)

(?)

(?)

(?)

(?)

(?)

(?)

(?)

(?)

1

.Adelberto Taylor _ . 

 .do. 

.1'.. _~dO___ ............

... ..do... - .. -

 ..do 

 ..do 

 do 

 ..do 

 .do 

... ..do..... 

-...do.. -- 

g

c

Fis

rh

(?)

(?

(?

(?

(

(

(?

(

(

o

 R

d

Mexico

1

la

2 

?a

El Oro deposit- .... .

Ta'jimarad depositEl Oro deposit (1). 

Quadalupana deposits.

Tlalchapa deposit 

Ouadalupana deposits (2).

19°45'

19°45'

18°27' 

18°27'

100°8'

100°8'

100°7' 

100°7'

 .do..... .... 

15 north of Arcelia, 

Querrero.

- do.. ... .....

3

3

160 

160

3'

3?

0 

0

Cia. Miners La 

Guadalupana.

 ..do -

g

Chi

fr

tu

See footnotes at end of table.
304 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

O O

IIs

PH o

jo

Mil

(SJ919UI01131 HI) pBOJ

0?

0} I.IBJJ

90UB1STQ

. 

CM' co"

|

£ o

i

£

» -i 

Similar to2..... . _--...do...... ------._..

Cia. MineraI A

Q-uddalupana.

do.............. 

S

C5 25

north theof1Qua- 

'dalupana deposits 

(2). 

northwest th 1of

r- oo

0 0

i §

00 00

Dulce Nornbre de- ' 

posit.

Rincon deposit- ...._ 

s «

§1 §£

s i

0 £

; ;

£

*T* *T*

(manto) Flat body 10 and long 2meters wide, cutting meers tufis. layers of across Similar 2d.to.._ 

Maria dePopoca, 

and others.

.....do........ ...

S o 3

(2). posits

the south 1ofQua- dalupana deposits

(21. 

J~usl souththe ofCbaca deposit

0 0

i i

&> S,

Chaea deposit. __.... Consudo MarEa del 

cl'eiposit. " 

s a

8*

CO CO '

CO

 O « 

I 1

O 0

-r- ^

Similar tocut15 2.long meters exposes body 1.5 meters ore

striking wde,N. 

20° W.

Sim ilar to2..........

Minera Cia.LOuadalupana.

g s

(2d). 

south vestthe 1.5ofOiadalupana de- 

(2). posits 

the swthQua- 2ofdilupana deposits

0).

00 N 

0 0

s s

CD IO 

(N IN 

go So

JelotQ dposit. _.... __ Tiempos Futurosdep'osits.

» .»

0000

1 1

OO

i |

00

£S

c>-eew e^-

OMCO

Morelia.. 30oflast .Ciud.ad from3Hidaleo.

O 0

§2

v v

rf W * *

SS

Ozioonatlari deposl-. Ciudad Hidalgo deDOSit.

rH CN

00

i

0

i

o

s

fm

s

3 from Eticuaro.....

0

N

1

Eticuaro deposit.....

n
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 305

n P

S

i

o

!

o

2

2 s|

« t«s

lls

fe

 a 

9

a

2

Jl

fe

CN

IO

Is

S3

°l

s 0*

So

s.

So

aa> O

i03 xi

 S

H

rH

CO

£

!

o

o>

13

3

o-a §

CO

i

:

i 

o

{

>o

«o.

^1

5 "^

o

*"^

So

3

So

o

ft

1

rt

a

CO

03

O

1

O

i

§

£

CO

13

0

a

0

B

'S

CO

u:

3

1

^

o

.a 

»« o

CO

CO

s

8

'i

;

.tn

O

ft

03 >a

m

'^

oo ' ci

; ;

0 0

i !

o o

£ S

 S-3

SS

"d ^

a ^ s

S ,sS

0

ecco o

o j

« S

fl g 2

IH -£at^

|§|§

<H CO

S CO

0 *

s s,

rH O5

ll

O j

 a '

03 "

1 o

ol a

-3 a>

03 T3

0. .03

S m °

« o g

ra >

P* CO

<N

i

£

j

o

e

<i

^

1°

^^~

8

-sCO

§

1

*S2

o a

0,0

 §

53

>. O-w

2^ ^

tS)

CO

oo

i

c 

o

i

o

s

cI

*-

iH

8

O

j-,, | 

? '

CO

^

*o

O5

UD

CO

IN.

]

1

+j "w

8

 S

>a a

.g

rH

oo

i

r^.

O

I

o

£

e»^

§

g

<D

."s

'I

on

CO

S

fh

r~

]

4J

0

03 

X

P

0»

06

. !

cO

i

O

o«

p-

£5

IO

£g

w"S 

 § (£

?l>

>o 

o>

^

N

CD

1 

O

ft

0} -a

0

n

A 

H

CO

c4

i

o

i

o

s

c*«

S3

«

5

[^

00

v

CN

§

CO

I

^3

o

ft

«

5

3 s 

o

PH

TJ.

,2 fl
306' GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

 So~ ' a

IIs

P. o

JO

m)

UI) PBOJII8J 01 [ 

jo PBOJ kq

.Ss .3,3 

ft

00 i

.3 . : . .

a § : s

CO £3 00 IN PQ IN ?3 IN 00 CO' 00"cO

s ; i 8 a - j | i i a

0 £ o p <5 0 o 6 £ « : S

i i i i i i i i i *

o o o o D O O O O O

8 ,.

CLSS £ e e e s e ! £

^ ' IN. t, 1 r

O -4^ O H '

.9 O &*JQ

§ .3 "° o g 

r§ Ort a.-1 g .

Us «!» -

S a ^ -F". C

o-

.2 S

^ fC*

3 3

§ §

g«2S >> -9 S--B

sa2i« ;; *-' WJ rt * _. Us S^2 1-9 S.fg«> -»-:» 

52 22 0 ®'S «£»».23-

slfc H 1-IS ipl; § (l>OT ofi^<u (5.K °3Hfl'S a «T3O Q^ o-*3 w ^ ^ Irt -^ a.

gl£lig.i.|>gjgu ~ |£i§|

3 e~ c> & & H : ET

m

> S ^

£ S § .

« W P

S S ; S5 ° <= SSSbS-S 0 °

SSSS O co co 8 8 o |

§ Jj.~ fi'w 0 . S rj .§' : 

3 "° R «^ S1 -§ 3 ,

y 0^*0^ c2 a a> .S "S o

A 93. W ^O 2^><J

°0 cd w d 0 d^ 03 "5 ;

SdC ^T?.^... ^

^ifl^ ^O'^^°CU'-^ .

"o P.C- En£i

3~ 'MO-*3 . 0

 1 CO 00 CO IN

i

> o

i

o

s

C1"

00

o

 I

 . B

CQ

s

fe

i|

52

CO

vv UDOO CO *.vrHrH'*..*« v

wco us * <N COOINM ro-co_co

S S fe fe ES iiSiScg S S'ro

v s s v ^

.^. i/soo co r^iNOO^ «^ ^ t-^o-5< cq o q 5H oH oH o^ : o' 0

cDocna* 03 oooooo oo oo .1 oo oo

' i +j> i i a

S Mft S ' 2 3 ^ ^ "B « '"§ ' 1^ z § ° ® B J M " 'S w *d o ! P"d o

1 1: M | | S if w 'S s *o I "^ s * 8 i o ' !. ^^ 1^

1' «fe S ^ S° ' § g 8 csS o ' |~ ° 

M^T^C^*^ rt OOT ** S « S ^ e^* ^5 " «?cvJ .- -"ti

1 ^§1 I 15 i 1 1 JlSEI fSSfE fH OT &HEH fH O <1 S (1, O CHM

rt rt N co -a «0 CO t^ uJ 00 03 J2

 *-. oo 00
Queretaro

1 Maldonado deposit..

20°45' 99°54' 50 east of Queretaro 

City.

50 5? Fernando Maldonado.

? V

t

San Luis Potosf ,

1 

la

ib

?

?R

?h

?c

?d

3 

4

Montana de Manganese mine.

San Antonio deposit23°20' 

23°20'

23°19'

23°9'

23°9'

23°9'

23°9'

22°39' 

22°39'

101°47' 

101°4S'

101°47'

102°!'

102°!'

102°!'

102°!'

101°48' 

100°25'

5 southwest of Santo 

Domingo.

the Montana de 

Manganeso mine 

(1).

tana de Manganeso mine (1).

cas.

(2). 

.....do --------

.....do.. ..........

.....do... ............

8 west of Salinas _ ..

dalcazar.

100 

100

100

80

80

80

80

80

8 

20

0 

0

0

3'

3?

9?

3?

3'

1 

6

Aureliano de Leon ..

-...do. ........ ...

.....do... ............

.....do ............

 do 

Francisco Alfaro, 

and others.

Raul Oliva. _ . _ ..

Ma

b

in 

n

re

6 

in 

Sim

O

a

m

22 

.-.-

...-

. 

Ch

o

o

in 

in 

n

g

Sinaloa

2 

?*

3

Quamuchil deposit- -

Guamuchil deposit 

(2)?.

26°0'

25°40' 

25°40'

23°0'

108°0'

107°35' 

107°35'

105°48'

loa City. 

60 east of Guamuchil.

chis.

60

80 

80

15?

15?

0 

0

10?

Cla. International 

Mines.

ers.

(?)

Fis

ca

d

m

(?

See footnotes at end of table.
308 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

03 

S

!M«2 Sil! o o o

r

§ co

Reserves

.2 

u o co 

o S

Jo9B3?Sj

SUO^ ^M^J^

jo^TnSj

mwm

Mil

o O. co

CU ^

O 

O t.

a

3 

S

ao

g

a & O

(8J9ij9raoii3i ui) PBOJ

ao PBOJ Xq OOUB^SIQ

Location

and Direction air-,

line distance from place (inna^ned 

kilometers)

9pnj

V^ON

i

cS

'ON 5!SOd8Q

Sonora

00 CO CO CO i-l OO CO COCOCO COCO CO T*

I O O ill IO 

1 CO <* 1 1 . I P»

00^ £ 5 £ « S

j j 5! | j i §

co" ^ ~

 1 » H «. 

a jjs&s i i |£t^a 

5!|lg : |.la f|

a <u "£ §> w £3 "3 3 i Sw f§'^ cgr^^- 

.2 .S3 W) <u -^ Q<fi 2 *^ '"" - "3 2 *5 » I* <5 w £

i i i o o

g a 1 OT *& *& S3

r§ O 0 . . g

d o OHM o

.0 o «a 'a' J -1

i

: £ s

i

: £ £

x^ * 

e c

 c -C

C C

: s

f <*.

o

c

 c

C c

j g j

;£ <i £

j s !

'^ co ^

I c c

.. do................. Lenses along shear between gneiss zone 

and schist. 

oxides Manganese in 

fissures.

1

C ^ C

 C rt "C

CO

3

CO CO CO

g-s s-ss ^;§^§$ M -

ooo ii ' Q3 ^n -^ .§

«-. ** as ' -59 "5^-2

] I fl£ o i o s !! ii 5^5ggd c ~ j ^ .g . SXCS^c 

s'as'i,"^1 _§ i S ""SgwSSwS.

T^N]") SlSr^^ ^ 

MU5^ ^/Tn 0

?3 s | gsss 2

S^rtS-i SHOO o o COCOM eofococo co

CO C^> C^

Xjl ^T ^

o o o

222

»O «O <£

J '' I | ft fl -P 8 ^ 1 s

1 § 1 -gS1 ? -Sl^l | g o |

i i J ifi ill! till 

S |ls III §355 1 i I J

OflO raHOO a)H)ra>

u ®^

*5J «fcj OT

g o 2

c £ ^ 

10 I 13

CO r-l

SS 88 88

00 9

000

H H H

r-l i-l H

CO O rH

00 0* 

00 0

Spirit and. spirit 2 1

claims. 

A.ntillas deposit...... P"uerto Rico deposit.-

- « « «^^« ggsss^s
fib

7

8

8a

8b

ftp

8(1

g

9a

10 

11

1?

10

Ida

Dardeneas deposita..

Ouadalupana deposits.

Salvador deposits Guadalupana 

deposits (8)?.

(Guadalupana deposits (8)?).

posit.

Gallito de Manganese claim.

(Gallito de Manganeso claim (9)?). 

Dos Cabezas deposit.

(Tesia deposit 

(14)?).

30°42'

30°28'

30°23' 

30°23'

30°23'

30°23'

30°24'

30°24' 

30°24'

30°21' 

28°47'

28°20'

27°34'

27°20'

110°58'

110°56'

110°50' 

110°50'

110°50'

110°50'

110°51'

109°35' 

109°35'

108°38' 

112°20'

109°23'

109°23'

3 north of the Antillas deposit (6).

20 southeast of Santa 

Ana.

32 southeast of Santa Ana.

 -do.... 

.....do...............

Guadalupana deposits (8).

Guadalupana deposits (8). 

8 east of Nacozari...

--._do........ .......

70 west of Casas 

Grandes, Chihuahua.

Tiburon.

vojoa. 

 do . .

4

35

45 

45

45

45

45

8 

8

100 

53?

20

23

23

23

0

0?

5 

5

5

5

5

8 

8

0 

3?

?

10?

10?

10?

 ..do-.. .... .

Cla International 

Mines.

George W. Greenwood.

wood?. 

 ..do...............

wood, 

.--.do.............

T. B. Engclhart . 

.....do ...........

Antonio Espinosa...

Fiss

tw

gn

bl

cu

Fiss

ca

ly 

m

Blac

su

ro

Sam

..... 

Sim

fa

lit

Fiss

ca

co

18 

Strin

ro

te

(?).

vo

Ve

fro

m

to 

of 

See footnotes at end of table.
13

.S-p§o

 8

e 

s 13

 1

II5

JO

jo

o; IIB.I:} Iq 80UB5SIQ;

ui) PBOJJIBJ o; IIBJJ

jo PBOJ Aq

Iff

oa>« o

S ~"d =a

opnj 

-I3UO[

opnj

'ON ?

CN 

CO OC

s

fl £

"

 s-

<T iT

Chimneylike deposit massive limestone. in 

Ramp, 1s

Leopoldo Villareal, 

Jr. rtn

CO <C

CO Cv

S Pedronorth of3an

Ocampo -

rtr>

f? $

O C

(N P< id ir

0 0 

CN C

Hfircules deposit. _ .

IVTa Har»ncit ,,r>;i »

<-< n

3

J

J

)

(Hercules deposit

CO CO . C 

CO CO 00 C

1 i i

o o 5 c

i i i

0 0 0 C

C 5^ ff 5

Sunilar butlean- to1, 

er. 

Similar Very to 1.

lean. 

(?) .... 

c. o

1

C-- C- C- C- o o o r

Si 5S § c

of Sansouthwest 6Ocampo. Pedro -..do-.... ......... Jvaan Alda- of 6tast

ma.

^J ,-( 00 |

?-i SH w c 

O O O «

> > > 

05 0) N s

0001 

CN CN (N C

Rarnirez deposit ....- Trirxidad deposit. .... Ald^na deposit.. ....

£> O W c

05

D.IO O COO3*O*O *O 

100 CO i-< CO i-l CO CO CO

i i CO C-> C C*-- o 1 I

)o',? W WW<l£ £

j .1 0 i j i 0 | i

3O O O O O O

Iffl A

-+^ iP ^ +Z f: <P 5p iP

wo *^T-( ' s,«T!l _L OTIW*J ii ° **> S®I1 0?" .1 ill «.ss .« i >s i g i¥a MO

 si ills iris ^lis H fhi sla si i:«»i

|i|l aU.KiU. Jll|*| 

 sasa.ssa6aSg«as aaSeS

^S^ O OT S O3 h5 S CO

! J ' a ! !

4 1 1 3 ! 1 ' I O ' ' Oi ' '

1 8 !§ 1 S |

rt W rt c3 i i »§ 's *§ c a o o

a

fl O TI QJ *O "O 

.j, S 1 3 ! ! Co tt 03 p' '

tf h « ^ i :

- ^ CO (N C^

^ CJ OO >O Dl O N C^ W

:| 1 d f ^^^ s| °f s| | s i °ri ^! Ii ^ s 9 y$s 4 ly '!«? i l«lfi s tgsf-s gfe«s | |§.|-*| !s ^,s«°

is i S i i i i S

od> >A rlWSN N vi ^ (N CO CO N M W CO 00 0 0000 0

38 S3 8 ^cSScN* gj

« ! i i J 0 ! 

| -55 i *3 § | =§ 4s 1 ^ 1 1 I I

Ifl 1 | t 32 |

o3 ,0 o -d 5,3 a -a £

$ gas ? B s 3 ooc«3 3 ? S ?<D 

5,g g 3 ,«. g § W §

c-* »o c3.QOe0ca.O

«O iO ^ CO CO
MANGANESE DEPOSITS OF MEXICO 311

; o o

g <! <! c

i i *

O 0

o ^ o ^

£ C £

but Adjoins 6,convein. tains no

«

O

Q«&^iSo«S'32 *a*2 ..as -3 ^ &** 

I dasldt>,ld3.s? .8 o <s IN o> <s .£? 3.« a-d ;

CO h^ CO

§ 21 

1 |

-H .8

dS § -c

Tt^ 1 Tt< ^ 1 Tt* *O »O CO

; W g PQ << £; PQ fl pq^S

O lOOj O | ]O

. 1 ^11^ S . ° °| 

^ » 1!^ ^ o

. t cccc c ssc

w-d Mt>> i i-d ^"g 2 '"'djq"1" « £ <BtD I'd--

Iff !if j ' |PlPlii^|WllPi§^

W w a co in in inin

1 ^ 1 i ''i

^ a ^ « ° i^ § i -s e « it

§ ^ § M !«J

a c ,§ a e Is 1 o! § 2 ^ a 2 ^ a-g > "^^ 

<) rt <1 § ' co !<!

oo oo oooo o Ss^"0

^HWO OQ OOCOOO OO >O 10 1*«

^Tt4^ ^H »O >O »O ^ ^ ^ T}4-^

*3 '3 *SO O *S ^ 5S S &'" -^ o -*a S v- o> Ito

^J M -W+S®°''*J Q1 ^ W ^ -4j'^§'§Cfl'-5** (^^ *J *^*S O *3 O ^ "3

2 ^ *w 2 n N ' o*^ *^ JG^^oncoSsE"* 22* 53 P^n N^ fl fe O4 i J5 fl

^»O5C1 

N^H^H 

MN NNt^?* 00 N N^t

rHd C4 O4 i-H ^H r-( C» O »O

NC^IOI 

ooo 

NC^ 

oo 

C>IC^C^C4 

oooo 

N W NO!

o o oo

1

Cerrito claim ...

*>

_ «3

£- b- ?- GO OOOO^H^H X( C$ NO 3 

COCO CO <N N O* CO CO CO CO COi-H *Jjj

CsIN OJ C$ <N OJ O* <N N C5 CS CS (^

j 1 ft 1 gll j j 1 1 j J I I

8 S'R'd oaoRS1 -s §, a-'S m

If i &.. .fi ! * 2 1 « -si |

a 1 fS f^ ^ 1 I 1 §« I I-S 1

! H^ 1 ifeSI aM I i ft 1 18 5 OM >oepH 5 wwfcS

 d^* osoo os^og ® Jg bow
312 GEOLOGIC INVESTIGATIONS IN AMERICAN REPUBLICS, 1946

o 

O

Product Marc to1943

8S9UB3UBUI

jo

JO !)U80J9J

SUOl

1*811

 sa

/q

) peoj

ui) puoai 

jo PBOJ

en ittJi 

OOUB;SICI

andirfrom nce

ed (in

Direction, dis line

place n kilomet

opni 

 iSnor 5S9AI

od oo' od co

;

1

£ £

i

i

5^ C

 

i

i

i

!

;1

OS

<s c

a> f^

S

W

d

§

a

ft

0)

02

0

4J Cj

QJ 'C .0

^

0 C

t-> t>>

e

so

1l>

Il5ss

ti O 

' CO

J

0 «

OS

>o

CM

«

00°

;

;

o

j : I I

o o O o

CM

^

0^

CJ ^

P 0 

0 >,

fl ^

 d

IB

S'^ii

-- . S 'M j

t, 0

]

i

i

B

02

B e

03

^

S5 °

o to

o g

0 | 

c8 £

^-Sv. 

ilil

^ 3g S S

O 0 00 

CM CS CM rH

O O O 0

o o r~ oo

s s a -Is .

SsS o i

ft co t- c8 Q, -w

oj o.a

£Z cj

fL| O

Negr posit 

(9). posit San de; Pedro Tinaja deposi

C3 ^ O I (

OS S rH rl

1

1

]

i

Jj i

o

ll

I g

02

I

1

"o

a o

a

«

«

>o

CM

I|"o a

-« <° %-*

a*

5« . S5s «&,£

s

S1-1

o

CO

ll

;

-P

Ortega deposi

03

c*-.

-

S

as

£

a

1?

CO

1 g

.a

i

CO

o

H

^ l

CM

CM

i

1

Pinos deposit

CM

a

S

3

o

 d

0

o

8 £

SP 'w

I 1

n A

o o

-M O

<B -0

1 -2

"a g 

 d "°

T3 §

'o d

> 1

W W

O ^

CD . W d

 g 5-S «S 0 S-'S -s °

.a §« §§

X5 m 2°^

-j-3 ."tn (H .O

03 . fe O \T 2

^3 C/3 ? OT TO

. CO ^ Q3 'O . i ^

.-S o ^ ""fl 5 ^5

J2 *^* i < Q? ^L, § ^*

£5 S^ gx

o-SiSS 03 ^ -ww

^flSod ^

J§ >a o o"^'a -"_g

"111*1 ^§

||||1| i|

S,« 2,2 &« £ 2

tH^n.^i^j^JV^n.

^^o - «- 3 "S* o

 o

li a 9

S 1 ^

3 

tZ~ ~S S

i! i I

1" ^ § -f

g "O X2 * Jj H

 § 0 " l^cS

5^ | afil £ + « |_5 M CJ-M

 o - <c ^ S d .2

If illf! !

li flit ^ "3 *§ °-lJ i ^ g "

S Q3 CO.Q QJ *M

K *" " W 03 'O ® *

lll'l^lll

SfiiUll ^

rrt'3'o § ® §«5'^

-jj.j-1-- 
METRIC EQUIVALENT

TEMPERATURE LINEAR

C° F° rnetner"s lnches Meters

vn/u

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 _

o -:

100 

 150

 140 90 ~

 13° 80 

 120

 110 70 

 100

-90 6° 

-80 50 _

 70

 60 40 

 40

 30 20 

 20

" 10 ^L-10 10 ~

-90-t°

- 40 1000-^

MEASURE 

P . Kilo- .... "* 

reeT meters wines 

p 1 C\C\ P 

_

900 -^~ 3 000 90-^

800 

-30 -

: so 

 2500 :

> q 

700-^ 70 

~~-

600 ^ 2000 60 

500 E so4

^-1500 :

400-^

300 

-10 :

200-^

:

100 -:

n n

40 

 1000 30 

;

I 20-^

 500 :

- 10 

n n

 60

 50 

: 

 40

: 

^-30 

: 

I- 20 

-

- 

 10

n 

I cm. = 0.3937 in. I m.= 3.2808 ft. I km. = 0.6214 mile 

lin. - 2.5400 cm. I ft. = 0.3048m. I mile = 1.6093 km

I sq. m.(m2) = 1.20 sq. yd.

I hectare (lOOxlOOm.) = 2.47 acres

I cu.m. (m3)= 1.31 cu. yd.

INDEX

Page

Abstract ._-- ......._._-_-_-__ _. 209-210

Abundancia mine, description of..._... 279-282,

311; pi. 39 

Acknowledgments........... _.............. 210

Analyses of manganese ore...... 220,225,250,271,281

Antillas deposit, features of...... 275-276, 308; pi. 39

Azatlan veins, features of............ 241, 294; pi. 39

Aztcca deposits, description of.... 235-236, 291; pi. 39

Baluarte deposit, features of..._ 248-249, 290; pi. 39 

Bibliography of Mexican manganese deposits. 285-

290

Borrcgos area, description of..._ 238-239, 293; pi. 39 

Buenavista region, description of. 258-259,301; pi. 39 

Candela deposits, description of.. 249-250, 297; pi. 39 

Carmen deposit, features of.___ 259, 301; pi. 39 

Carr deposits, description of...... 273-274,308; pi. 39

Casas grandes area, description of. 240-241,294; pi. 39 

Chino deposits, features of....... 242-243, 295; pi. 39

Cfa Minera Central deposit, features of....._ 255,

299; pi. 39 

Consolidada deposit, features of.... 239, 293; pi. 39

Consuela deposits, description of. 260-261, 302; pi. 39 

Cruz deposit, features of.._ ...__ 271, 307; pi. 39 

Cuajiloto deposit, description of.. 266-267, 306; pi. 39 

Deposits of minor importance, features of... 226-228 

Dinamita deposits, description of. 251-254,297; pi. 39 

Don Cuco deposit, features of.... 240-241, 294; pi. 39

Dulce Nombrc deposit, features of... 264, 304; pi. 39 

Escondida deposit, features of........ 244, 295; pi. 39

Esperanza deposit, features of-......- 255, 299; pi. 39

Eureka claim, Isla San Marcos,description of.232-233,

291; pi. 39

Eureka deposits, features of.__ 250-261, 297; pi. 39 

Field work.......................... 210-212; pi. 39

Fissure fillings, features of.................. 218-222

Gamer deposits, description of... 274-275, 308; pi. 39 

Oavilan ore deposits, description of...... 234-237,

291; pi. 39 

Guadalupana deposits, Mexico, description of. 263-265,

303; pi. 39 

Guadalupana deposits, Sonora, features of-... 276,

309; pi. 39

Guadalupe deposit, features of... 255-256, 299; pi. 39 

Guadalupe deposits, features of.. 236-237, 291; p . 39 

Guanajuato deposit, features of.. 257-258, 300; pi. 39 

Hercules deposit, features of.__.... 277,310; pi. 39

Independencia deposit, features of.... 273,308; pi. 39

India deposits, features of....__ 258- 259,301; pi. 39

Jacala deposits, features of.._._--.- 261,303; pi. 39 

Limestone-replacement deposits, description

of.. .......................... 223-224

Lucero deposit, features of ......... 248,296; pi. 39

Lucifer mine, description of...... 228-232,291; pi. 39

Lucky Nina deposit, features of.. 260-261,304; pi. 39 

Luz deposit, features of..-........-.- 253,298; pi. 39

Magistral mine area, features of.. 241-242,295; pi. 39 

Manganese deposits, types of..... _....... 218-228

Manganese ore, economic factors influencing

production-of._____-____ 217-218

Page 

Manganese ore, past production of...... 212-215,268

reserves of---.------.------.-----..----- 215-216

Manganita deposit, description of. 278-279,310; pi. 39 

Maria del Consuelo deposit, features of.. . 264-265,

304; pi. 39 

Maria deposits, features of,.......... 259,302; pi. 39

Matamoros deposits, description of......... 247-248,

295; pi. 39 

Metric equivalents, chart showing............ 313

Mezcala deposits, features of......... 262,303; pi. 39

Montafla de Manganese mine, description

of- . -- 267-271,307; pi. 39 

minerals found in ore from.............. 270,307

Navidad group, features of--.....--. 231,291; pi. 39

Negradeposit, Durango, featuresof......... 253-254,

298; pi. 39

Negra deposit, Zacatccas, features of.. 284,311; pi. 39 

Nena deposit, features of........ 252-253,298; pi. 39

Nuevo Vesuvio deposit, features of.......... 247-248,

296; pi. 39 

Ojo negro deposit, features of........ 276,309; pi. 39

Organos deposits, description of.. 243-244,295; pi. 39 

Orizabena deposit, features of........ 241,294; pi. 39

Palmas deposits, featuresof------ 231-232,291; pi. 39

Picacho de la Candela deposits, description

of............. . 254-256,299; pi. 39

Poderosa deposit, features of..... 265-266,306; pi. 39

Progreso deposit, features of..... 262-263,303; pi. 39

Protectora deposit, features of.... 257-258,300; pi. 39

Refugio deposit, featuresof-......-.. 240,294; pi. 39

San Antonio claim. See Gamer deposits. 

San Antonio deposit, featuresof.-.-- 272,307; pi. 39 

San Felipe do Jesus deposit, description of.. 282-283,

311; pi. 39 

San Juanico deposit, features of...... 238,292; pi. 39

Santa Isabel (San Nicolas) deposit, description of............... 237-238,292; pi. 39

Santa Maria deposit, featuresof..... 239,293; pi. 39

Sarnosa deposit, features of...... 251-252,297; pi. 39

Shangrila claim, features of...... 274-275,308; pi. 39

Silicified replacement deposits, description

of ............ ...... 222-223

Socorro deposit, featuresof.......... 244,295; pi. 39

Spirit 1 and 2 claims. See Gamer deposits. 

Talamantes manganese district, description

of . 244-247,295; pi. 39

Tapatia deposit, features of.......... 241,294; pi. 39

Tejabanes deposit, featuresof .... 265,305; pi. 39

Tenango deposit, featuresof......... 283,311; pi. 39

Tiempos Futures deposits, features of. 265,304; pi. 39 

Tinaja deposit (5), features of.... 277-278,310; pi. 39

Tinaja deposit (11), features of.... 284-285,312; pi. 39

Tuff-replacement deposits, description of.... 224-226

Union deposit, featuresof.- ...... 259,302; pi. 39

Victoria claim. See Gamer deposits.

Victoria deposit, featuresof.......... 272,307; pi. 39

Victoria mine, featuresof--.......--- 256,300; pi. 39

Zacate mine, description of...... 242- 243.295; pi. 39

o

315